Satanic Winter

I was sold on their 2013 Anhedonia solely for the fact that they covered all 14 miserable minutes of one of my favorite Loinen songs - the inescapable "Lihaa" ("Flesh" for you non-Finnish speakers). Moscow's Thy Grave is a solid drone/sludge outfit harnessing the spirit of such wretched overlords as Otesanek and Thou with eager aplomb. They just released a couple tracks last week on a split CD with Torf (Ukraine stoners) and Sixpackgods (Finnish noise rock) but what really caught my attention was the band's amazing Talvisaatana demo from earlier this year. While the songs on the split CD are somewhat funeral doomy and not quite as bitter as I'd hoped, the demo versions are fucking awesome. Raw and underproduced - recorded on single mic, no after effects or whatever. The screaming lyrics sound a hell of a lot harsher as well. There's a live track thrown in to round it all out; fucking heavy-ass shit to wreck your brain. Check 'em out here.

Skrelnik

Lesion

I've seen a lot of sick shit in my forty years, for fuck's sake I actually worked in a morgue for several of them, but the cover to Necrobios' 2008 debut takes the fucking cake. I don't know if it's the half-dozen kielbasas spurting from the blown-out asshole, the glaze of cum on the woman's face (and funnel of it pouring into her vage), or the smug hog overlooking the whole thing - it's just a grim, grim image. Bravo Photoshop, bravo. So how does the music stand up? Surprisingly, Патологические Изменения (which roughly translates into Pathological Changes per most reviews) is top-notch brutal death metal save for the stupid filler intro/outro techno tracks. Most of the tunes barely hit sixty seconds thankfully keeping the entire length of the album just under 15 minutes. Unlike some of their porngrind compatriots (I'm talkin' about you Proctalgia) who feel the need to pad an LP with seventy tracks and half an hour of samples, Necrobios keep it simple. The music is standard late 2000's deathgrind, very Happy Face-esque vocals with a solid breakdown in each song to keep all you bitter fucks content. "Rectal Blues" is the standout - seventy perfect seconds of gurgling slam. Enjoy.

Kielbasa

Anal Rhinoceros?!?!

2005 saw the emergence of the immediately catchy "bulldozer fuckin' grindcore scum band" Anal Nosorog from Moscow. Lo-fi and stupid but oddly addictive with their proto-brutal death metal techno-ish "reeee"s for vocals, the band's first two ep's instantly made a stir around most of the cheapo Eastern European mp3 sites at the time. There's nothing particularly groundbreaking (or talented) on either Fat Putrudity or Beautiful People but AxNx does what they do surprisingly well and have kept with it long enough to carve their own niche in grind history. A solid full-length entitled Condom Of Hate was released in 2007 and the group actually had Anal Cunt frontman and 'Genocide fave Seth Putnam visit the former Soviet capital as guest vocalist for a string of live shows. AxNx picked up a surprisingly good-looking female vocalist soon after and ventured into Burzum-ish pro-white Nordish territory (with a heavy dose of national socialism) for their swansong(?) album, 2009's Gazavat. They've been silent ever since and personally I prefer the "Vagina Says" days so here ya go. Enjoy.

Fat                                                            Beautiful

Грязь поколений

The few and far-between bands that actually get in touch are easily the best thing about doing a blog. I was happy to find in my inbox the other day an email from the sludge Russian 2-piece Electricjezus. Influenced by all the bands that matter, the two guys just put the finishing touches on their debut album Mud Of Generations. Recorded entirely live on analog equipment from different years and countries (old Soviet synthesizers, pianos, used ride cymbals, broken crash cymbals, pieces of metal for hi-hats, old microphones, etc etc). All work together to give the album a welcome fuzzy, lo-fi tape hiss kind of ambience; that is when lead vocalist Ruslan Frolov isn't screaming his guts out. Awesome shit - not only worth a listen but a few of your hard-earned bucks. Check 'em out here and enjoy.

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Currently watching: The Galaxy Invader

Currently listening to: Guns 'N' Roses GN'R Lies

жестокой дэт-метал

Forgotten 2009 demo from Russian brutal death metal fiends Amidst The Bloodshed known some places as Can You See An Exit. Pretty standard slam with some better than average riffs and squeals. Not much else to find or report about the band, but it's one of the better DIY demos I've heard in a while.

Dismember Cadaver

 
Currently watching: Lost Highway
Currently listening to: Mr. Bungle Disco Volante