House of Suffering

SHAH - Beware (SNC Records, 1989)

2007-08-11T10:15:00.000-05:00

SHAH's second full lenght LP released on SNC (The Soviet Independent Record Label) is probably the most popular Shah LP amongst fans. Kind of a medium between the Destruction blitzkgried thrash of the early demos and first LP but not yet the total Metallica-like later material, it combines the best of both worlds. Produced by Valeri Gaina - the vocalist of Kruiz. You can also check out Shah's official Myspace for a decent history of the band.

file: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LDW54GYS

KRUGER - Рожденный Мраком (Metal Agen, 1992)

2007-08-11T04:55:00.000-05:00

Well hey, yeah no updates but I've not had anything to talk about. Recently I completed a trade with a guy in Vladivostok, so I got some new records in. Here's one: Moscow's Kruger- Рожденный Мраком (Born Of Darkness) was released on Metal Agen records in 1992, the same label to release the awesome Death Vomit LP a year later. Produced by Russian metal guru Agen Prince this sick piece of primitve Death Metal does not dissapoint. Dirty, raw and venomous is what this is, but on top of that it also exhibits a slight biker / Motorhead swagger that just adds to the whole package. All lyrics and vocals are in Russian which is always a big plus. One of the best records of that perioud no doubt. The rip presented here is not of my vinyl but of the CD version which contains two bonus tracks. The mix is the same as far as I can tell. The opening "Black Mass" chant is awesome and sets the mood just right. The meat grinder hungers for human fodder! Haha.

file: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2ZX3KZ3O

coming up: more SHAH, Graveside, Aria and Hellraiser

No more "personal blog"

2007-03-28T22:32:00.000-05:00

I deleted "my personal blog" because since I started it I realized how much I don't like or want to talk about myself or my life on the internet. Especially since sites like archive.org can potentially save it forever! Fuck that. Besides, my life is boring...keep reading this one though!

MASTER - Talk Of The Devil LP (Moroz, 1992)

2007-03-20T21:42:00.000-05:00

Here is Master's third and best-yet LP - "Talk Of The Devil". Released in 1992 on Moroz Records (not state-run Melodiya). By 1992 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was officially no more and Master was a very different band than in 1986 when they released their S/T effort. "Talk Of The Devil" is 100% thrash through and through, hard and driving with the lyrics being a lot more varied and abrasive. At that point there was no more censor boards to get approved by and the playing field was open. Sadly (not speaking of Master) these new found freedoms of expression also unleashed with them murky oceans of racist and NS bullshit which would have landed fools in prison just a couple of years prior. "Free Speech For The Dumb" indeed. Oh well, the country has been through much worse. Enjoy this, more gritty and evil Master!

file: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OIRKJYP3 (LINK RE-UPPED per request)

KFAI Radio Riot show podcast

2006-12-26T18:42:00.000-06:00

Ok here is the recording of the show, I sound like I haven't been on the radio too often and I had a cold, plus I just have a goofy voice. It's the whole 2 hour show so the file is a little large. I rambled a lot and had a great time, thanks to Felix for having me on. Check it out.

House Of Suffering on FM Radio tonight!

2006-12-18T16:23:00.000-06:00

Felix from Havoc Records has a weekly radio show called Radio Riot on the local community radio station KFAI, tonight he is having me on as a guest, to help him do a special on Soviet and early post-Soviet metal. The show starts at 12:00AM midnight, tonight, US Central time. You can listen online at KFAI.org

Железный Поток - Знамение (Melodiya / Russian Disc, 1991) Iron Stream - The Sign (1991) LP

2006-11-18T12:55:00.000-06:00

From the Moscow suburb of Krasnogorsk, here is Iron Stream with their second LP - The Sign, released during the last year of the Soviet Union's existence. Like with much Soviet metal, a very strong Metallica influence can be felt right off the bat with the first chords. This also reminds me of Heathen. Forming in 1988, Iron Stream is of the first generation of Russian metal, this LP was a joint release between Russian Disc and Melodiya. A solid thrash LP.

Warpath
Embriyo
The Way of Light
Ready For Boarding!
The City Of Assasins
The Sign
Our "Sovok" Is Undefeatable (a gag).

Video mayhem

2006-10-03T01:14:00.000-05:00

Sorry there has been a lull in content lately. I am currently waiting on a guy in Russia for some new stuff. Anway, here is a cool video of my favorite Kruiz song.

and here is my favorite Russian ch(A)os punk band PURGEN. This_song_is_hard. Get into it.

to finish off this round we have this excellent video by Severnye Vrata. This features the winning combination of "Alexander Nevsky" + metal = sickness. Also featuring some great LA.R.P.I.N.G. Down with the Teutonic invaders!

Soviet Knights of the Power Metal Table: Круиз (Kruiz) and Август (Avgust)

2006-08-25T18:26:00.000-05:00

First off we have Kruiz's 1987 metal debut LP "Kruiz-1" on Melodiya. Kruiz is probably one of the most known Russian metal bands outside of Russia. Their sound was pretty commercial heavy metal in the Iron Maiden meets Def Leppard tradition but it did not lapse into total "glam" Poison / Gorky Park territory. Lots of solos and guitar showmanship here, ("Intro") but some influences from faster bands like Helloween can be felt a little bit as well ("Last Dawn"). The band went on to release a 1988 full length in the same vein, which might be featured here later, as I don't currently own it. Valeri Gaina (center in picture), the founding member and vocalist of the band, also formed a Kruiz-like group in the mid-1990's entitled Gain, and it has released a CD in 1995 when he emigrated to Canada.

Intro
Distant Light
It Happened So
Last Dawn
Come With Us
Mirage
Time

Next up we have the debut LP from Август (Avgust) - "Демон" ("Demon"). Also released in 1987 on Melodiya. The band formed in 1983, but wasn't able to release a proper LP until the glastnost era due to cultural constraints of the Soviet system. There is an extensive blurb on the back of the LP stating that even though this is technically heavy metal, the band memebrs are "real" muscisians, with "real" musical conservatory educations, and that they are heavily influenced by Bach, Schubert and Hyden. Judging from the music this is pretty spot on. The LP has some nice atmospheric touches to it, conjuring cinematic mental images of knights, voyages and adventure, the music is rather beautiful and very, very Russian ("The Piano and the Sea" and "The Bell"). Every song is basically a ballad, which I generally don't like but unlike most other metal ballads, these are done by people who are actually good at writing and playing ballads. However, the tracks like "Ночь" ("Night"), and "Опасность" ("Danger") are fast numbers. Other recommended tracks: Demon, The Bell.

Демон (Demon)
Как Болит Голова (How My Head Aches)
Осень (Autumn)
Ночь (Night)
Судите Сами (Judge For Yourself)
Опасность (Danger)
Колокол (The Bell)
Рояль в Море (The Piano and the Sea)

*I've ommitted some of the longer, non-spectacular songs to save space.

V/A - Железный Марш I (Metal March I) (KTR, 1992)

2006-08-10T19:59:00.000-05:00

Here is a compilation from 1992 called the Metal March 1. Unfortunately it features racist stalwarts Korrizia Metalla (omitted here, less racist, early material by this band will be featured later) and I think their "leader" runs or owns KTR. Those are the bad things. The good things are these tracks:
First off we have a sick track by the only band on this comp so far featured here, Shah. However here Shah definately show their adoration for Metallica, perhaps the memories of their 1991 Moscow show are still fresh in their minds. Next up is Zhelezny Potok or lron Stream, with a rather so-so track. Graveside bolt out some pummeling death while the track by Crownear is a good death/thrash mix. Trashmachina is thrash all the way, with a Nuclear Assault type number. The D.I.V. song could almost fall under the "ballad" category but it's one of the few ones that I'd say are good, check the metallica-like parts towards the end. Poltergeist is some quirky thrash and Krueger wrap up the album with a Kreator-like thrash number and you can't argue with a name like WELL OF PUS.

Shah - Eliminate
Iron Stream - Born To Die
Graveside - Darkness Light
Crownear - Mixed Blood
Trashmachina - Radioactive Conatmination
D.I.V. - Damned World
Poltergeist - DIY
Krueger - Well of Pus

Тяжелый День (The Heavy Day) - S/T (Melodiya,1989)

2006-08-10T17:42:00.000-05:00

By 1989 thanks to President Gorbachev's "Glastnost" (relaxing of cencorship) the Soviet rock scene was flourishing and the Heavy Day (or the Hard Day) were one of the bigger acts of the time from Moscow. Self Titled, their second LP here is pure, well-played hard rock bordering on metal, or rather "hard n' heavy", a term used in Russia to describe hard rock of this variety which had more of an edge to it. As the blurb on the back of the jacket states this LP showcases the bands tried-and-true as well as mature material. The "mature" tracks being two very long and rather boring ballds on side A, not a very good start (of which I've spared us). However past those there is some rather upbeat hard rock here with a definite thrash and NWOBHM influence displayed esp. in songs like "Ogon" ("Fire") and "Begstvo Iz Nevedinia" ("Escape From Ignorance"). Apparently The Heavy Day are still active, probably playing the "mature" material that debuted here...

В Полет (Take Flight)
Огонь (Fire)
Бегство Из Неведения (Escape From Ignorance)
Сделай Вздох (Take a Breath)

Thrash then death, scouring youtube for more Russian metal material:

2006-08-03T16:03:00.000-05:00

Here's a cool video from Shah, a band already familiar to us. The song "Save the Human Race" is from their second LP "Beware" (1989). While I like the cartoon graphics in it, the quality of the vid and the sound leave a lot to be desired (probably came off a 3rd generation dub bootleg) but check out the dude's sweet DRI shirt.

Then we have Graveside from Tula, a city known for its armories. Some gloomy sounding death here. We will hear more of Graveside when I upload the "Zhelezny Marsh 1" ("Metal March 1") compliation LP from 1992.

I got a bunch furniture delivered today...now all I have to do is assemble it...then go back and get a couple more peices that were out of stock.

Will be back shortly with more thrash....Until then:

2006-08-01T17:43:00.000-05:00

I have been moving all week and just moved in and got connected to the internet. I still have virtually no furniture and nothing set up so mp3 updates will be back in a little while. Until then here's a hilarious video by one of USSR's great "export" rock bands - GORKY PARK (Gorky park, named after the writer Maksim Gorky is a big park in the center of Moscow, very popular with Moscovites). GP the band were a pretty slick glam/hair rock type band that sounded a lot like Poison, Leppard, etc. Apparently this video was a big hit on MTV in '89. All the devotchkas loved them. BANG! Promoting US/USSR peace and friendship. Note the balalaika.

GREAT SORROW - Dreams...Solitude, Silence (Castle Rock, 1995)

2006-07-17T19:19:00.000-05:00

Taking a break from Moscow, this time we travel to the Northen Capital with the second LP by Great Sorrow, from beautiful St. Petersburg. Great Sorrow formed in 1990 and are still a band today. A guy I traded with in Russia said that he thinks this LP might be the last record ever pressed in Russia. That's possible, and I think it would be pretty cool if this was true, then the last record to ever be pressed in Russia would be a pretty sick doom LP. Outside of Black Sabbath and maybe Rainbow or something I really don't know enough about 70's rock or psych music to accurately reference and compare this sort of stuff. I guess this is stoner/doom metal with some touches of death (mainly in the image dept.). It's not really heavy, but sporadic double bass is sprinkled in a couple of places along with some heavy-ish riffs and bass. Overall the music here is pretty slow and totally lives up to the title: Dreams...Solitude, Silence (save for the "silence" part perhaps). The vocals drone on in an epic, gloomy, ominous tone. However, one thing that mars this record is the fact that while as I noted the vocalist has a good tone to his voice, he happens to also have a very thick accent and all the songs are in English. If they would have just written the songs in Russian, I think that would've been better. I don't know though, perhaps some people will find the accent cool?

The Moan In Time
The Preludy Of Tears
All My Belief
The Wanderer
If You Run Away From...
The Endless Tragedy
Dreams...Solitude, Silence

SHAH - Terror Collection (SNC Records, 1991)

2006-07-12T18:17:00.000-05:00

While Master might have been the first "official" Soviet thrash band, I think that righful honor should go to another Moscow band - Shah. Formed in 1985, Shah played thrash metal with English lyrics from the get-go. The "Terror Collection" LP I have here collects various demo and previously unreleased songs from 1985 through 1991. Musically I'd say the later songs on this is like a solid mix of "Show No Mercy" and "Ride the Lightning" while in the earlier ones (while still being thrashy) I detect a strong Priest influence, check out "Metal Fight", I think it sounds almost exactly like "Defenders of the Faith". The band members for reason unknown crafted themselves "South American" sounding names while in fact they were Russian. A note about this cool looking cover, a friend informed me that the masks on it are from an ad in "Fangoria" magazine. Anyway, check out "The Terror Collection" :

Killing Machine ('86)
Overload ('91)
Damned Sinner ('86)
Age Of Darkness ('91)
Thrashing Metal Race ('85)
Terror Collection ('91)
Masdon Must Die ('85)
Mad Future ('87)
Ashes To Ashes ('85)
Metal Fight ('85)

Shah @ bnrmetal.com (a bunch more info)

MASTER - With Lee On a Neck (Melodiya, 1991)

2006-07-08T16:37:00.000-05:00

Master's second LP - "With Lee On a Neck" lived up much more to the "thrash" description then their S/T effort. Here we indeed have fast thrash throughout the album, and unlike S/T there isn't an outright "ballad" present. While being "accepted" and released on state-run Melodiya records, Master unlike Gorky Park stuck to their guns, while the lyrics did reflect something the establishment might have liked to hear (in the case of this album the theme of "peace") the music was not a 2nd rate Def Leppard meets Poison blend but breakneck thrash. Master is still a band today and continues to release albums, their modern material will have to make for another post however. There are 2 alternate covers to this LP. The one I have is the white cover. I don't know which one is an earlier pressing.

We Don't Want
God Save Our Fury

Master @ metal-archives.com
Master Official Site (in Russian)

MASTER - Master (Melodiya, 1989)

2006-07-08T16:32:00.000-05:00

While their releases roughly coincided, this is definately not the Paul Speck Master, This Master were sharing members with one of Russia's first heavy metal bands - ARIA, Moscow's Master was formed in the mid-80's to pursue a more "thrash" sound then the Maiden/Priest influenced ARIA. Recording this debut S/T album 1988 and releasing it on state-run Melodiya in 1989, the album was hailed as the first Russian "Thrash" LP however, I think most of the songs on the S/T are just plain old traditional, Priest-influenced heavy metal, save for the title track which is indeed really fast thrash, and an omen on what their second LP - "With Lee on a Neck" would sound like.

Note: Compared to the metal-arhives.com data on the release dates of both of these albums I found a descrepancy. The dates on there are listed a year prior to the one's I've listed. The years I posted come straight from the center label where each year is clearly labeled as "recorded" and "released", ex. in the case of this album the years being 88 and 89.

Master

DEATH VOMIT - S/T (Metal-Agen, 1993)

2006-07-02T00:52:00.000-05:00

Not to be confused with the band from Indiana, this DEATH VOMIT was a Moscow band from the early 1990's and this I believe is their only LP. There is virtually no information or lyrics contained with my copy of the LP besides the fact that the members were "Goblin", "Boltrover" and "Pater". The music is death-grind tuned very low, super thick drums, growling vocals, walking a very tight rope between death metal and grind, but leans towards the former in my opinion. Song titles are all in English and from what I can tell are sung in it as well. Interestngly Death Vomit's name was briefly mentioned in the book "Lords of Chaos" in the chapter dealing with sketchy metal out of Russia. But I must note that the song titles don't point to any political affiliation and the mention was rather vague, mainly stating that they were in an ad in some right-wing zine of sorts and that the label was doing it to reach "angry youth" or something along those lines. Regardless, the pure deathly sickness of this LP is undeniable:

She's Dead
The Howling
Death Vomit
Leprous
The Monastic Wall
A Town
The Morn Approach
Mind's Eye

Death Vomit @ metal-archives.com

Back in the USSR: The True Story of Rock In Russia

2006-07-01T20:45:00.000-05:00

This is a great book I found at a used book store, it was written by a Russian rockcritic Artemy Troitsky in 1987. A real easy read, it chronicles Russian rock and "alternative" culture from its roots in the "styliagi" jazz of the 1950's to the 1980's new wave and metal bands. A good look at early to mid 80's Russian rock culture and the effects of "Glastnost" on music. Also a pretty insightful explanation on how punk was perceived in Russia and initial reasons it, unlike metal, didn't really take on there in the 1980's. Available @ amazon used for under $2.00. Well worth it. Click the title of the post to go there.

MORTIFER - If Tomorrow Comes (Metal-Agen Records, 2000)

2006-07-01T18:22:00.000-05:00

This is going to be the first post in a series on Russian punk, metal and new wave I plan on doing. I don't have all the necessary equipment set up yet to make mp3's from vinyl, so I will start with some slightly more modern, CD material before we move into the the early 90's and the 1980's vinyl era stuff. I will try to post as much mp3's as possible while bandwidth permits, if the track selection is small that means I've just posted highlights.

I purchased this on a whim, mainly because I liked the cover. The music was not exactly what I expected however, instead of Helloween meets Kublai Khan power-thrash which was really popular in Russia, I got nearly 40 minutes of solid "Master of Puppets" worship. Which also makes sense since Metallica was a huge influence on Soviet metal as well - no wonder, huh? There is a Running Wild - "Realm of Shades" cover present, so some power-thrash influence IS there. For cultural reasons, almost every Russian metal album seems to contain at least one token "ballad" and usually that song is the worst track on the album. "If Tomorrow Comes" doesn't break the mold in this aspect, a very long and ridiculous ballad is in fact present and I would say is the only dud here. Overall this is a solid thrash LP, and a decent start to our foray into Russian metal, as we go back in time the quality will only increase, just have to get those mp3's ripped and hosted and we'll be off. For now check out some tracks from "If Tomorrow Comes" and stay tuned.

If Tomorrow Comes
Crematory's Yard
Realm Of Shades (Running Wild)