AFTERLIFE

The tonnage of life itself can weigh you down in inexplicable ways, and sometimes the tonnage itself is the only relief. I know what I mean when I say that, even though it doesn't make sense when I read the words....but it's a nod to the earnest intensity of this Russian band. I guess we called this "metalcore" or even "modern hardcore" back in the '90s, though all of the era specific genre descriptors seem even emptier now than they did at the time. AFTERLIFE are heavy, powerful, determinedly midtempo slog. The shit takes me someplace, and I am happy to be there. It's not here. So let's go.

AFTERLIFE

CHAMBER OF TORTURE

Put your internal serach for peace and light on hold for thirty minutes and sink deep into CHAMBER OF TORTURE's realm of sinister death metal. Do it. I can tell you from experience that it will act as a cleansing...and the more volume employed, the deeper the cleanse. The hate and the dishonesty will still be out there when you are finished, and you will still need to address the ills (of the world and of your soul) just as before - but imagine doing so after a full immersion. It's worth it. 

BEHEAD BEFORE INTERNMENT

TERRÖRSTRIKER

Fuuuuucccckkk this is what I want. Sinister death/thrash from Russia...no need to reinvent the wheel when the shit rolls true. And this shit?! My monkeys, TERRÖRSTRIKER are a fukkn machine. Eternal cheers to Reforestation (again) for bringing these sounds to my ears. 

HORDES OF ARMAGEDDON

MORBITAL

Another savage offering from Russia's Reforestation Records. Seven bursts of filthy, raw death metal than just makes you clench your teeth...this label has yet to disappoint, and from the sounds of things, the recent vinyl release from MORBITAL is even more fierce. Get dirty. 

Ужас Войны (WAR HORROR)

ЯКУСКИЙ ПАНК // ПЛОХОЙ ПАНК

Three bands from Yakutsk, capital of the Sakha Republic in Siberia - a city of 300,000 isolated motherfuckers who are starting to drop some really compelling punk and hardcore bands.  ШАРМ СС were here recently, but this other shit....? I'm just saying you need to get amongst the Russia Train now to avoid being left behind, because that shit is leaving the station and it's standing room only. ЖЕНСКАЯ ДИСГАРМОНИЯ, DEAD BIEBER'S, and ШАРМ СС make some seriously engaging racket on this comp...raw and discordant punk and hardcore shits to share with all your friends. Can you believe that Matt just didn't want this anymore and gave it to me? Shit - I couldn't believe it either.

ЯКУСКИЙ ПАНК // ПЛОХОЙ ПАНК

GRAVE DISGRACE

This Reforestation label from St. Petersburg keeps going for the throat, it's just slower and more deliberate this time. Shameless SABBATH influence and a guitar that brings back (fond) memories of playing with Jud (LAUDANUM, BRAINBLOODVOLUME), this GRAVE DISGRACE tape is nothing short of total destruction. Brutal simplicity delivered with maximum efficacy, their tracks are engaging from start to finish - even the 9+ minutes of "The Mire Brings" - if only so you can hear the things that are being done to that poor guitar. Sometimes you just want to be bludgeoned.

GRAVE DISGRACE

FAST FUCKERS // ШАРМ СС

Truly filthy and chaotic sound from Russia to start your week. FAST FUCKERS hail from Краснодар (Krasnodar), near the Black Sea on a little Russian horn surrounded by Ukraine, Georgia, Turkey and Kazakhstan (translation: really far from my house), and they crank out brutally fast and fukkd sounding hardcore with (accidental?) discordant metal tinges when they blast. AF and GAG covers have appears on previous releases...these kids know what's up and they are doing it right. Their buddies from ШАРМ СС (CHARM SS) come from Yakutsk, and in case you ever feel isolated, that charming little hamlet lies just FOUR DAYS' DRIVE to the east and north of Moscow...alternately, it's just a little further from Yakutsk to the North Fucking Pole than to head straight south to Beijing. Even in The Internet Age, I think that the most remote punk scene on earth has created, not surprisingly, some of the most demented sounds on earth. These five tracks are chaotic, disturbing, frustrating/frustrated, and so so good. This is the torment that North American bands so often try to manufacture. Seven digital and physical releases before this split and the death of their bassist in 2015...eternal hails for keeping things fucked up.

FAST FUCKERS // ШАРМ СС

Lost Cause Records: here

ШАРМ СС: here

FAST FUCKERS: here

WE ARE ALL POSITIVE

1999 compilation of four Russian bands with varying degrees of association with the then-new straight edge scene. Extensive liner notes (in English and Russian, all included of course) address which members are (and were) edge, and give a little background on the bands and their scenes...all of which compliments what is already a pretty strong collection of tracks. The opening eight bangers from ОТКАЭ ОТ НАСИЛЯ are probably my favorite on the comp - unhinged hardcore punk with overbearing gruff vocals and a perfectly tinny fuzzed out guitar...the tape is easily worth holding onto for these tracks alone. ПОСАДИЛ ДЕРЕВО play more straight up metallic hardcore, chug riffs, guitar wanks, all presented in moderate fidelity (can I start calling things mod-fi?) and passion. Another eight from CITA ATTIEKSME, the most basic punk outfit of the bunch, flirting with earnest DC hardcore. The tape closes with an ominous offering from SKYGRAIN - fast, heavy, inadvertently distorted hardcore made more bombastic than it actually is simply by the presentation. A compilation that's good for the tunes, but surely made better by the context.

WE ARE ALL POSITIVE

Июльские дни

Absolutely killer dark indie/punk from Russia, Июльские дни (JULY DAYS) attack with deadly precision. Take elements of late '80s Polish punk that flirted with new wave (REPUBLICA, the SIEKIERA full length) and somehow fit it into the small handful of mid '00s indie bands that did it right (guilty pleasures like INTERPOL, FRANZ FERDINAND, even bits of BLOC PARTY), and then put it all in the hands of punks. The results are before you...and the results are astounding. These tracks are severe and bleak, but they are sheer bliss.  Really killer stuff coming out of Russia these days, and I'm sure I don't even know a fraction of it.

Темные мысли // DARK THOUGHTS

PYRE

My heart started beating a little faster when I saw this package from Reforestation, even before I knew what was inside. But even still...this shit blew my mind. It's difficult for me to imagine precision death metal to sound any more primal than PYRE; they don't play, they unleash. The four and a half minutes of "Merciless Disease" will leave you breathless...and that's only the first song. There are eight more. Downtuned, churning, primal and something well beyond fierce, this Russian act is an absolute force...and Reforestation Records has not disappointed me yet.

HUMAN HECATOMB

YURODIVIYE

Filthy and terrifying death/black metal from St. Petersburg, Russia. The label describes themselves as a "metal label with punk attitude" and I think that suits this tape particularly well. I was hooked from the first instant, and I expect you will be too. 

YURODIVIYE

Find Reforestation Records here.

Find YURODIVIYE here.

Чëрная Речка

Sometimes something is so well done, so on point, so....perfect, that you just listen with your mouth half open and wonder how simple human persons could have possibly done something exactly as things are supposed to be done. That's what happened when I started the Черная Речка (BLACK RIVER) tape. You can file it alongside your goth/dark/new wave/80s rock reincarnated as new millennium punk bands, and you won't be wrong, but I'm telling you that this band is doing something special. Two demos, both from 2014, are contained on my cassette, so you get ten songs....and every fukkn one of them is perfect. Listen to "Снег," and then listen to "Пропасть" and you will know that I am right. This band just turned my world on end, and I can't thank them enough.

A & Б

Find the band and even more brilliant sounds here.

SVINOKOP

An audio challenge for the adventure inclined, this St. Petersburg demo from 2003 is an all out assault that consumes a whopping 210 seconds. Nine tracks of rudimentary but blistering fastcore thrash incarnated as complete shit-fi supremacy. You can file this one along with the more difficult cassettes I've shared here, but SVINOKOP are as real as it gets. 

SVINOKOP

GEORGE HARRISON

I mean, the first song is called "Russian Hardcore Thrash Attack," so how much explanation do you really need? Relentless, raw dual vocal fastcore/thrash dishing out seven tracks in as many minutes...it was 2003 and we basically couldn't get enough of this shit. But this cassette and a split with CONGA FURY is all we got, so listen repeatedly.

GEORGE HARRISON

UNBROKEN BONES

Decidedly more advanced than the first demo, Russia's UNBROKEN BONES have become a legitimate force devoid of even the most persnickety qualifier. The dual guitars just shred, and while the approach is pure ripping thrash, the vocals are punk as shit...ok - maybe I don't quite dig the slow part of "Survive" (even though it's more than slightly reminiscent of the cover of BROKEN BONES' "Never Say Die" on the last demo) but goddammit this demo rules hard, and rarely do I like guitar solos as much as I like these. There's not much I want from a demo that I don't get from UNBROKEN BONES.

BATTALION OF BONES

Cheers as always to Drunk With Power....

PAN ZLOBEK//REPRESSION ATTACK

Howling raw crust from PAN ZLOBEK, more polished more thrashing version of the same animal from REPRESSION ATTACK. The former crank out a quite respectable BASTARD cover, while the latter crank out a respectable SHITLICKERS cover. Both bands are from Russia, this cassette is from 2008, and for some reason it came in this weird cloth case with a blob screened on it (see below for scan of blob).

PAN ZLOBEK // REPRESSION ATTACK

DEMON CITY REAPER

I discovered DEMON CITY REAPER a few years ago from Cosmic Hearse, so imagine my excitement when Drunk With Power sent me their entire collected works! Complete insanity masquerading as music, these tracks take the chaotic metalpunk paradigm perfected by '80s Japan (GISM, ZOUO, etc.) and twist it into an hideous and unrecognizable form. A horde of cartoon demons are at the helm, recording this masterpiece of raw punk psychedelia. This tape features the two tracks from the '08 demo previously shared by Aesop, as well as songs recorded for one never released split EP and one never released single. So far beyond over the top.

COLLECTING SKULLS

MINEFIELD

Ripping and unrelenting. Russia's MINEFIELD deliver a near perfect version of Y2K thrashcore, blazing through 6 songs in five fukkn minutes. Maybe you're too cool for this, maybe you outgrew this subgenre in your teens and now you listen to painful rehashes of RAMONES songs in the style of trite garage punk...and maybe you're a fool. The power of this shit cannot be denied, no matter how much your jeans cost or how good your haircut is. Dust off your circle pit, these riffs are going to make the place explode...when "Взаперти" kicks in after the drum roll intro? You know you've been thrashed, and you know you like it, the same way you feel when the guitar drops to a steady mosh pace at the start of "Сосчитаны и пронумерованы." From the always excellent Drunk With Power (or here if you don't speak Pусский). Put this shit on repeat...there's a RAW POWER cover too. Relentless.

Отъебись!

Seriously, how can you not want to hang out with these dudes?

UNBROKEN BONES

Received a killer package from Drunk With Power last week, and I've been blasting the UNBROKEN BONES demo ever since. Sick late '80s UK metal/punk crossover madness from Russia - blistering madness with gratuitous leads and massive presentation, with crew backing vocals to seal the deal - this is a four song masterpiece. Get amongst this NOW.

UNBROKEN BONES

Drunk With Power order info: punkwithpower(at)yahoo(dot(com)