A while ago I was pretty dismissive of Russian Black Metal as a general thing. It seemed as though the country was entirely composed of nothing but gay folk bands and braindead RAC influenced bm bands, but lately I've been finding out that Russia is quite the powerhouse of excellent bands. Blackdeath, to name one of the best known, is quite simply an amazing band, and I'm more and more finding other examples. There is the "Far East Division Black Wolves" group which are uniformly of very high quality, and everywhere else there seems to be the odd gem turning up. Has anyone else been surprised by the numbers of quality bands coming from this country? Have any of you also been afflicted with the misconceptions of Russian BM as I was? There seems to be a bit of a movement in Russian BM similar to the Swedish "orthodox" style, but in general less melodic and more raw and less grudgingly swearing alligence to second wave Norweigens. Anyone spotted any other trends within this scene?

Feel free to discuss anything else related to russian bm I haven't mentioned, but I'd like this discussion to stay away from the Folk, NS, and RAC styled bands of this country, as well as bands related to the Blazebirth Hall group. This thread should stick to the more traditional/satanic bands of Russia.

Well, since its related to Russian BM, Blackdeath's "Bottomless Armageddon" has the same cover art as Satanic Warmaster's "Strength & Honor" but in red. It also has the skull and crossbones from their old logo inside the circle the snake makes.

That happens from time to time. They obviously got it from the same original source, presumably it is the symbol of some group. Anyone know the exact origin on this one?

Most of the Russian BM I love is by the Blazebirth Hall so you'll probably dimiss it (and IMO that would be a big mistake but anyway). Otherwise I must say that Old Wainds is awesome and so is Walknut (although once again, related to Temnozor/Blazebirth Hall).

Agreed.

I'm baffled by the tiny exposure given to the non-folk BM bands of Russia, even so much that I sometimes wonder if there is much of a BM scene outside the homosexual NS groups at all. Every other country has its share of Darkthrone clones; where are the Russian ones?

Yes! Walknut!

Real solid shit right there. Kind of like a synthesis between Drudkh and Velvet Cacoon...

You'd be probably interested in Old Wainds, I'd sayy they play a mix of Darkthrone and Immortal. I haven't listened to their last album, but their demo Where the snows are never gone and their other two albums are really good. Scaling Coldness has some thrash influences, it's really good. All three releases ends with a longer and more repetitive song with ends the albums in a icy and hypnotic way. I said icy? It's really cold and hatefull. Though don't end up listening to their unremastered demos, they sound really bad.

Only band I really know of in the Russian BM scene is Old Wainds, but other than that I'm not too familar with the scene. But I'm intrigued to know more about the bands that a part of it.

Yes, this is exactly the point I was trying to make in the OP, though you do so better in fewer words.

Btw, here is your Darkthrone clone. Don't read Perplexed_Sjel's review, he doesn't know what he's talking about. The other guy is right on the money, though. Incidently, this is Uncle Fester's raw bm band.

Forest is also somewhat similar to Darkthrone, but of course they're NS homosexual scum so that automatically makes their music worthless

Hehe, Forest is not so bad. More like Graveland than Darkthrone, though. I don't care for Forest that much but I can see how others with different taste could esteem them.

Incidently, don't peg me as hating "evil bad nazis", I'm actually a fan of NSBM, but NSBM in Russia is so tied up with the gay folk bands and stupid RAC scene that it's better to avoid them altogether when looking for good BM in Russia.

Well the Blazebirth Hall bands are pretty much straight up black metal, except maybe for Branikald's last album. And Temnozor is awesome.

Given that he gives a 90+ score to crap like Abyssic Hate, yeah, I'm inclined to ignore such an opinion. I'll check the band out.

That's completely untrue. They are about as "straight up black metal" as Moonsorrow. I don't mean to pick on you, but let's forget about all Blazebirth hall bands for the purposes of this thread. The group is well known enough and there are plenty of other general black metal and folk metal related threads to discuss them. I am going to edit the OP to include this.

Hmm. I stole some MP3s off the Internet, and while the initial impression about the music is okay, the guitar seems to be badly out of tune...

Is it? I never notice those kinds of things. Hell, I didn't realize Vondur played out of tune till I read that it was so. Give Spitehowling a bit more of chance, though, I'm sure you will be sucked into the world of cold, grim, siberian black metal.

Allright if you don't want to talk about them, but Forest's albums (Foredooming the Hope for Eternity/As a Song in the Harvest of Grief are pretty much pure black metal, a little on the atmospheric side but generally very raw and reminiscent of Darkthrone.

Anyway, as I stated before you'd like Old Wainds and their related band, Nav'.

When i think russian bm, i think instantly Syny Severa (translation: Sons of North). Volkov Oleg centers the entire lyrical theme around racism and nazism.

You sir are an idiot. Branikald, Forest, Raven Dark and Vargleide are unabashed Darkthrone worship, with a bit of originality though. Rundagor is Darkthrone worship too, but to a lesser extent, it's more like a mixture between Isengard and Darkthrone.

In all honesty, at most there's about a dozen of BM bands deserving attention.

EDIT: Syny Severa sucks ass. It's as retarded as nsbm can get, especially in the lyrical department. Hell, even Korrozia Metalla's lyrics are more thoughtful and meaningful.

Aren't most of the Blazebirth Hall bands NS, or have band members who are in NS bands?

I would also like to note that Russia is the biggest producer of shit Black Metal bands out there.(Other than Brazil, Mexico, and Finland)

They all are. Basically, Blazebirth Hall = Branikald (the guy) or whatever his actual name is and he is most certainly NS.



I was about to post the same thing, the two of those I've heard (Branikald and Forest) were both Darkthrone worship with a slap of Burzum worship...

Actually, they started dealing with ns themes only in 1998.

My bad. So all the pre-'98 bands are NS.

Not a great fan of russian bm but there are Pseudogod, their demo Illusion of Salvation is great Blasphemy/Beherit/etc stuff. One of the few demos under Satanic Propaganda Records which is actually very good. It seems they have recently released a split with polands Perdition.

Nothing against Blazebirth/NS stuff but Forest/Branikald/etc sound pretty much all the same.

Old Wainds ftw. 'Scalding Coldness' is a superb, cold BM album.

The "Helcaraxe/Temnohor" split is a good example of the old school, necro sound. I got the xeroxed, CD-r version, but it's really good. I got it on Ebay from one of those 10 CD-r deals for $20.00 packages from Regimental Records two years ago. Get a copy if you can...very atmospheric.

What is so bad about NS that you can't even listen to NS influencend bands?
I understand that if you are kike, you might get offended but otherwise I don't see any problems.

If he was a Jew, he'd probably be offended by your dumb ass. Jesus fucking Christ.

Anyway, Asklepia is pretty good Atmospheric Black Metal.

Do a check for Russian BM full-lengths by year, lots of decent-good stuff turns up.

Only Russian bm i've heard is the BlackDeath split with Leviathan, and blackdeath sucks.

Stayed away from the scene because the only bands i've seen that i've been able to download/purchase have been nsbm.

Maybe you don't see cause you're critically braindead.

Hehe priceless ''if you are kike''. No but in all seriousness there are some people who for inexplicable reasons get their panties tied up in a knot if their black metal is about Aryanism and White People and everything instead of Hail Satan - Murder Christians.

National Socialism

I'm pretty sure the "national" part is a major factor too

Nah, I don't give a damn if an individual has flowery romantic visions. They only become dangerous when implemented on massive scale, which is where the Socialism part begins.

Um...National Socialism has nothing to do with the disaster called Communism or its more tame version, socialism, despite it being the same word.

From Wiki...



So while the nationalism component is certainly at the forefront, the ideology did have socialistic beginnings.

Music is subjective, my dear.

Russia isn't a particular favourite of mine. In fact, no bands come to mind that haven't already been mentioned.

Well, their socialism is a very different version from the leftist socialism of today but it's not at all based on marxism. National Socialism is what it says it is in the name: A social system (benefitting the workers) within a nation and for that nation, no needless multiculturalism and other bullshit.
Anyway this is kind of derailling the thread.

While that's true, i doubt that's what they're emphasizing. Most NS bands simply are pro-white skin slavic/germanic people (so it seems). It's a dislike of foreigners, and religious institutions. Extreme racial/ethic pride fits ns the best i think. I wouldn't give these bands the credit of being political, but rather just racist.