Ukrainian metal | |
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Stylistic origins | Heavy metal music |
Cultural origins | 1990s, Ukraine |
Typical instruments | Electric guitar, electric bass guitar, drum kit, vocals |
Other topics | |
Ukrainian folk music, pop music in Ukraine, Ukrainian rock |
Music of Ukraine | ||||
General topics | ||||
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Genres | ||||
Nationalistic and patriotic songs | ||||
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Ukrainian metal is the heavy metal music scene of Ukraine. The most common Ukrainian heavy metal subgenres are black, pagan, folk and death metal. The most popular and well-known bands are black metal bands Drudkh, Nokturnal Mortum, Khors, Kroda, folk metal bands Holy Blood, Tin Sontsia, Veremiy and Kraamola.
Metalcore bands Jinjer (founded in 2008) and Space of Variations (founded in 2009) signed a contract with Napalm Records. Stoned Jesus, Motanka, 1914 (founded in 2014) and IGNEA (founded in 2015) are Ukraine's newest metal bands with international notoriety. 0%Mercury (founded in 2016) won 3rd place in the 2023 Wacken Open Air metal battle competition. [1]
Among the biggest festivals were Metal Heads Mission (Crimea), Carpathian Alliance (Lviv oblast), Global East (Kyiv), ProRock (Kyiv). Media: among some old and established on ex-USSR territory paper magazines such as Terroraiser, Atmosfear there is also English-language portal Antichrist magazine (since 2003).
Nokturnal Mortum started as a death metal band called Suppuration in 1991, [2] then they turned to black metal and changed name to Crystaline Darkness but "had to change the name back between 1993 and 1994 to Nocturnal Mortum because there already existed a band with that name in the western underground." [3] Then the band "changed the letter so that we wouldn't find a band with the same name again like it was the case with Crystaline Darkness." [3] Nokturnal Mortum gained their first Western recognition with the release of their album Goat Horns , their second full-length album, notable for having two keyboardists play on the album, often on the same song, and for mixing traditional Ukrainian music with black metal.
The band's first albums were released through The End Records and (as licence pressings) through Nuclear Blast, [4] but the label and band separated after releasing the album Nechrist and a re-release of the Lunar Poetry demo due to a disagreement. According to Varggoth, "We had a contract with The End Records but it was broken. We have different points of view. They didn't like our policy, we didn't like the way they do business. They owe us some money. That was enough for a conflict."
Band frontman Knjaz Varggoth is one of the foremost figures in Eastern European National Socialist Black Metal (NSBM) and has played in various NSBM bands, like Aryan Terrorism, Warhead and Temnozor. Nokturnal Mortum's albums "Weltanschauung" and the live album "Live in Katowice" were released by No Colours Records, a German label associated with NSBM. In an interview with Frostkamp, Varggoth said that the album "Weltanschauung" is influenced by Miguel Serrano, a former Chilean diplomat, holocaust denier and major figure in Esoteric Hitlerism. [5]
Tin Sontsia is a Ukrainian folk metal band from Kyiv. Primarily the band's style was close to alternative rock, but in 2003 they have come to so called Cossack rock. Almost all of the lyrics are in Ukrainian except some songs were written in Belarusian.
Kroda is a black metal band formed in 2003 in Dnipropetrovsk. The band's primary lyrical themes are paganism, nature and history. [6] Their sixth full-length album was released on 1 May 2015. [7] [8] [9]
The band was formed by two musicians, Eisenslav and Viterzgir, in March 2003. The name of the band was taken from the Old East Slavic language and means "The fire of burial bonfire". According to legend, when the bodies of the warriors burned, their souls were carried away with the smoke to the Heavenly Palaces of the Gods. The smoke was a kind of a guide to Rod. In Sanskrit, the word kroda means anger, rage. Thus, the meaning of the name reveals the concept of the band. [10]
In May 2004, Kroda released their debut full-length album Поплач мені, річко... (Cry To Me, River...) on Stellar Winter Records. [11]
Their second album До небокраю життя... (Towards The Firmaments Verge of Life...) was recorded from January to April 2005, and was released on 20 July the same year. [12] In 2012 it was remastered and reissued on Purity Through Fire Records in Germany. [13]
In August 2007, Kroda made their first live performance at the Ukriainian metal music festival "Svarohovo Kolo II", which was held in Sevastopol. [14] On 22 December, the band participates in the "Kolovorot Fest" in Kharkiv. [15]
Make Me Famous were a Ukrainian metalcore band. They were founded in 2010 by rhythm guitarist and co-vocalist Denis Shaforostov, who gained popularity through his YouTube channel "above92". [16] They have released one studio album, titled It's Now or Never .
IGNEA is a Symphonic/Melodic Death Metal band from Kyiv, formed in 2013. In 2021, they signed with Napalm Records. [17]
National Socialist black metal is a political movement and a subgenre within the black metal music scene that promotes neo-Nazism, neo-fascism, and white supremacist ideologies. NSBM artists typically combine neo-Nazi imagery and ideology with ethnic European paganism, Satanism, or Nazi occultism, or a combination thereof, and vehemently oppose Christianity, Islam and Judaism from a racialist viewpoint. NSBM is not seen as a distinct genre, but as a völkisch movement within black metal. According to Mattias Gardell, NSBM musicians see this ideology as "a logical extension of the political and spiritual dissidence inherent in black metal".
Nokturnal Mortum are a Ukrainian black metal band from Kharkiv. They were one of the founders of the Ukrainian black metal scene and pioneers in the early National Socialist black metal ("NSBM") scene.
Yevhen Hapon, also spelled Eugeny Gapon and Ievgen Gapon, better known by his stage name Knjaz Varggoth, is one of the foremost figures in Eastern European black metal and far-right musicians. He is also known to Russians as Yevgeny Gaponovich Gaponovskiy or Genka for short.
Graveland are a Polish neo-Nazi pagan black metal band which was formed in 1991 by Rob Darken. They began as a black metal band before adopting a pagan and Viking metal style. The lyrics and imagery of Graveland are strongly inspired by European mythology, nature, winter and war. Their early work focused on Celtic and Slavic mythology, while their later work focuses on Norse mythology and Wotanism.
Ukrainian rock is rock music from Ukraine.
Korpiklaani is a Finnish folk metal band from Lahti that was formerly known as Shamaani Duo and Shaman.
Pop music in Ukraine is Western influenced pop music in its various forms that has been growing in popularity in Ukraine since the 1960s.
No Colours Records is a German mail order and record label from Mügeln specialised in black metal.
Peste Noire are a French black metal band from La Chaise-Dieu, France. The band was formed by "La sale Famine de Valfunde", also known simply as "Famine", in 2000. Their music uses standard black metal elements mixed with traditional Gallic instrumentation, and influences from genres like punk and electronic music. The band is sometimes referred to as P.N. or K.P.N.
Lunar Poetry is the third and final demo by Ukrainian black metal band Nokturnal Mortum. It was released on cassette tape in April 1996, through Morbid Noizz and MetalAgen Records.
Голос Сталі is an album by the Ukrainian black metal band Nokturnal Mortum, released in December 2009. The album was mixed at M.A.R.T. Studio, Kharkiv, during August and October 2009. Mastering took place in the Mana Recording Studios, Florida, in November 2009. The album was remixed and remastered in 2014 through Heritage Records.
To the Gates of Blasphemous Fire is the second album by Ukrainian symphonic black metal band Nokturnal Mortum. This album was dedicated to Igor Naumchuk of Lucifugum.
Twilightfall is the first demo by Ukrainian black metal band Nokturnal Mortum. This release had a more doom metallic sound not to be heard on any other album. It was re-released in 2004 on CD by Oriana Productions with a different cover art.
Khors is a Ukrainian black metal and pagan metal band formed in 2004 in Kharkiv by Khorus, the former bass guitarist of Astrofaes. Stylistically Khors blends a few of metal’s sub-genres together, and also is characterized as heathen dark metal. The band recorded seven full-length albums: The Flame of Eternity’s Decline (2005), Cold (2006), Mysticism (2008), Return To Abandoned (2010), Wisdom of Centuries (2012), Night Falls Onto the Front of Ours (2015) and Where the Word Acquires Eternity (2020). The group keeps an active touring and performed with groups like Enslaved, Samael, Moonspell, Behemoth, Gorgoroth, Cynic, Obtest and many others. Khors has participated in a number of European festivals such as Motocultor Festival, Kilkim Žaibu, Ragnard Rock, OST, Dark Troll, Gothoom, Aurora Infernalis, Hell Fast Attack, Metal Head's Mission, Oskorei, and Carpathian Alliance.
Oleh Yuriyovych Skrypka is a Ukrainian musician, vocalist, composer, and leader of the group Vopli Vidoplyasova.
Kroda is a Ukrainian pagan metal band formed in 2003 in Dnipro. The band's primary lyrical themes are heathenism, history, nature, traditionalism and anti-Christianity. Their sixth full-length album was released on May 1, 2015. The band has been labeled as a National Socialist black metal band due to the Holocaust denial expressed in its lyrics and its connections to neo-Nazism.
Jinjer ( "ginger") is a Ukrainian metalcore band from Donetsk, formed in 2008. None of the founding members remain with the band. The current lineup considers 2009 as its official year of formation, with the arrival of singer Tatiana Shmayluk and guitarist Roman Ibramkhalilov. The band has since added bassist Eugene Abdukhanov and drummer Vladislav Ulasevich. Their most recent album, Wallflowers, was released in August 2021.
Asgardsrei festival is an annual National Socialist black metal (NSBM) festival in Kyiv, Ukraine.
IGNEA is a Ukrainian melodic metal band formed in Kyiv in 2013. The band mixes different heavy metal subgenres, the main of which are melodic death metal, symphonic metal, progressive metal, and oriental metal.
Steelfest Open Air is an annual black metal music festival located in Hyvinkää, Finland, 60 kilometres north of Helsinki. Founded by Jani Laine, the first edition occurred in 2012.