Drudkh (Ukraine)

Kharkiv, Ukraine (2002 – present)

Drudkh, meaning “wood” in Sanskrit, is anatmospheric black metal band from Kharkiv, Ukraine formed in 2002 by Roman Saenko, the leading member of Hate Forest; Thurios, the leading member ofAstrofaes; and Yuriy Sinitsky, of Lucifugumand DEFINITION SANE. Their strongly folk-influenced music focuses on a dense atmosphere with a lot of feeling, and the lyrical contents embrace Slavic mythology, seasons and poetry. Many of the band’s lyrics are derived from the works of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Ukrainian poets, especially Taras Shevchenko.

“During all its history, the band followed a ‘no photos, no interviews, no website, no gigs’ policy, which was nobly accepted by Drudkh’s new label Season of Mist. The absence of any comments or information from Drudkh’s side gave an opening to a few ignorant internet warrior-fans to spread rumors, that the band embraces extreme political views. This is absolutely misleading and a total profanation, since there is nothing in Drudkh’s music or lyrics that would suggest any political outlook. Drudkh praise individualism, self-improvement and estrangement from modern values.” Roman Saenko (2008)

DOWNLOAD Autumn Aurora

Krvnik (Slovenia)

In the year 2004, the form of the band Krvnik was made under the name Vinternatt. It began as an attempt to breed the Darkness by M.K. but soon I.J. and Cadaver were merged into Vinternatt. Within few months, the trinity of Vinternatt composed and recorded a demo tape Moon In Darkness that was self-released in 2006. In 2007, after the depart of Cadaver and gaining J.C., the second demo tape entitled The Dawn Of Abolish, has been recorded during rehersals and later released via Mistress Dance Records from Portugal. The third release In The Shades of Oblivion has been released in 2008 through Thor’s Hammer Productions as a commemoration of the bands past manifestations.

With the time passing, the band decided to purge deeper into the more serious and mysterious depths of Black Metal. In the same year, the band recorded and released an ark filled with putrid and depressive loss of life - …Echoes. Its containment ended with the result of gaining opportunities to perform live rituals and was the final stab wound for the chapter of Vinternatt.

One year later, after the closed chapter of Vinternatt, the band cleansed itself with a new name – KRVNIK and formed the unholy Tetragrammaton with the deranged mind of A.D. from Somrak. Stepping towards the praise for glorification of Devil, Doom, Darkness and Death; the self-released full length album Initiation Into The Great Art of Suffering was created and saw the black light in 2010.

For now, the final and utmost gruesome psalm Prophecies So Horrid, was contributed into a split release Covenant Of The Undivine along with their brothers - Somrak,Grimoir and Samomor.

With blood anointed and under the eye of Satan, Krvnik are to continue the paths of all so unsacred…
DOWNLOAD Initiation Into The Great Art of Suffering

Somrak (Slovenia)

Somrak was formed in 2001 by a fraction of deranged individuals that had the urge to inhale Uncreation and compose some carcinogenic Black Metal. As the cancer grew on other unworthy hylics - the form of Somrak was shapened into a band. Numerous gigs and recordings were accompanied by several line-up changes. Nevertheless, the cancer can not be killed, nor healed…

In 2005, Somrak set the first stones of the Devil’s temple with the release of a 7’’ split with Aesthenia - Gathering At The Ruins/Invocations Unto Belial, released through Vile Art Records. Following in 2007, the release of the first full-length album The Abhorred Blessings via Decadence Through Ruination was a mass of eight blessings to commemorate the presence of Satan.

For the next two years, Somrak manifested their malignant presence with fiery and bloodstained rituals as either headliners or supporting act. Spreading Uncreation over Metal Mania, Dunkelheit, Under The Black Sun,… alongside Urgehal, Inquisition, Nehëmah, Sargeist,… The end of spreading these blessings so abhorred, was marked by a tour with Corpus Christii in 2009.

In the beginning of 2010, the chalice of the beast was again contented with blood of Covenant Of The Undivine - a 12’’ vinyl split with brothers from Grimoir, Krvnik and Samomor.
DOWNLOAD Covenant of The Undivine

Natural Spirit (Ukraine)

At the beginning of 1999 in Chernigov, Ukraine a band Son of Earth, which played sympho/black/metal, was created. The members of the band were:

Sergey Mischenko (keyboards)

Oleg Kirienko (guitar, vocal)

Viktor Sen’kov (drums)

Yaroslav Smolko (guitar)

Vlad Stechenko (bass)


On March 7th , 1999, the group gave the first concert in the club KSK together with the following groups: “Gods Tower”, “Flying”, “Nocturnal Dominium “. Because of musical disagreements in the group in the summer of 1999 Oleg, Victor and Vlad formed a new sound-project “Spellcraft”. Alexandra Sidorenko (keys, vocal) and Jaroslav Smolko (guitar) joined the “SPELLCRAFT” later. Afterwards the name “SPELLCRAFT” was changed for “NATURAL SPIRIT”. 

The group played in Kiev with groups “Black inquisition “, “FLYING” and others in summer 1999. In Chernigov at Igor Prigorovsky’s studio “NATURAL SPIRIT” recorded the first demo-album “Starthrone” which was produced by “MOON RECORDS” (Ukraine) and “The Flaming Arts” (Belarus). The album was sold in edition of 2000 copies.

In 2000 Vlad Stechenko (bass) left the group and the group had to take a session bass-guitarists for the concerts. Within that year the group successfully performed in many cities in Belarus and Ukraine. 

In spring 2002 the group stopped the concert activity for one year and a half , recording the second album “Русколунь” at Igor Prigorovsky’s new studio. In a year, by summer 2003 the album was ready. Alexander Sidorenko (vocal, keys) and Jaroslav Smolko (guitar) brought the significant contribution to group creativity, but, unfortunately, they left the group after finishing the recording.

In October, 2003 the band got some new members:

Oleg Kirienko (guitar, vocal) 

Vasily Reberg (guitar) 

Andrey Moiseenko (bass) 

Elena Bilyk (keys, vocal) 

Victor Senkov (drums)


In spring 2004 Sergey Kirichenko, the old friend to group, came instead of Vasily Reberg. Before that Sergey had taken part in the band concerts as a session musician. 

In September, 2004 the album “Русколунь” was published as a limited edition at the group expence. There is no declared video “Vladimir” on the disk so as in this case the official registration of a clip would take too much time. This annoying trouble was corrected on the “More Hate prods” release.

In winter 2005 the agreement with the Russian label ” More Hate prods ” was reached, and the remastered album ” Русколунь” was published by the “More Hate prods” with additions (video “Vladimir” and a demo-variant of a new song “Abort”) in summer 2005. Approximately during the same period (spring-summer 2005) Elena Bilyk, Andrey Moiseenko, Sergey Kirichenko left the group.

In July, 2005 Jaroslav Smolko (guitar) returned to the band, and Sergey Vlasov (keys) with Julia Shevchenko (vocal) were invited also. As the updated structure Natural Spirit performed on the festival “Metal Heads Mission 2005” (Evpatoria) and “Shake Your Head Fest” (Kiev).

For today the “Natural Spirit” band consists of: 

Oleg Kirienko - guitar, vocal

Danil Komornikov - guitar 

Vadim Mushchenko - bass 

Ivan Popov - keyboard

Andrey Goncharenko - drums 

Katerina Prischepa - vocal. 


Now the band is working in studio recording the third album which is expected to be finished up to the end of February 2008.

In 2007 the band played at various festivals and actions in Kiev, Illichevsk, Dneprodzerzhinsk, Chernigov.

During its history the group played on the same stage with the following bands:Behemoth , GODS TOWER, Skyforger, Butterfly Temple, Мастер, Arkona, Nokturnal Mortum, Napalm Death etc.

for more infomation about Natural: http://naturalspirit.com.ua
DOWNLOAD Sita Rosa

Dragobrath (Ukraine)

DRAGOBRATH is a black metal band from the ancient city of Lviv, Ukraine. The name of the band comes from the name of the old and famous Carpathian mountain - Dragobrath. It was chosen to underline the connection of band’s music conception with old land of Ukrainian Carpathians. The style of the band is possible to describe as a black metal mixture made of atmospheric, aggressive and melodic riffs.

For DRAGOBRATH it all started in 2004, when the instrumental part of the musical material was recorded by Synevir. He was then searching for the man to perform vocals for this stuff. Soon enough he had a chat with his old friend Krukh, who himself is a well known person in the underground movement of Lviv and happened to be a vocalist. The decision was made than - and Krukh became the second member of the band. As for the bands members Synevir and Krukh they also participated or still take part in other Lviv bands.

At the year of 2005 the work on the first album was finished and it was called “Scripture of the Woods”. The work contains 8 songs composed by DRAGOBRATH and a Darkthrone classics cover Transylvanian Hunger”. From the lyrical point of view eight track of the album display the slow anamorphosis of the present existing reality into the old and forgotten pagan times. 

The aim of the musicians was to perform something unusual. Unusual in the sense of music itself and lyrics. Music was meant to combine speed and aggression with comparatively slow and melodic atmospheric parts. And of course the idea also was to do aggressive black, because nowadays many bands started playing commercially oriented some MTV black. So the recorded material was meant to be as raw as possible, but nevertheless readable. 

In the end of 2005 the band signed a contract with Stygian Crypt Productions (Russia) and at a start of 2006 the first band’s album named “Scripture of the Woods” was released. Circulation - 1250 copies.

In the beginning of 2007 Krukh has left the band. In short time new vocalist has joined Dragobrath. His name - Tchugaister. After that band is recording the new album.

In Autumn 2007 band has signed a contract with Polish label Eastside production.

In the beginning of 2008 second band’s album named “And Mountains Openeth Eyes…” was released by Eastside Productions on CD.
DOWNLOAD Fra Myrer Taake 2010

Perunica (Poland)

Perunica was a Pagan Black Metal band from Płock, Poland formed in 2000. They released their work under Eastside Records label. The last-known lineup was: Ostry (guitar and vocals), Michał (bass) and Swaromir (drums). They released one demo, Święte Dziedzictwo Przodków (2001) and a full-length album, Triumf Odwiecznych Prawd (2007) which was recorded in 2003 but released in 2007.
DOWNLOAD Triumf Odwiecznych Prawd

United Slavic Metal Nation: Slunovrat (Czech Republic)

United Slavic Metal Nation: Slunovrat (Czech Republic): "Genre(s) Black/Thrash Metal Lyrical theme(s) War, Paganism OriginFormed inCurrent labelStatus Czech Republic(Ostrava)2008Ravenheart Produ..."

Slunovrat (Czech Republic)

Genre(s)
Black/Thrash Metal
Lyrical theme(s)
War, Paganism
Origin	Formed in	Current label	Status
Czech Republic(Ostrava)	2008	Ravenheart Productions	Active
Current line-up
Midgard - Vocals (Enochian (Cze)) Angel of Death - Guitar (Enochian (Cze)) Hellthrone - Guitar (Silva Nigra, Diagon, Blackcount Baalberith, Hellcommander) Pertussis - Bass (Vrolok (Cze)) Khorne - Drums Marbuel - Keyboards (Enochian (Cze))
Former/past member(s)
Molchor - Drums

Discography

Sword & Iron Cross

Full-length, 2010

DOWNLOAD Sword and Iron Cross

United Slavic Metal Nation: Prarod (Slovakia)

United Slavic Metal Nation: Prarod (Slovakia): "Kapela vznikla niekedy začiatkom roka 2007. Zakladajúcimi členmi sú Andrej a Samo. Neubehlo ani pol roka a už s nami hrával Zipppo na poste..."

Prarod (Slovakia)

Kapela vznikla niekedy začiatkom roka 2007. Zakladajúcimi členmi sú Andrej a Samo. Neubehlo ani pol roka a už s nami hrával Zipppo na poste basgitary. Potom prišlo čierne obdobie a na cca 3/4 roka sme nehrali, lebo nám vykradli skúšobňu.

Niečo viac pred rokom sa nám podarilo si zabezpečiť vcelku fajn priestory a vydali sme sa cestou PRARODu. Prišiel k nám gitarista Ľubo a Prarod začal tvoriť vo veľkom a smer-naberajúcom štyle. Jediná vec, ktorá nám chýbala, bol spev. Adekvátny našim predstavám sme nezohnali, tak sa toho ujal Samo na poste gitary.

Vo februári sme mali náš prvý koncert, ktorý bol pre nás skúška ohňom. A keďže sme tu, tak s jemnými popáleninami ideme ďalej.

V ,áji sa vyberáme do štúdia a svetlo sveta uziera naše prvé demo OZVENA VEKOV.

Hudobný štyl ktorý PRAROD hrá sa dá zaradiť medzi Thrash/Black/Death metal s prvkami folku, čo my sme zaškatuľkovali do PAGAN METALU.

Textovú náplň tvori prevažne vzťah k slovanským koreňom, predkom, tradíciam, zvykom, viere, ale aj k samotnej oblasti kde sa nachádzame a to k nášmu rodnému Slovensku.
DOWNLOAD Ozvena Vekov

United Slavic Metal Nation: Slavigrom (Slovakia)

United Slavic Metal Nation: Slavigrom (Slovakia): "Black Metal from Slovakia. Lyrics dealing with Slavonic Pride, Paganism, War and Antichristianity. The band was found in 2005. Their first ..."

Slavigrom (Slovakia)

Black Metal from Slovakia. Lyrics dealing with Slavonic Pride, Paganism, War and Antichristianity. The band was found in 2005. Their first demo CD-R was “Kruté pohanské víťazstvo” in 2006. In 2007 Slavigrom released demo “Návrat slovanskej nenávisti”. In 2008 Slavigrom released EP “Kraj temný” and “Split 2008” with Moravská zima. Slavigrom part in this Split are two own song(Plamen Vecnej Pomsty part I. and part II.) and coversong Semper Fi (Nargaroth Cover). In april 2009 has been finally released by Ketzer Records a long-awaited Split CD „Hromovlad / Slavigrom – Perperuna.“

Band members:
Dlog-drums
Carpath-guitars
Hellbutcher-bass guitar

Past members:
Deadwind-vocals
DOWNLOAD Krute Pohanske Vitazstvo
DOWNLOAD Navrat Slovanskej Nenavisti
DO|WNLOAD Moravska Zima

Arafel [Israel]

Arafel ("fog" in Hebrew) is an Israeli Folk / Black Metal band formed by youngsters from Russia. The band went through constants line - up changes and now consists of:
Helge Stang - Vocals
Felius - Guitar
Leshii - Drums
R.K. - Bass
Nasha - Violin

The band lyrically focuses on the themes of history and war, which suits perfectly with the music. The music is epic, with a lot of sympho - elements, with very harsh screamed vocals. Sometimes clean vocals appear in Arafel's songs. The music is actually highly influenced by Israeli / Russian folk music, which makes it quite different and unique from all the other Folk / BM bands.

So far, Arafel released 1 demo album ("Сказки Старого Леса") and 2 albums ("The Way of Defender" and "The Second Strike: Through the Flames of Ages" ).

The Second Strike: Through the Flames of Ages [Download]