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Д.И.В. > Mein Kampf > Reviews
Д.И.В. - Mein Kampf

Far from best Russian thrash - 35%

puffthemagicdragon, August 3rd, 2014
Written based on this version: 1992, 12" vinyl, Moroz Records

Nazi imagery was a popular gimmick in metal community back in late 80s and early 90s, especially in German-friendly Japan and South America (remember a picture of Max Cavalera wearing a crooked cross Nazi t-shirt on one of old Sepultura LPs?). Some bands of course took their Nazi thing more seriously, and along these were Russian D.I.V., who, not unlike many Polish contemporaries, found themselves hating "lower races" and took Hitler as some kind of a role model.

But let's forget the lyrics and whole imagery for a while and concentrate on the music first ... There are basically three types of songs to be found here. First, you get typical, uninspired fast speed/thrash songs like Freddie, Prison Area and Anarchy. These are your 2nd rate, run of the mill tracks, which lack in variety and are usually played in same speed from beginning to end. From time to time there appears some cool, ripping thrash riff, and OK Hanneman/King style soloing isn't a throwaway thing either, but even at best these guys can't hold a handle to, let's say Shah or Master.

Then you get abominations like London Beat, Decoration after Sin and Hash. This is where D.I.V. go for half-thrash riffs that don't work good at all, and sound like a Pantera rejects at best. Add to that some silly rapping here and there, and crappy "na-na-na" singing interludes - just an insult to injury, believe me. Ironically, each of these songs contain some really cool, memorable riffs buried in between, and again fine solo work, but as a whole don't' work good at all.

Third style of songwriting is unfortunately presented only on title track, which is absolutelly killer. Slow, haunting thrash monster with memorable powerful chorus - but whatever this song is about, I can't exactly enjoy chanting "Sieg Heil, Mein Kampf ...". This is the only overtly well-written track on the album and shows that these guys had some potential music-wise; while they weren't really that bad as musicians, they just couldn't come up with good songs as a whole on the rest of the album.

The last two tracks on the album are somehow out of place. Damned World is somewhat of a ballad that never really builds up to its potential and the last track ... Well, compared to it Sacred Reich's 31 Flavours sounds like Angel of Death. Son of a Bitch is a shitty rap/funk song that really kills this album. Black man's music played by people who despise black race? Check out some "lyrics" to London Beat ("Black Guy - Must Die!") ... Fast forward to next D.I.V. album, you get a song called Rap Monkey ("Shit - Rap Monkey!; Shit - Black Monkey!") ... Yeah, this band doesn't make much sense.

The lyrics are written partly in Russian, partly in terrible English, and with some German thrown in the title track. Are they Nazi? Well, honestly, I can't really tell. Neither English written lyrics neither Google translations of Russian don't make much sense. There is some aforementioned racism presented, but I'll be damned if I know what they wanted to tell with these songs. As far as I can tell, the title track isn't neo-Nazi metalheads' Horst-Wessel-Lied, but just a war themed song.

Lyrics are of course very important part of music, as they transcend it to a completely new level, but maybe not as much with bands who chose to sing in their native language. With saying that I don't mean that these bands should be condoned for racism, blind hatred, etc.; this shit's got nothing to do with metal at all. These bands are on one hand deprived of one dimension of music that can be provided with lyrics (yeah, I know, everything can be translated, but the feeling's not the same), but add another dimension by doing it differently; and Russian language sounds really cool in metal (check some Aria, Kruiz ...).

So, past the dubious lyrics, what do we have here ... One good song, lots of average ones, lots of half-trash songs, but with some cool stuff beneath. And of course the final atrocity, the rap/funk song. It's maybe worth owning on vinyl, as the zombified Adolf cover looks totally over the top. Music-wise, this is far from best Russian thrash.