Дебош в Орлёнке

A very enjoyable album from a band the quality of whose output varies greatly. This is a performance in a hotel; "Orlyenok" whose auditorium was apparently gutted by the fans on this occasion. What we have here, seems to be a soundboard recording of fairly good quality (although the bass is way too low in the mix), with some crowd noises between songs. How they did that and if it actually came from the same performance is unclear, but Pauk's chants and the audience responses are clearly audible. His introduction runs as follows:

"I'm pleased to welcome you to our concerts (I guess this means there was a series of them) "Debosh" in Orlenok...I see you have drunk a lot of, so to speak "warming" beverages today? yes?...(the crowd cheers)...good work. Well, Shura...Shura! (guitar noises) Let's go!"

The album then begins in earnest with "SPID" the Russian acronym for AIDS, a quick, thrash number opening with a guitar solo. Next is "Heroin" another song in the same vein, with a typically Korroziesque chorus. Next a short break, and the oddly upbeat "I'm President" is blasted out with the next song being introduced for the "connoisseurs of female meat;" "Vampire's Tank" is as ridiculous as it is catchy. The highlight of the album, the stormy "Phantom" follows, with stellar guitar solos over a dark soundscape full of grotesque grave-side imagery. I usually change the CD after this one, but if one continues, they are also rewarded with "Godfather" and the raucous "Russian Vodka." The album ends somewhat unexpectedly after "Motorocker" which is a great headbanging song, with a nod to Judas Priest, but is not a triumphant closer one would expect in its place. No matter though - overall a great live album and of surprisingly high quality, given the year and the nature of this band.

I think this particular disk would serve as a great introduction to Korrozia in their Thrash days. In 1990, recorded at their peak with only one more studio album "Sadism" to follow, before they went in the unfortunate Nationalist direction. With one year until the fall of Soviet Union, this sort of thing was still very much underground. Concerts were always in danger of being raided by one "organ" or the other and artists always remained under close scrutiny of the state. This in fact is necessary in a country, where artists have been known to command fanatical respect and sway mass opinion, with often politically significant results. Their music had a certain immediacy which may go unnoticed by a foreign audience, with AIDS and heroin only recently to have been revealed as a major social problem and the uneasy feeling of approaching apocalypse, reflected in the funerary, Satanic lyrics.

It is true that the band was never groundbreaking, with the majority of its material, faithful reproductions of Western Thrash and Heavy Metal bands such as Slayer and old Metallica. But the coarseness and downright bizarre tempos they have used ("I'm President" is an example) are distinctly Russian and come from urban "blatnaya" sing-alongs. Borov's roaring vocals are probably the highlight - excellent performance throughout and quite unique, as I haven't heard anyone really sing like that. Mix this with a swaggering anti-social spirit with songs dedicated to mental patients and ex-convicts (many of which were traditionally seen as victims of the regime and were in fact "political"), floating in a lake of Vodka and you get one over-the-top band. The ultimate release of destructive energy for restless youth in troubled times.

Get this album, it is an odd historical document and a great raw live performance, with most songs being more energetic than their studio versions.