Смерть сумасшедшего

This act appeared right after the dissolution of the former Soviet Union, rigorously financed by the fearsome Russian Intelligence Agency K.G.B. which authorities were adamant on keeping national metal safe and sound for a fair number of years… kidding of course, this is a science-fiction scenario (well, one never knows…); in fact the guys appeared a bit earlier than that, in the late-80’s to be precise, the first fruit of their collaboration being the demo reviewed here.

Previously this effort was titled “Risen by Death”, and was listed as a full-length… which should be the right treatment as it comes with a very good sound quality, and is over an hour long. Anyway, the band present us with interesting classic progressive thrash with more or less legitimate death and doom metal insertions which make it a fairly unpredictable at times listen, the complex decisions taken putting this act right next to other Russian masters of the technical/progressive like Aspid, Zhelezny Potok, Valkyria, End Zone, and Koma.

Big ambition is shown right from the get-go with the 12-min opening title-track which is an all-instrumental piece covering all that is known as progressive/technical thrash, a larger-than-life conglomerate with surreal atmospherics, twisted technical mazes, and quite a few straight headbanging strokes, a “symphony” of which even wizards like Mekong Delta and Deathrow would be proud. A really pleasant surprise which is followed by a “Waltz”, but instead of being a tribute to Psychotic Waltz, for instance, this number is just a minimalistic brooding doomster without any technical decorations. Surprises, surprises, and more are coming, first with “Madness Celebration” which is brisk ripping technical thrash/death akin to Invocator’s “Excursion Demise” and Vacant Grave’s “Life or Death”; and then with the gorgeously-titled “The Guide for the Fuckface Beginners”, a fulsome tribute to the Floridian school again more on the direct, bashing side.

“Tanks” brings back the higher forms of complexity with another 12-min of aggressive thrash/death rifforamas which interlace each other in a slightly dishevelled fashion recalling Hellwitch at times, the speedy parametres admirably sustained for a large portion of the song. “Risen by Death” is a stylish switch to technical Bay-Areasque thrash ala Forbidden and Heathen, but “Breath of a Gloom” brutalizes the environment again clinging more towards the death metal side. More doom and gloom with the overlong 9-min dragger “Having the Right” which “has the right” to slow everything down to sleepy dimensions before “Nomad” wakes up everyone with aggressive explosive riffage, a moshing right as rain headbanger the situation pacified by “Behind You… Eternity”, a soothing ballad which at least shows the singer as a pretty decent performer with a more emotional cleaner timbre as elsewhere he shouts quite forcefully coming close to the death metal growlers. “Your Damned Name” is another relative mood spoiler, an awkward blend of doom and semi-ballad which doesn’t quite end this fairly active opus in the most dignified manner.

A lot of meandering through the metal spectre, for better or worse, the band not quite certain which nuance to stick to although this weird amalgam may have been intentional as well, enhancing to an extent their elaborate thrashy base. The purists may not be very happy as the stylistic fluctuation is experienced on a nearly song-by-song basis with contrasting approaches co-existing side by side the listener not knowing what to make of it at times. In terms of diversity this effort beats the ones of the other mentioned acts, but it doesn’t feature too much exemplary musicianship to really reach them quality-wise. It’s a curious, frankly spontaneous on occasion, amalgamation of styles that works as separate showpieces, but as a whole it lacks coherence and refinement, trying to please a wider gamut of fans when just sticking with the thrash metal side would have been the better option.

Well, it was a demo, after all, so the criticism shouldn’t be too harsh although some flaws could still be detected on the full-length debut which saw the guys tightening their visions a bit from which suffered the dynamics; the death metal additives were completely gone replaced by more dreamy balladic/doomy passages which worked well in league with the minimalistic, less exuberant progressive thrash etudes. Not a bad showing at all, it also paved the way for the guys’ exit from thrash which was completed on the third instalment, a spacey progressive affair siding with late-80’s/early-90’s Voivod, blasé relaxed progressive with very little edge and verve. I guess by that time the K.G.B. agents had already found their other favourites, and were not interested in sponsoring the band’s endeavours anymore… madmen, what can you do? To cause such an irreparable breach in the National Thrash Security…