Diktatura

The cover of this MCD shows Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Slobodan Milosevic and Akhman Kadyrov. No lyrics or statements from the band are enclosed in the booklet, all you can find are three quotes in Russian. The quotes are from Kadyrov, Stalin and Shamil Basayev. My Russian is currently very basic, so I only understand the Stalin quote (free translation by myself): “One death is a tragedy. Millions of deaths are statistics”. Now, I don’t think NKVD is a political band in the sense that they sympathise with the men pictured on the cover. Instead I think they use their music to portray the emotions associated with dictatorships: oppression, cult of personality, brutality, blind obedience, hopelessness and so on.

Not only does NKVD have an interesting concept, the music happens to be good as well: dark and brutal industrial black metal with a cold production and very intense drum patterns. This is an excellent choice of genre, as it really complements the concept. The guitars and distorted bass create an impressive wall of sound that crushes all opposition and pins the listener against the floor like a huge fist. The only bad thing concerning the production is that the drum machine is too low in the mix, so it doesn’t sound as powerful as it could. The vocals are somewhere between grunts and barks, not the typical black metal shriek. All the songs are pretty similar in structure but this doesn’t bore me at all. The fact that “Diktatura” is a MCD prevents it from getting boring, as the playing time is quite short.

Each of the four men on the cover get their own songs here so to speak. The first track is just an intro, the second is about Kadyrov, the third about Hitler, the fourth about Stalin and the fifth about Milosevic. Each track also contains speech samples of the leaders in question. The intro is an ambient piece and it also contains a speech sample but I don’t know who’s speaking. However, I think the language here is Russian, so it’s probably either Stalin or Kadyrov.

The aura that the music emits is really Orwellian and disturbing. It feels like I must obey, or the state/thought police will be at my doorstep and take me away, after which I will never be seen again. Big Brother is watching my every move and monitoring my thoughts... I’ve got to resist... I’ve got to resist... but can I? Is that a telescreen on my wall? *shudders*. I’m getting paranoid to say the least! “Diktatura” is able to mess with the listener’s mind and make the music come alive to the extent that one can imagine being part of a totalitarian system of some sort. NKVD was one of 2007’s unexpected finds for yours truly.