Style: folk metal, deathcore (mixed vocals, Russian lyrics)
Recommended for fans of: Russkaja, Mr. Bungle, Pensees Nocturnes, Diablo Swing Orchestra
Review by: Josh
Country: Russia
Release date: 4 June, 2020
[EDITOR’S NOTE: This review was originally published in the June 2020 Part 1 issue of The Progressive Subway.]
While a great genre, prog often feels like it’s got a stick up its ass. Zmey Gorynich have removed that stick, fashioned it into a wand, and used it to conjure up the spirits of Vladimir Lenin and Peter the Great from beyond the grave. This album does not take itself seriously. It has a Pitbull cover on it, for God’s sake. This is not a weakness, though, but rather a strength.
Sonically, this album is a blend of polka, symphonic metal, and deathcore. It’s not cohesive like a concept album, and that works in its favor. Zmey Gorynich experiment with just about everything here. There are power metal choruses, black metal riffs, breakdowns that are rapped over, a Pitbull cover, and polka/deathcore sections with major key riffage. You never really know what’s gonna happen next, and that makes for an incredibly fun listening experience. I’ll admit, though, that sometimes it’s a bit too jarring. Occasionally you’re hit with a breakdown out of nowhere in the middle of a folk section, and that just doesn’t flow at all.
For an album that feels so schizophrenic on paper, it flows surprisingly well. The band tends to fixate on one style at a time, then sculpt all the others around it. This means ominous clean polka vocals over deathcore breakdowns and happy metal riffs in polka sections. Because of this, there’s never really much stylistic clashing, as everything is played with coexistence in mind. This is not a rule, however. Zmey Gorynich occasionally do something completely unprecedented that shouldn’t work at all, and a good deal of the time it ends up working out. My favorite example of this is the intro to Капель, which is straight polka… until the harsh vocals come in. It’s so absurd and jarring that it’s not, which in turn makes it even more jarring, and somehow it works!
If you’ve got thirty minutes or so free and want to have some good fun, definitely check this album out. It’s a bit rough around the edges, but it’s a deathcore-polka fusion album with a Pitbull cover (which fucking slaps, by the way). You don’t see that every day.
Recommended tracks: Матрёшкинъ Попъ, Кузькина Мать, Капель
You may also like: Freighter, Melted Bodies
Final verdict: 7.5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | VKontakte | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Soundage Productions – Facebook | Official Website
Zmey Gorynich is:
– Mityay (vocals, lyrics)
– Rys (female vocals)
– Malafey (guitars)
– Paphnuty (guitars)
– Gvozd (bass)
– Nehay (drums)
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