Metal Punk Death Squad. Ukrainian Chapter (2021)

Is there life in Ukrainian metal punk? Definitely. This is confirmed by the new collection "Metal Punk Death Squad. Ukrainian Chapter" (2021), published with the support of the label Surrogate. Rec. 

You know what never fails to bring punks and metalheads together? Motorhead. Also spikes, boots, leather and so on and so forth. And "Metal Punk Death Squad" is just about that – about love for fast, dirty, iron-cracking rock and roll music with the motto "F.O.A.D". Initiated by Oleksa from the band Merzotna Potvora and released via Surrogate Rec, "Metal Punk Death Squad. Ukrainian Chapter" includes new previously unpublished tracks by Reabilitator, Knifeman, Merzotna Potvora, Prah, Warwar, Horizon, Skruta, guests from Japan – Bafomet, guests from USA – Atomic Drop and Spiter, as well as some familiar hits from Zombie Attack, Death Pill, Murder, Hellknights, Anabios, Anmasker and Gasoline Guns.

So, this compilation gives a brief of the scene. Of course, it would be really cool to see all these bands at one festival. Oh, how I miss going to the shows… But let us not be sad and dive into the new music, carefully selected for our pleasure. I will mention only the previously unpublished tracks, but you better listen to the whole thing and support the artists on Bandcamp!

Let's start with the guests.

Atomic Drop — Forget Regret

The band Atomic Drop (although it seems to be a one-man-band according to the Metal Archives) loves professional wrestling, the one with masks, leotards, and dramatic plots. Even the name of the band refers to the wrestling move, when wrestler lifts the opponent up, and drops the one tailbone-first on the wrestler's knee. The track "Forget Regret" begins with a sigh and ends with it, and between them – two and a half minutes of raw thrash with good solos and great heavy metal backing vocals on the chorus!

Bafomet — Mayhemic Blackfire

And again, the Japanese demonstrate that they are well versed in extreme genres of metal. Speed metal duo from the city of Saitama with a perfect track for the genre in the style of "here are all the terrible blasphemous words that we know in English on the top of raw and loud metal." Rock’n’Roll!

Spiter – Kill For Satan

Spiter features members from Devil Master, Shitfucker and Disjawn. If you like raw blackened metal punk, then the aforementioned bands are familiar to you, if you suddenly don’t – then in addition to getting to know Spiter ("Kill For Satan", by the way, is an exclusive for MPDS, Spiter hasn’t even released a proper demo yet) you have an opportunity to deeper explore the sea of metal punk. 

And now to our Ukrainian metal punks (in alphabetical order)

Knifeman — Трупошар

The weekend tour of Knifeman, Warningfog, Zombie Attack and Amphibian Man called "Трупошар" has managed to ride through Kyiv and Odesa only, leaving Kharkiv and Poltava without concerts due to the notorious virus. Now there is a chance to hear " Трупошар " at least on the record. Well, this is a real banger! The chorus is so damn catchy.

Merzotna Potvora — Mertvyj ščur

A nasty song with nasty vocals about a nasty dead rat. Merzotna Potvora slays once again, and with the new album coming out this spring they will be unstoppable!

Обрій — Чорні Ешелони

Probably the most metal track on the compilation, punk only occasionally breaks through in the traditional drum "tupa-tupa" here. The Transcarpathian Death Machine and the main merch dealers of the Ukrainian underground, Обрій prepared groove death metal with blastbeats and beautiful guitar solo. The only thing I did not really like was the sound of the plates on the record, but it is a matter of taste.

Prah — Гнёт

I really dig the sound on this one, it is so evil! Their debut EP, which came out this summer, was certainly promising. But the track "Гнёт" ("Opression" eng. ed.) really impressed me, maybe because the track is still the shortest of those released by the band. A fast black metal song of two and a half minutes length is my thing for sure.

Reabilitatior — Revolution

Canonical old-school trash metal from which hair grows faster, jeans become narrower, sneakers whiter, and patches on your denim vest sew themselves!

Skruta — Путин (Свиньи в космосе cover)

Canonical old-school trash metal from which hair grows faster, jeans become narrower, sneakers whiter, and patches on your denim vest sew themselves.

Warwar — СПИД (Коррозия Металла cover)

СПИД, СПИД, СПИД — твой палач.
СПИД, СПИД — у муках смерть.
СПИД, СПИД — не спасёт
СПИД, СПИД — крест и плач!
_______________
AIDS, AIDS, AIDS – is your headsman
AIDS, AIDS – dying in torment
AIDS, AIDS, AIDS – saving ain’t
AIDS, AIDS – cross and plaint
 

A great cover of the legendary track from Warwar. A great replacement if you do not want to listen to Коррозия Металла because of their questionable ethics.

In general, the "Metal Punk Death Squad. Ukrainian Chapter" compilation is a great opportunity to check out some cool Ukrainian bands for both local and foreign listeners. To show that the scene is alive and multifaceted, even in a rather narrow genre range. Glory to Satan and metal punk.

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