The BeatChess — Tuboculimanica (2020)

At the end of the last year, the Ukrainian hard rock band presented their fourth full-length album "Tuboculimanica". Here is, why it is worth listening. 

In this post- and meta- era, can one imagine music and lyrics written about love? In the times like these, they either write obituaries or create memes, or rewrite what`s already been said/played/written. Yet, in October of 2020, Kharkiv trio The BeatChess released the record about love, with all of its sides, even twisted ones. Consider it a transsentimental return to the eternal values, but with love in all its senses, even dark ones, this record is, perhaps, the very message each of us needs the most right now.

The BeatChess started out in 2012 in Kharkiv. The trio was founded by Anatoliy Yakovlev (bass guitar, vocals) and Artem Hlushkov (guitar). The band had drummers changing over time, and now, starting from 2016, the drum part is up to Andriy Seryozhkin. The trio sings in English, but they also have an arrangement for the Ukrainian song "Vysoka Verba" ("Orgy of Our Minds" album, 2019) under their belt.

The BeatChess started bringing their own creative ideas to life in 2016. It was the year which saw the band`s LP "From Drop to Top". As for the record, it was mostly solid hard rock with its authentic charisma and powerful vocals. In time, the experiments grew stronger, especially those progressive-, grunge- and stoner-oriented. The band`s sophomore record was called "Hypnodream" (2016), being a more ambitious and more aggressive musical statement. Then came a three years long hibernation, and their LP called "Orgy of Our Minds" came into being in 2019.

"Tuboculimanica" is a release from the end of the year 2020. I`ll try to tell you a little something about the record`s title and the musical stuff behind this obscure word. As a hard rock album should, "Tuboculimanica" has its powerful "opener" called "I Found Love" (although the term "hard rock" is quite conditional). The song clearly conveys the mood of the record, with the riff having such a powerful grip that you won`t get it out of your head so easily. This track has enough balls to become an arena anthem. "Outside / Inside" is loaded with a catchy riff again, and quite simple yet catchy lyrics. You`ll start singing along to it after listening for a couple of times. There`s also this analog vibe and drive at the same time.

Let`s also say a couple of words about the title of the release. As The BeatChess`s Instagram page tells us, "Tuboculimanica" is a doctrine of Love and Freedom. Tuboculimanica is omnipresent, it is all around, it permeates everything around, but it should be protected as well. Its ambassadors (and guardians) are the Full-Battlers. It is them who fight the Anti-Battlers and oppose their ignorance and protect art from their insidious paws.

So the release has its clear message — love. As the guys said in an interview with Radio ROKS:

"We believe that there`s the key thing in every piece of art, which is its message. Our message is love. Love not only in its romantic sense, but also the all-encompassing love. Love in all its manifestations: be it tender and fragile, or twisted and dark. In the troubled times like ours, it is very important to speak about love as much as possible. This is exactly what "Tuboculimanica" does".

That being said, if you imagine a love record as the one with the rhymes like "fire-desire", I`m going to upset you. There`s no room for that stuff. A serious point in that argument is a track "Fire Walk with Me", dedicated to David Lynch. The song not only stands out from the rest of the material for its sinisterness, but, in humble opinion of these lines` author, it could become a base for some new conceptual release dedicated to the "skeletons in the closet", "dark side of love" or one`s private "dirty little secrets", which you can speak about without opening your face like in auricular confession, if any. Long story short, there`s definitely a "welcome-to-my-nightmare" vibe in this track. Once you heard it, you`ll never be the same. There`s nothing to talk about with those who have not heard it. So they say.

One more to it is the track "Samy's Wife". It`s about a dude who got exhausted working at the factory, caught a bad trip, or just became a schizo, cutting both his unfaithful wife and her lover with a hunting knife, having returned home after a hard working day.

Obviously, one can`t blame The BeatChess in monotony, lack of imagination and predictability. There are, for example, glass bottles, coins put into the hi-hat, mantras and the Morse code among the tools and effects that the trio uses. As for the genre, even The BeatChess themselves do not give a precise definition to it, especially now, after their new release, which can easily be given ten "thumbs up" out of ten. The release is a great hard rock piece designed mostly for connoisseurs of the genre or even for the fans of some heavier stuff, anyways, each may find "Tuboculimanica" an extremely rich listening.

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The BeatChess in social media:

https://www.facebook.com/thebeatchess
https://soundcloud.com/thebeatchessrockband
https://www.instagram.com/the_beatchess/