10 significant bands in the Ukrainian metalcore

Metalcore, in the modern and more widespread sense of it, was at the peak of its popularity in the late 00s and shot both interesting and not so great bands in huge packs. Every third teenager tried to be like the idols of the conditional Asking Alexandria, Attack Attack! and other mainstream bands.

For many fans of this music, it will be a revelation that in the 90s there was (and is now, but significantly less common) slightly different metalcore — if very simple, then closer to the hardcore in music. We talked about it in more detail in a material devoted to 10 iconic bands in Ukrainian hardcore.

Time has passed, the bands have finished their journey, but some of them continue to exist to this day with a considerable degree of success.

Morphine Suffering

The top ten is opened by Morphine Suffering, a band from the city of Boyarka, near Kyiv, at first it looked like an unfortunate joke: the frankly disastrous music and enchanting participation of the vocalist at the Star Factory did not cause anything but hysterical laughter. Then there were changes in the line-up, a new vocalist came, the band recorded the full-length album "Пам'ятай Хто Є Ти" ("Remember who you are") 2015 and turned into one of the flagships of the modern scene. Constant performances at major summer festivals of the country, beautiful videos and huge solo concerts in Kyiv are a success, not to be called otherwise. True, in the last year the band showed absolutely no signs of life, and of the participants only the guitarist appeared on the tour as a session musician with Jinjer.

Space Of Variations

This year the band from Vinnytsia celebrates its 10th anniversary and secures the title of one of the strongest in the country within the framework of this genre. Frequent, albeit slightly modest, European tours, active performances in the capital and at summer festivals only add status to these guys. Having started its journey in 2009, the Space of Variations band quickly recorded the debut EP "Осталось Лишь Придумать Зачем Я Это Сделал" ("It remains to understand why I did it"), then another and retired, leaving behind a bright flash in the form of high-quality material for that time (and some songs still are being played live). In 2014, the band gives a reunion concert and, after some time, releases a single in an updated composition and with a new name — Space of Variations. Well, then it started: the new EP "Blackmail" (2016), a bunch of clips, a full-length album "Mind Darknet" (2018) and work on a new one, along with concerts and tours.

Picture Inside Me

A band from Mariupol, one of the first and one of the most popular in its time. They were formed in 2005 and they were not much remembered at first — the template music was not very impressive, but nevertheless was able to find its own response. The band toured extensively throughout Ukraine and even Russia — performances at Metal Head’s Mission and the warming up of The Dillinger Escape Plan in St. Petersburg look solidly on the band’s track record. In 2009, the full-length album "Обреченный жить" ("Doomed to Live") was recorded, and already in 2010, the band decided to slightly change their work by releasing the track "Tesla". The new material sounded much more interesting than the previous one, but, unfortunately, the band then ceased to show signs of life. Only for a decade of the album "Doomed to live" in the VKontakte community began to appear hints of a one-time return of the band, or at least the release of best practices of never-released material.

Synopsis

Started playing in the spring of 2010 and almost immediately released the debut EP "Carve Your Path" (2010) — the release was ready in September of that year. Then followed a series of performances at local concerts and the cherry on the cake was the warming up of flagships of the genre Parkway Drive at an event in Kyiv in 2013. In addition, there were also shows with Eyes Set To Kill and Defiler. At the same time, changes in the composition took place — either the guitarists left, the vocalist left for a while, which ultimately negatively affected the creative path of the team. In 2014, the last song Synopsis is released and on these ceases to be active. Now their vocalist is singing in the Russian band Shokran.

TSAARS/The Kannon's Mind Dissection

Another excellent band from Vinnytsia — starting in 2009 under the name The Kannon's Mind Dissection, the guys confidently broke into the local scene with explosive material and eight-stringed guitars (still a curiosity at that time). Mixing prog with metalcore, the band received a lot of positive reviews not only on the Neformat.com.ua forum but also among fans of similar music. Then the band had a short break due to the departure of the bass player and the search for a new one. Over time, the band only did that, gaining momentum in creativity and in 2012 changed its name to TSAARS, while further complicating its music, becoming such a local counterpart to Protest The Hero and The Arusha Accord. In 2013, another EP is released and the band ceases to exist. From the interesting: one of the vocalists, Dysya, also sang for a while in Date Rape — one evening you cover Oceano, and in the other, you sing sad songs of one of the best screamo bands in the country.

Sun Eclipse

And again Vinnytsia. Having started its journey back in 2005, the band initially gravitated more towards nu-metal, but after some time changed its development vector and began to tour more often at major festivals of that time: Руйнація, Red Alert, etc. Once even performed with the legendary Behemoth in Donetsk. In 2011, they released a full-length album and single, began to actively write new material while performing in different cities of the country, but after a while, the activity subsided. Closer to 2013, the vocalist left the band, the search for a new one dragged on and the musicians went about their business. Guitarist Alex is now a member of Space of Variations band.

7 Pages of Silence

A band from Kharkiv 7 Pages of Silence was founded in 2006 and characterizes the metalcore of the time in the best possible way — in influencers As I Lay Dying, Caliban, In Flames and Heaven Shall Burn. After the standard demo recording, the full-length album "Реквием" ("Requiem") (2009) was released, which was warmly received by the public, and the band was popular at live performances, including at festivals such as Руйнація. Four years later, 7 Pages of Silence release another EP — "Pandora's Box" and this is where the band’s activity ends..

Jim Jams

Perhaps one of the most underrated bands in its genre. Jim Jams, like many on this list, began their journey with nu-metal music, but soon rethought their direction and began to gravitate more towards metalcore/modern metal directions. The debut album "SERDCE" (2009) was recorded under the direction of Sergiy "KNOB" Lyubinsky, and the label InshaMuzyka was involved in the publication. A year later, the band releases EP with new and even higher quality material, and after three — second full-length "Dasein". After that, lull again and the band stops their activity.

Faded Line

The band was created in early 2007 in Kyiv. At the end of the same year, guys recorded the song "Last Moment", after which they played their first concert in January 2008. They noted several performances in the capital and at the Metal Head’s Mission festival. Already in 2009, the debut EP "War with Myself" was released and the creative path of the band ends there. It is noteworthy that for their short life, Faded Line managed to be remembered for its high-quality recording and no less worthy material, which at that time was valued higher than many competitors in the scene.

May of Sorrow

A band from Poltava. It was founded in 2008 and only a year later the guys gave their first concert, coinciding with their first birthday. They have several albums (even with terrible cover arts), but with genre-worthy material. In recent years, the band did not show much activity, but in 2017 released a new track and a clip for it, and since then, as usually happens with bands on this list, complete silence.

As a result, the Ukrainian metalcore scene was not able to declare itself normally — many bands broke up at the peak of their fame and activity, and some still feel good and gather large halls throughout the country and even sometimes go on tours in Europe. Nevertheless, the quality of many bands is not in doubt, and even today, the material of a decade ago sounds worthy. Unfortunately, many bands simply stopped playing due to the departure of the participants, the inability to find someone new in their city, and it is extremely difficult to return to the big stage again without proper perseverance and activity, especially when you are already about 30 years old and have completely different priorities in life.

This article is part of a series of materials on the development of various underground musical genres in Ukraine. Early in the series:

https://www.neformat.com.ua/rubrika/10-znakovih-gurtiv