Top 25 Ukrainian releases of 2019
2019 was, without a doubt, a year full of great releases. To carefully listen to everything Ukrainian underground scene has to offer required lots of time and patience, but it is our job so we did it and our editorial staff proudly presents you 25 albums and EP that stole our hearts this year.
Abusive Fisherman — Клятвопреступник
We still not sure what the hell those maniacs from Chernihiv are playing, but who really cares about music genres in 2019 anyway? Crazy mix of hardcore, metal, noise, psychedelia and hip-hop – this album has it all. Ecleсticism of this album is unmatched, but we didn´t expect anything less from a line-up like that, after all, Abusive Fisherman is a supergroup. We must warn you, it´s not an easy listen, so it may take a few spins to get into this record.
Backchat — Backchat
Do we really need to clarify why? Long awaited full-length album met and exceeded all expectations. Sound on par with the best albums in the genre, clever lyrics, memorable hooks – that is the kind of metal we adore. But it broke our hearts that right after this killer of an album was released Backchat went on hiatus.
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Bojevilla — Яскраво Чорний Ящик
Our editorial staff do really appreciate well-written Ukrainian lyrics and when it’s complemented by an interesting musical component and sincere faith in what being said and how it’s played — it’s love at first sight. Mathcore revival is big nowadays and Bojevilla fits into current music trends, but still sounds unique. Without a doubt, one of the best Ukrainian metal releases of 2019.
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Ethereal Riffian — Legends
Yet another example of a band that went on hiatus right after releasing a killer album. It is sad, but what can we do? "Legends" is probably the most straightforward album of the entire Ethereal Riffian catalog. It is full of catchy hits and the sound of it does fit the definition of "stadium rock". This change in sound was a tool not only to expand the audience, but to communicate the philosophy of the band more in a more efficient way. We hope that this tool served its purpose and Ethereal Riffian sooner or later will return on stage stronger than ever.
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House Of Flowers — Is This The End? EP
Ukrainian post-metal scene is not by any means the largest or the most popular one, but despite it all, Ukrainian post-metal bands tend to be more than decent. And the EP by Dnipro’s band House Of Flowers can serve as the proof. Band was working on this EP since 2017 and the results are worth the anticipation.
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Juggernaut — KVLT OV ETERNAL VVAR
Metallic hardcore, full of hatred and rage, if you are into 2000s European metallic hardcore bands like World of Pain and Lifeless or if you like the almighty Slayer – you will certainly dig this one!
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Knifeman — Мой мир EP
Angry, fast, intense and technical – this Kharkiv-based band knows exactly what they are doing. Their full-length that was released a few years back was top shelf metallic hardcore and their new EP is at least on the same level, some might say it’s even better.
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Merzotna Potvora — Suča Maty EP
Dirty sound of Merzotna Potvora, thrash/black metal band from Kyiv, was appreciated by Norwegian label Duplicate Records, whose roster includes bands like Aura Noir, Nocturnal Breed and Deathhammer. Quite a success.
N█O — Isolates EP
Scary, vicious and overall great black metal form Kyiv. EP sounds solid despite being composed of three quite different tracks. Highly recommended.
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Stinx — Ти або я EP
Kyiv punk rock veterans were productive this year releasing not one but two EP, proving that "punk rock is alive", which is also a title of their new song. Their EP "Oldskull" was great, but we picked EP "Ти або Я" to represent the band in out chart, because we really enjoyed Stinx’s first attempt to sing in Ukrainian and we want more.
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stonefromthesky — Schema Theory EP
On "Scheme Theory" Oleksii Zinchenko changed the sound of stonefromthesky and experimental rock music from "Spirals" morphed into experimental electronic music. And although guitar was used on "Schema Theory" as well as the vocals release sounds like a completely instrumental record. Excited to hear something new from Oleksii in 2020.
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Straytones — Beware, Dark Lord! Here comes Bell-Man! EP
And the title of the most unusual EP of the year goes to… Conceptual mini-album that tells fantasy fairytale in just 3 songs with amazing music video to support it. Incredible synergy of the Ukrainian underground, because the video was created in the capital by representatives of the same scene. Same goes for the artwork. We hope to see more wonderful artistic collaborations like this next year.
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Tvar — Tvar EP
New blood from the capital of Ukrainian black metal – Kharkiv. Lead by experienced musicians with multiple successful projects under their belts Tvar offers modern interpretation of genre coupled with conceptual lyrics.
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VOVK — Lair
Another debut album in our top list. We hear perception of Fugazi, through the prism of Mars Volta, with the smell of eurostoner. High quality material that sounds great on a record and live. Way to go.
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White Ward — Love Exchange Failure
Mixing black metal and jazz is not entirely new idea, but White Ward managed to push the concept to the limit without overdoing the "experimental" part. Post-black harmoniously combined with dark-jazz and urban motives. And the fact that the band will be the first Ukrainian band to perform at the Roadburn Festival is the best proof of how cool this release really is.
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Yah — Zen Rhymes
On their EP "Wee Woo" Yah played emo/dream pop, but "Zen Rhymes" sounds rather like soft and dreamy indy rock with punk soul with the important messege. Yah talk about death in order to understand and except the inevitability of this natural phenomenon. Very mature.
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Zombie Attack — Bonded by Beer
We are not sure if Zombie Attack even realize that they are the main Ukrainian thrash metal band nowadays. Raw and fun beer drinking thrash metal forged in numerous live shows abroad. Hopefully, their next release will get a better production, but for now, if you see their logo on a poster, do yourself a favor and go to that show.
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alyona alyona — Пушка
The mission of Neformat is to support the underground and our top of the year reflects it. However it would be wrong to left behind this release just because it´s more mainstream. альона альона made an important release for Ukrainian hip hop, no doubt about that, and on this album – we trust her. Will see if she will continue to be able to keep herself true in the future.
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Заводь — Уже заря зажглась
New school of Ukrainian black metal. Заводь are openminded and like to experiment and adding organ, synthesizer and saxophone played well! Congrats with 10 years in the game, guys! We are waiting for more.
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Злидень — Сильного з'їдять
We really like releases that start with an intro and end with an outro. Records like that feel like a full-fledged story, with its introduction, culmination and conclusion. "Сильного з’їдять" is an emotional and powerful release with uncommon in Ukraine blackened neocrust sound.
КАТ — Это случится с тобой
Music to get you anxious with lyrics like "your world will become your prison". On this solid as a rock album KAT shows that experiments and changes are not that scary. We hope KAT will get appreciation they deserve, they worked hard for it.
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МОЧА — Ухода 19 EP
In 2019, these Kyivans also managed to release two mini-albums and we chose their debut to be represented in our chart. Metallized d-beat with outrageous delayed vocal and nihilistic lyrics, not your average Ukrainian hardcore band"
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Обрій — У залізних обіймах лещат EP
The diligent work of the Uzhhorod band resulted not only in numerous concerts, but also in the creation of a new mini-album, that sounds even better than already decent previous EP. Mid-tempo death metal in Ukrainian influenced by both Scandinavian and Florida scenes. Great job!
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Тулим — Землетрус EP
What else do we need besides the classic boom ba p sound? Nothing, really. "Землетрус" proves that you do not have to be trendy or new school in order to get love and respect in 2019 and Тулим are getting closer to becoming classic of hip-hop in Ukrainian. They can count on our respect 100%.
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Ціна Ритму — Вічний Двигун
Yet another old school rap album. We have nothing against new sonic trends, but we are not going to lie to you, we love some old school, time-tested sound. And that is exactly the vibe we are getting from Ціна Ритму’s LP. However, we were promised more experiments on forthcoming releases and we are looking forward to that.
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