The seventh Metal Messiah promised to be quite good, with some decent bands on the bill. Many Cherkasy metalheads had been looking forward to this day for a long time, as events of this kind are held in the city very rarely — at best once a month.
The following bands were announced for the concert: HYPERION (death metal) — Zaporizhzhia NATURAL SPIRIT (folk-pagan metal) — Chernihiv SUBCONSCIOUS VOID (death metal) — Chernihiv F.A.I.T.H (melodic death metal) — Kyiv ЗЕМЛЯ ВІЧНИХ ВІТРІВ / LAND OF ETERNAL WINDS (pagan metal) — Cherkasy
I arrived at the Palace of Youth — where events of this type are held — at around six o'clock; there weren't many people yet, but new arrivals kept coming and the area near the entrance began to fill up. I'll be honest — I never imagined there were so many heavy music fans in Cherkasy. Sounds drifted from inside — a soundcheck (at least they were doing one), though it ran a bit long. In short, they started letting people in around seven.
The first band to take the stage was LAND OF ETERNAL WINDS — it was the debut performance of this Cherkasy pagan metal band. Honestly, I didn't expect anyone in Cherkasy to play like that. I must note the fine female vocals that dominated all the compositions the band performed; the growl appeared only in a few. The guys play cohesively — competently enough, clearly having rehearsed and prepared — but there is still work to be done. If I were to categorise this band by genre, I wouldn't call it purely pagan metal — there is a noticeable gothic tinge to the music. On a ten-point scale I'd give this band a solid 7.
Next onto the stage came F.A.I.T.H — from Kyiv, if I'm not mistaken, a side project of Oleg Kyrylenko from NATURAL SPIRIT. Well, the guys set things on fire from the first beats of the drums, the strings of the guitars, and everything else. People began gravitating toward the stage and actively headbanging. The sound was set up rather poorly, making the vocals difficult to make out — or hear at all — which was visibly taxing on the vocalist. But the guys did everything they could and got the crowd going — well done, keep it up!
Then the MC appeared on stage and announced (struggling somewhat to pronounce it) the band SUBCONSCIOUS VOID. Nobody had heard of them — it was their first away performance. The guys delivered, playing some fine and driving death metal. There were already plenty of people near the stage (the gap between stage and front row was barely two metres), so I couldn't push my way through and stayed where I was, just listening. There were small missteps in the playing, but perhaps that was the sound engineer's fault for not setting up the equipment properly. In short — not bad, the crowd accepted them.
The MC appeared on stage holding two CDs (the NATURAL SPIRIT album Ruskolun); everyone understood these were about to be given away — and indeed they were successfully raffled off (one of them going to me).
The crowd had generally been waiting for NATURAL SPIRIT — I don't know exactly why, but there must be a lot of pagan fans in Cherkasy. And the guys were magnificent — they set the whole hall ablaze. The sound seemed to have been dialled in to a more or less acceptable level, and on stage was a band that had been playing for years and knew what they were doing. What can you say — anyone who has heard this band's albums, Starthrone and Ruskolun, knows that this is good folk-pagan-black metal. The crowd was absolutely delighted with this band. Brilliant, guys — you gave everything! For a good five minutes people begged these honoured guests to come back for an encore, which they eventually agreed to, performing the song they had opened with. After the performance I managed to take a brief interview with Oleg Kyriienko (vocals, guitar) and Viktor Senkov (drums):
How was the show? How do you find the Cherkasy crowd?
Oleg: Great, lively — we gave everything, though the sound let us down.
Where did you record your album Ruskolun?
Oleg: At home, in Chernihiv, by ourselves, and we released it ourselves too.
Who does the artwork for your albums?
Oleg: We draw it ourselves, though artists helped a little too.
Which European band would you most like to perform with?
Oleg: FINNTROLL, without question!
Do you have an idol as a band?
Oleg: Laughs. "Thou shalt not make for thyself an idol" — it even says so in the Bible.
On 27 April you're playing in Kyiv with HOLY BLOOD?
Oleg: Yes, of course — though we don't share Christian beliefs, we have a good relationship with HOLY BLOOD. At the concert itself we're thinking of playing our new compositions — I hope the audience will like them.
On your album the song "Oyra (Grandchildren of Dazhdboh)" comes first — why?
Oleg: Well, first of all it's simply a song many people like; and secondly it's just a concise opening to the album, with good substance to it.
Will you be playing in Yevpatoria at Metal Heads Mission?
Viktor: We don't know — maybe.
Why did you choose pagan?
Oleg: We like it, we love it — it's simply our style.
Is ideology in music the most important thing?
Oleg: No, I don't think so — everything needs to be in balance. A lot of bands just use ideology to hide their lack of professionalism.
And what did you receive for this concert, if it's not a secret?
Oleg: They paid our travel costs and fed us — we had borscht.
Will you come back to Cherkasy with a new album?
Oleg: If we're invited, absolutely!
Thank you for your time. We look forward to seeing you again!
Interview by L'estat (TheMetallist.com) and Graver (UTM)
This band was also anticipated, as everyone had heard they were "brutal," and by the end of the evening everyone wanted to finish themselves off completely. And so HYPERION took the stage. The guys played solidly. The crowd went off wherever they could! I must say the performance was good — technically tight, cohesive, competent. Defining the band's genre precisely is difficult — elements of brutal, melodic, and progressive are all audible. In short — what is called death metal, and fairly good death metal at that (though again, the sound was poorly set up). After playing their final number the band retreated to the makeshift dressing room. I managed once again to take a short interview with the band's guitarist (whose name I unfortunately didn't catch or write down).
How was the show in Cherkasy? How was the crowd?
Fine — only the sound was bad: something was crackling and squealing.
Will you be releasing a new album?
Yes, we have one, but we're thinking about it. Currently looking for a label. There's also another issue — we'd like to release the album in a decent pressing.
Have you released anything abroad?
No, but there are proposals.
Will you be playing at Metal Heads Mission in Yevpatoria?
It all depends on the organisers.
You performed as support for BEHEMOTH — what was that like?
Nothing special — we weren't trying to boost our reputation, we were trying to show that Ukraine has quality musicians too. And overall — they got a bit uppity, but you can understand them.
Your view on the state of metal culture in Ukraine.
Not bad. The only problem is bands slagging each other off too much.
Does anyone in the band take part in side projects?
No. Not in any band.
You say the sound was bad — do you have your own sound engineer?
Yes, but also not especially professional. In general it's hard to find a good sound engineer.
How many covers do you play overall?
Not many at concerts; at rehearsal we might let ourselves go a bit.
And what did you receive for this performance, if it's not a secret?
The usual: travel costs covered, food, and a fee.
Thank you for the interview. Goodbye.
Interview by L'estat (TheMetallist.com) and Graver (UTM)
And so the seventh Metal Messiah came to an end, and everyone dispersed. Near the entrance we ran into the organisers — they said they were in the red and that the next Messiah might not happen. Well, let's hope it will. And we, pleasantly tired and somewhat under the influence, made our way home.
That's how Metal Messiah 7 went!