Music

The word offret is Swedish and means ‘sacrifice’; the band Offret is Russian and makes heavy music. The link between the word and the band: a 1986 film in Swedish by the Russian Andrei Tarkovsky.

Seven deadly sins – ingrained in human nature, a classic theme in art. From Jheronimus Bosch (or maybe not) to Jan Smit (definitely not). In the vast space between the two, the searching soul may find Gospod. Священный металл, holy metal – it would be a sin not to pass on such a discovery.

It wasn’t mentioned anywhere, and that probably won’t happen again. But for this one time: the R1 editorial team is a fan of WLVS – short for Wolves (dating back to their English-language early days), though friends like to joke and call them Walrus. (A normal introduction to the band can be found here.)

Brace yourself for something that looks a bit friendlier than it sounds: Vuara from Petrozavodsk or Петрозаводск (Karelia). Their self-description (on Bandcamp) reads more like a warning: “A clot of dark and chaotic sound straight from the belly of Karelian swamps, escaping from the throat with a cry of socio-political longing.”

Artyom Tyganov, Dmitriy Avargin, Ksenia Kundenko, and Pavel Molov – a quartet from Samara (from the Dark Zhiguli Region). Like WLVS, also musically in the same regions. But Supruga (usually) does it with a female singer, though you might think otherwise if you just listen and don’t watch. Супруга = wife, in the sense of spouse (see Reverso). Must be a stormy marriage.

Being convinced of one thing, swearing by another, with religion you can go in any direction. The guys from ‘Venomous d-beat crust hardcore beast’ Convince (Moscow) are convinced that it all means nothing. To say the least. Their Религия (Religion) is more anti-religion.

A trio from Samara with a simple lineup: guitar, bass, drums. Music that goes straight ahead with force. Bassist Max Smirnov sings along. They used to sing in English ( The Last Gang in Town, 2013), but since Человек человеку волк (2015), it’s been in Russian, and thank goodness for that.

Heavy and dark. Начало (The Beginning), 2016. From the album of the same name, featuring Max Smirnov from WLVS.