DEFENDERS OF METAL

Thursday, July 9, 2026

METALUCIFER (JPN)

Wednesday, July 8, 2026

URIAH HEEP (CREEM MAGAZINE, DECEMBER 1974)

BLACK COFFEE (CHORNY KOFE/ЧЁРНЫЙ КОФЕ) ... A SHORT BAND HISTORY (TRANSLATED)

The Moscow-based band "Cherny Kofe" (Black Coffee) is one of Russias earliest Heavy Metal band. Its founder and inspiration is Dmitry Varshavsky, who has been with the band since its beginning and has transformed it into a leader of the Russian Heavy Metal scene. This is evidenced by the number of records sold throughout the band's existence.

The band's history began in 1979, when Dmitry Varshavsky entered the Gnessin State Music College. Around the same time, he composed a song called "Strana" (Country) based on the lyrics of Andrei Voznesensky. Born in Moscow, he was one of the first in the USSR to professionally pursue heavy rock. He learned to play the guitar in the 1970s and later became a songwriter. After graduating from Gnessin, the rocker went to Los Angeles to pursue a second career, where he enrolled in the Academy of Music. The artist worked hard to develop his voice, and at many concerts he employed a distinctive technique that led audiences to compare him to Udo Dirkschneider, the frontman of the German band Accept. Over time, the singer himself abandoned this singing style, adding new colors to his timbre.

In 1982, being a soloist, Dmitry invited Fyodor Vasiliev to the group, who later performed as a bass guitarist. He was also born in Moscow, grew up in a family of employees, began studying music at the age of seven, learned to play the piano and trombone, and later graduated from Gnesinka, where he met Varshavsky. At the same time, Andrei Shatunovsky joined the musicians. Although the lead singer of the team began to play with Pavel Ryzhenkov, in 1982 he left the team, and Fedor came to his place.

In 1985, Shatunovsky left the group, and Maxim Udalov, the future drummer of Aria, appeared in his place. He made the first drums himself, remaking ordinary pioneer ones. I also learned the basics of percussion without a teacher, simply by listening to records of rock bands. He began his career in “Black Coffee”, and until that moment he had never appeared on stage. At the same time, Dmitry took on a second guitarist, Sergei Mavrin, although he only worked for a year.

Bassist Igor Kupriyanov became part of the band in 1986, he came instead of Andrei Girnyk and Igor Kozlov, who stayed there for a very short time. At that time, the instrumentalist was already known to metal fans, having played in many other bands. Guitarist Sergei Kudishin and drummer Sergei Chernyakov also joined the lineup at the end of 1986 - beginning of 1987, when “Black Coffee” began working at the Philharmonic.

The bands debut album "Приди и всё возьми
(Come andTake it All)" from 1984, released on reel-to-reel.

But in 1988, Chernyakov left the band, followed by Kudishin, who was trying to promote his own project. His place was taken by Igor Andreev, who, after a brief stint with Black Coffee, left, ceding the guitar position to Oleg Avakov.

A real shakeup awaited the artists in 1990, when all the musicians except Varshavsky left the project for Kupriyanov's new band, "Kofein," leaving Dmitry alone, though he retained the name "Black Coffee."

Wasting no time, Dmitry assembled a new lineup for the band, which included longtime members Shatunovsky and Vasiliev, as well as Dmitry Gorbatikov. However, Shatunovsky and Gorbatikov soon left, but the band celebrated the return of Andrey Pertsev and welcomed guitarist Konstantin Veretennikov. Just five years into his musical career, Varshavsky began inviting temporary musicians to perform on tours and album recordings, and soon this became a regular practice, and Black Coffee evolved into a solo project. Over the course of the band's existence, it has featured over 40 musicians. The lead singer never hid the fact that he needed musicians only to realize his own ideas. If an instrumentalist no longer met Dmitry's requirements, they were replaced by another.

After returning to Russia, the musicians began to rotate less frequently: Igor Titov and Andrey Pristavka played drums, and Nikolay Kuzmenko, Alexey Fetisov, and Evgenia Varshavskaya played bass. The last bassist joined the band in 2015. She had met Dmitry two years earlier through social media. This meeting changed both their lives: soon they became a couple, then family, and colleagues. In her youth, Zhenya studied violin and, at her husband's request, learned bass guitar.

The band's debut studio recording, "Flight of the Bird," was released in 1981. It was recorded at the VFG Melodiya studio, with Yuri Bogdanov as sound engineer and Pavel Ryzhenkov as lyrics. In 1982, when the band acquired two new musicians, the young men began rehearsing new songs.

The trio's first concert took place in 1984, at the Iskra club in Moscow. Their first tour of Kazakhstan took place then, and a year later, with a changed lineup, the band began performing with the Aktobe Philharmonic. Soon, the young men again toured Kazakhstan; this trip lasted about six months, during which the rockers performed over 360 concerts. Since attitudes toward anything informal were negative in those years, the USSR Ministry of Culture blacklisted the band, which was already full of underground rock figures. But in 1987, having joined the Mari State Philharmonic, the band received a tour permit, allowing them to officially perform concerts throughout the USSR. At the same time, the Philharmonic's administrator suggested that the artists add professional accompanists to their lineup.

The band's first full-length studio album, "Cross the Threshold," or more accurately, a vinyl record, was released in 1987. It included the songs "Vladimirskaya Rus'" ("Wooden Churches of Rus'"), "Leaves" (later used for a video titled "A Falling Leaf from the Branch"), "Winter Portrait," and others. It sold nearly two million copies, marking a true success for the band. Prior to that, the musicians had released three independent releases: the demos "ChK'84," "Sweet Angel," and "Light Metal." A little earlier, they had released the EP "Black Coffee" at Melodiya Records.

The band's popularity peaked between 1986 and 1992. After releasing the album, they embarked on a tour of the Soviet Union, with each concert playing to incredible sold-out crowds. Between performances, the musicians recorded tracks for a new album. That same year, 1987, the guys performed at Luzhniki Stadium, and as their popularity grew with each passing month, they spent the rest of the year touring nonstop.

By 1988, Black Coffee's fame had spread to other countries, and they were invited to the San Isidro Festival in Madrid. This nine-day concert featured international rock stars. Upon returning from their trip, Black Coffee performed again at Luzhniki Stadium, this time for a charity event. Among the other invited artists that evening, the audience saw Mashina Vremeni, Nautilus Pompilius, and others.

Soon after, Black Coffee released their first music video, for the song "Vladimirskaya Rus'." The former royal residence, Kolomenskoye, was chosen as the location. The musicians then embarked on a tour of Moldova. Previously produced by Ovanes Melik-Pashayev, the artists terminated their contract with him that summer.

The bands second highly acclaimed second album
"Переступи порог (Cross the Threshold)" from 1986.

After this, the band fell on hard times. Varshavsky attempted to record a new album with the old lineup, but this was unsuccessful due to strained relations between the musicians. Therefore, a new album, "Freedom—Freedom," was added to the band's discography only in late 1988. However, its official release took place in 1990. The most memorable songs from this disc were "Nostalgia," "Bright Image," and "Freedom—Freedom."

In the early 1990s, a new album, Golden Lady, was released; all the songs were in English. A music video for one of the songs was filmed in New York. With each passing year, the band gained more and more fans in other countries. In the fall of 1991, the musicians toured Denmark. A year later, Varshavsky went to the United States for his first concert, and just two years later, the artists embarked on a tour of American cities. The performers from Russia were warmly received—by this time, Dmitry had incorporated several blues songs into his repertoire and was performing rock songs in Russian. In the States, he was working on creating hits that he would later release in his home country.

In 1996, the band released several more albums—"Lady Autumn" and "Drunken Moon." The recording of the latter "oldies" featured only keyboardist Dolgikh and Varshavsky himself.

Dmitry returned to Russia in 1999 and celebrated the occasion with a major concert in Moscow. Along with the band's members, he participated in the recording of Pavel Smeyan's rock opera "Word and Deed," which was produced at the Lenkom Studios. The band's repertoire soon expanded with the album "White Wind."

Varshavsky considers working in the metal genre complex and delicate. With loud music, it's essential to strike a precise balance, otherwise, the audience won't be able to understand or hear anything amid the general roar. Dmitry Lvovich largely attributes the decline of the rock industry to the artists' inability to master sound engineering. For the leader of Black Coffee, a three-piece band, including himself, a bass player, and a drummer, is sufficient.

Black Coffee released another short album in 2010, a mini-version of a full-length disc with three tracks. The musicians' next album, "Autumn Breakthrough," was released only in 2015. Varshavsky continued to tour with the band across Russia, Ukraine, and Israel, recording new songs in between.

Varshavsky and his band continue to perform on the Russian stage, creating songs and delighting fans with new albums, which are released less and less frequently. The musician maintains an Instagram page, where he regularly announces new events in the band's life. The rocker also posts personal photos with his family.

In 2018, Black Coffee added the EP "Vysotsky 80" to their collection, and in 2019, the lineup changed again. Drummer Andrey Pristavka left the band, and drummer Nikita Pavlov immediately took his place.

The band resumed performing in 2021. I had to skip the previous season, except for a few performances. Dmitry didn't waste any time: he was busy restoring antique furniture in his home. He'd long been interested in this craft, but he just didn't have the time.

According to the official website of the band "Black Coffee," their current performance schedule is limited.

/ English translation from the Russian website НА ЗАВАЛИНКЕ (On the Bench). Originally written by Sergei 1971.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING: HYPNOSIA (SWE) "EXTREME HATRED" [LP]

Genre: Thrash Metal
Year: 2000
Country: Sweden
Who would like this?: Fans of 1980's Thrash Metal of the more furious kind. Think early Kreator or Sadus.
Notes: Thrash Metal band from Växjö, Sweden. Active between 1995-2002, and released one full-length album in 2000.

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TRACKLIST

1. Extreme Hatred

2. Circle of the Flesh

3. The Last Remains

4. Operation Clean-Sweep

5. Comatose

6. Act of Lunacy

7. Gates of Cirith Ungol

8. Hang 'Em High

9. Traumatic Suffering

DISCLAIMER:

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

I do not own any of the music, videos & photos. All clips, photos and music belong to their respectful owners. I do not earn any money with these post. This is for educational purposes only. Any use for monetary gain, contact the creator.

Any tracks, demo tapes or albums streaming on this channel is not in print at the date of the upload. If any music on this blog have been re-released by a label, contact me and I'll take it down.

PATREON MEMBERS

As a support Patreon member you can download the album

and their1988 demo tape as m4a/mp3, by clicking the logo down below.

FN GUNS (BEL)

Tuesday, July 7, 2026

RECOMMENDED LISTENING: BOMBARDER (YUG) "SPEED KILL" [TAPE] 1989

Genre: Speed/Thrash Metal
Year: 1989
Country: Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Notes: Speed/thrash metal band from Yugoslavia, formed in 1987 in Sarajevo. The band is still active. Originally formed in Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina), now in Belgrad, Serbia. Amidst the various Balkan wars of the early 1990s, which claimed the lives of drummer Fahrudin Čelik and guitarist Maho Šiljdedić, vocalist Nenad Kovačević moved to Serbia.

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TRACKLIST

1 Bombarder

2 Metalni Bog

3 Horde

4 Crna Sjenka

5 Long Live The Loud

6 Intro

7 Kuga

8 Zle Oči

9 San

10 Pakao

11 Speed Metal

DISCLAIMER:

Any tracks, demo tapes or albums streaming on this channel is not in print at the date of the upload. If any music on this blog have been re-released by a label, contact me and I'll take it down.

SADISM (CHL) (1991)

FENRIZ OF DARKTHRONE (1991)

SAVAGE GRACE (US)

SPIDER (UK) (FOREARM SMASH #2, 1983)

TRAUMA (PER)

Thrash Metal band from Lima, Peru. Down below you can listen to their second demo tape from 1989.

(1989) Demo 1989 [DEMO]

PATREON MEMBERS

As a support Patreon member you can download it

(and much more) by clicking the logo down below.

Sunday, July 5, 2026

SAVAGE (1984)

ATROCITY EXHIBITION (GER) (HOLOCAUST #3, 1990)

Thrash Metal band from Breitengüßbach, Bavaria, Germany.

(1988) HONKY-TONK-MONK [DEMO]

This is the bands second demo tape from 1988, released under the band name Atrocity.

PATREON MEMBERS

As a support Patreon member you can download it

(and much more) by clicking the logo down below.

MORTUARY DRAPE

JONAH QUIZZ (SWE)

MASSACRA (FRA) (HOLOCAUST #3, 1990)

PATREON MEMBERS

As a support Patreon member you can download it

(and much more) as a pdf by clicking the logo down below.

ANACHRONIC (CZE) (ROCK REPORT #1, 1993)

Rock Report was a fanzine from Czechia, written in Czech. But here's an interview translated to English for you.

ANACHRONIC (CZE)

At the beginning of this year, the first album by the Pardubice band Anachronic, which was formed in Jandov Propasta in the autumn of last year, will be released on our market. Since we have not yet had the privilege of getting to know this band or their music in more detail, we decided to introduce Anachronic to the readers of Rock Report through a letter-interview with the band's leader Vláďa Hauk.

Could you introduce Anachronic in more detail?

We have existed as Anachronic since 1990, when we got back together after some time, unnecessarily disrupted by the war. Before that, we were active as the band Usurpator with practically the same line-up. So after the war, we started again with the following members: Vladimír Brett (1969) - g, Mirek Maršík (1972) - ds, Vladimír Hauk (1968) - bg, v. We knew that we wanted to do something new, so we canceled the old, somewhat youthful, reckless metal name Usurpator and, following Vladimír Brett's idea, we named ourselves Anachronic. This name means something like passing by or out of time and should characterize our music.

In this line-up we recorded our first demo called Mimo čas in April 1991. It was recorded live in a rehearsal room, so it wasn't very good in terms of sound and it wasn't very perfect in terms of musicianship. Nevertheless, the demo received mostly positive reviews in various fanzines. In this line-up we also played several concerts, mostly at festivals. In the autumn we added a second guitarist, Pavel Herynek (1970), and thus we achieved the basic line-up that is still valid today. We chose four songs from the Mimo čas demo and started preparing new songs for the next program. In January of this year we recorded a new demo in the Past studio in Hradec Králové, which we sent to various record companies.

Are you interested in what else we do? Of course, we would like to make a living from music, but unfortunately that is not possible yet. I work in Param, VI. Brett in the hospital doing X-rays, Pavel in VCHZnabouchačky (he has to support his family and so he has no choice but to risk dangerous work) and Míra is a dental laboratory technician.

What can you say about the style of music? We try to play a little differently than other bands. You could say that the music on the album is based on thrash basics, although there are minimal classic cutting parts. We would like people not to consider us a purely metal band, because we think that our music could have something to say to a wider audience.

What we like to listen to... We are fed up with the classics (Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax), lately I really like Faith No More, Voivod. You could say that we have stopped making distinctions between different musical styles.

How did you get into recording the LP?

As I said, we sent the studio demo to various record companies and we also sent one to Petr Jand. After some time, he contacted us and said that he liked it and offered us to record an album for his company BESTIA, and since negotiations with another company that showed interest did not lead to anything, it was decided. The album will be released at the end of January in an initial edition of thousands of copies from each carrier + an additional CD in English.

How was the recording process and who did you work with on the album?

We recorded the album from September 1st to September 10th, 1992 at the Propast studio. First, we recorded drums for two days, then bass (half a day), then we searched for the guitar sound, and for the next five days we recorded guitars, vocals, and solos. The last two days were spent mixing. It seems like a short time, but thanks to the fact that the initial sounds were already perfect, everything was done and the result is excellent. We prepared for the recording for about two months, simply by trying to play along with the recorded drums. Ten days for an album is not enough, but who will give you more for your first album?

I think that Studio Propast is one of the best studios in our country, mainly due to the quality of the technicians. The record was produced by Petr Janda, although most of the music-control work was done by Tomáš Vráb. When Janda showed up there, we were so nervous that we were not able to play anything. The first day in the studio, Petr Ackerman was with us, who actually set the sound of the drums, and then Tomáš Vráb did everything until the end. He has nerves of steel, just like Acky, and we had a good time with them.

How satisfied are you with the result of the filming?

I've already talked about the result, it's a beautiful raw sound with a character somewhere between Megadeth and Slayer (I mean sonically). There are ten things on the album, mostly they are emotional matters. Some songs characterize resistance against authorities (religion, crowd power) or against the consumerist way of life. Most of the motifs are carried by VI. Brett, then together we more or less rework and compile them. The first two lyrics on the album are mine, the rest were also written by VI. Brett.

What did working in the studio bring you?

Every time we go to the studio it's a great experience, you learn a lot. Because we've been to the studio before, it wasn't that surprising, we knew what to expect, so we were able to prepare quite well. Still, it wasn't without problems and we have to prepare much better next time.