On Tyranny: Ukrianian Band Tria Prima Fighting Russian Aggression with Art Instead of Armaments
“Due to rocket and drone attacks, we often have no electricity, and this is a very important factor even for simple life, let alone music.”
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Blocking out or at least trying to gain some distance from atrocities taking place either next door (c.f. the remarkable film Zone of Interest) or overseas (c.f. just about every nationalist in every country in the world) is often referred to as an act of self-preservation. Oh, what privilege comes with such a moral justification. It’s as if people who think that way are able to perform a Jedi mind trick on themselves.
Ukraine’s Tria Prima aren’t able to enjoy such a luxury; inexorably, their death metal blitzkriegs are laced not only with doom and synth elements but also an underlying fury that gives voice to a population that Russia unjustly invaded more than three years ago and has barraged with bombs and unspeakable acts of violence ever since.
While having that context is critical for understanding Tria Prima – which features former members of Drudkh, Lucifugum and other core members of Ukraine’s metal underground – it by no means mitigates or undercuts the strength of the band’s ruthless brand of extreme metal. Released yesterday, The Mortificatio, Tria Prima’s latest bloody bouquet succeeds their Three Primes of Alchemy EP not just in chronology but in sheer metal potency as well. The band is on such a tear, they’re already planning to drop the follow-up to The Mortificatio in the second half of 2026.
Yesterday, The Bad Penny caught up with Serhii D. D. Bondar – who handles bass, backing vocals, keyboards, songwriting and more for Tria Prima – to get some further insight on their furious debut.
What was your first exposure to extreme metal? How did it make you feel? What in particular caused you to latch onto the sound and become a devotee of the genre? Have you been listening to extreme metal ever since?
Aloha! I’m reporting to you from the centre of the universe — Zhytomyr! As a child of the ’90s (I was born in 1989), I was constantly surrounded by popular music of the time, such as Metallica, Sepultura, Cannibal Corpse, Napalm Death and Deicide. Although I didn’t understand this music at the time, because I was a child, I intuitively understood that it was something cool because it was playing everywhere.
In primary school (1996-1999), I became interested in bands like Queen, AC/DCand Black Sabbath, for which I was ridiculed by my peers more than once because they considered it old-fashioned rubbish compared to their favourite rap music). But I didn’t care about this mentally retarded crowd, because I was confident in my tastes and stuck to my guns until the end, and I was even ready to fight for my musical tastes if necessary!
In secondary/high school (2000-2005), I moved on to heavier artillery like Iron Maiden, Accept, Motorhead, Running Wild and King Diamond. I was crazy about this music in a good way. When I was given a cassette featuring MP’s Bursting Out (The Beast Became Human) and The Crown’s Deathraceking, it completely changed my life. If it weren’t for that cassette, we wouldn’t be talking here now. That cassette made it clear to me what I wanted in life and where my passion lay!
How difficult was it to recruit other musicians to be part of your project? In your estimation, what percentage of musicians who are capable of performing in a band like yours turned down the opportunity for fear of retribution or mere cowardice?
It wasn’t difficult for the band, as I play with drummer Yuriy Sinitsky, with whom I played for five years in another band and have known for over 15 years. We previously played in the technical thrash band Violent Omen, which we have now revived and recorded an album that is currently being mixed. In Violent Omen, Yuri and I had the most intense and active concert schedule, so we are no strangers to each other.
Yuri brought guitarist/vocalist Ruslan [Hrytsiuta] from his other band. Solo guitarist [Evgeniy] Maestro has been playing with me in various projects since 2014, and vocalist Anira [Star] was accidentally recruited to our project for a mini-album, but now she is an integral part of our band. So we had no difficulties; all the necessary members appeared on their own and at the right time.
How did you manage to successfully market your band and book shows amid threats of detention (and maybe deportation too)?
We all live in Ukraine (not in the occupied part), so fortunately we don’t need to be deported or arrested. If you mean the war that has been going on for almost four years now, then yes, it is very difficult to find the time and energy to make music, because there are so many problems and factors that could have prevented us from finishing this album. But we managed it anyway. You should understand that due to rocket and drone attacks, we often have no electricity, and this is a very important factor even for simple life, let alone music.
Did the Ukrainian government attempt to either eradicate metal from the marketplace? If so, did that lead to a backlash that, when metall resurged years later, the subgenre was even stronger than it had been before?
Before the war, the Ukrainian government did not care about metal music, so they did not ban it and did nothing to promote it. When the war began, the government started to interfere with and disrupt the European tours of our famous bands, such as 1914, which were hugely beneficial to our country. They simply refused to grant them permission to leave the country during the war, even though everything had been fine until 2023 and they had been travelling back and forth, providing enormous financial support to our army. At that time, many Ukrainian musicians protested to the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine for preventing such bands from benefiting our army through tours in Europe.
A colleague who was born in Ukraine told this to me about a month ago: “To be honest, at the moment, those who haven’t been lucky enough to leave the country and are still in Ukraine cannot speak the Truth. The situation is far not as it’s shown on TV/press… So the most you’ll hear is the typical: ‘We’re fighting, there’s no corruption here, no dictatorship, this is full democracy, free-speech, no repressions, and we will win, our president is the best’… To get the truth, you might find someone willing to speak anonymously; otherwise, people risk physical punishment for themselves or their loved ones. Do you have any idea what that means? I’ve been baffled by those comments ever since I first read them.
This is a very complex and sensitive topic, and whatever I write here, some part of society may disagree with me, because there are different people and opinions on this matter. I think that someday, when all this is over, everyone will learn the true facts, but for now it is difficult to give an accurate assessment, because our people are very sensitive to these issues and have different opinions.
What strategies and/or tactics does your band have to follow to ensure you don’t get jailed? Do you perform in foreclosed buildings, for example?
In the year since the band was formed, we have only had one concert in a proper concert hall in our hometown. No one gets arrested for attending our concerts, unless you break the law, which may happen in occupied territories. We have a different problem with concerts, which is that they are difficult to organise due to low attendance. I don’t think I need to explain why.
What are the best and worst gigs you’ve played thus far?
We had one concert at the end of March this year, and we ended up playing it by accident because one of the bands cancelled on the day of the concert and we had the opportunity to replace them. The concert was awesome and we really got the audience going! There’s a clip from the concert on our YouTube channel! I recommend you check it out!
What about your band makes you the most proud?
The fact that we were able to find our own unique style and record a mini-album and an album in a short period of time. We also have good communication between the band members, which makes our work much easier. I am also proud that we are surrounded by other talented people who help us achieve good results. Our sound engineers and photographers are incredible professionals at what they do!
Is it just me, or has the term “death metal” become so lazily applied, it’s strayed from its true meaning?
It is important to understand that this style is constantly evolving. It seems that 40 years ago, it all started with Possessed’s Seven Churches, but now this style has dozens of subgenres and variations. It is such a controversial issue because the style itself has become very diverse. Some people love old-school death metal, while others prefer modern deathcore.
Personally, I prefer death metal from the ’80s and ’90s, but there are also some cool modern bands. I think that over the past 40 years, the style has become so big that it is perceived differently and listened to by very different audiences. Is this good or bad? I don’t know, it’s everyone’s choice! There are many modern bands that play high-quality old-school death metal, so there is music for everyone’s taste in this style.
For more on Tria Prima, hop over to their Bandcamp page.
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