Top 10 Best Russian Bands, According to Native Son The Collector of Malist and Crimson Crown
Bet you probably didn’t guess when we launched this series unofficially dubbed The Bad Penny Passport that our search for the best bands in countries around the world would include Russia, did you? We didn’t either. But thanks to one of our dearest friends, The Collector – mastermind behind badass black-metal projects Malist and Crimson Crown – we’re able to do just that, bringing you his list of recommended Russian bands we can virtually guarantee will not ring a bell (to you, at least).
In one of our more treasured entries in this series, we hand over the reins to The Collector – who remains anonymous for obvious reasons – to inform us about what he considers to be the greatest heavy bands spanning the country that spans more than 6.6 million miles and boasts a population of anywhere from 143 to 146 million citizens, depending on whether you consider Crimea to be part of it.
We’re publishing this list of recommendations not only to highlight the bands that The Collector enjoys but as a prayer for his safety. While The Bad Penny is rooting for Ukraine over Russia in the latter’s attempted takeover of the former, it is senseless that more than 1 million Russians have died at the hands of bloodthirsty Communist leader Vladimir Putin. May he and all the world dictators carrying out mass casualties around the world – including the one in charge of the U.S. – soon be removed from their seats of power so that publishing articles such as this one fear absolutely no reprisals or reprimands for expressing free speech.
(On a side note, if you’re a musician in an authoritarian-controlled country, we’d love to print your list of favorite bands too. Poke around this site and you’ll discover how you can reach out to us. Just stay safe.)
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In this recommended list I tried to focus on the bands from Russia that I personally listen to on a regular basis. It’s a listener’s list, not a musician’s: I get impressed by a lot of music, but can’t listen to it all regularly, so … This is what I actually spin. This is not a “top” in the traditional sense; the bands are in no particular order. And the list only includes active bands that continue to play and release their music today. Hope you enjoy!
This project is a genuine occult post-punk journey enriched with melodic ethnic vocals, a band which makes no bones of meddling with atmospheres of black metal and sometimes even using its branded tropes along the post- and folky lines. Despite the wild mixture and the unique sound, the melodicism and the number of hooks is relatively high, so you would definitely find a song or two to get back to.
Check out: 988, Престол
Olhava for me has always been about the soundscapes and not the hooks. The band perfectly blends the fluidity and dreaminess of ambient with black-metal energy and aggressiveness, and they do it like no other. The music flows in perfect patterns of grief, melancholy and adoration, and you cannot help but enjoy its beauty and feel its breathing.
Check out: I See Myself in Your Eyes, Ladoga
I adore Elderwind’s compositional matureness; these guys know how to take their listeners on a journey. From classic atmospheric black metal tremolo parts followed by semi-quiet key lead passages á la Luste, to classic black-metal grooves with fast blast beats, they do it all, and they always know the exact measures and proportions. But their main domain is, of course, the melodic parts and the atmospheres. One of the best Russian black metal bands out there.
Check out: Call of the Urals, The Colder the Night
I believe Grima needs little introduction among black-metal fans. This band, in my opinion, grows quite a lot with each release. Their sound evolves into a more cohesive, yet more inventive atmospheric black-metal; one you quite can’t compare to many of the genre’s pillars, because Grima plays their own thing. The mesmerizing leads, the higher-than-ever pitched vocals, sometimes even the accordion and the occasional grooves are enough for you to fall in love with the band and keep returning for more.
Check out: Giant’s of Eternal Sleep, Flight of the Silver Storm
Another interesting project, this time based on melodic death metal with some thrashy and folky elements thrown in. What makes this band special is a violinist in its line-up, who can accompany the grooves with both moody swells and dramatic parts that get into your brain instantly. The lyrics are often times sarcastic and full of dark metaphors for the Russian reality I live in, so they resonate quite a lot.
Check out: Русская Дорога, Черно-белая сказка
Грай is a band that has this rare ability among the folk metal bands to not overstate the use of the traditional instruments or vocals, but to switch them on to amplify the already present cohesive atmospheres. Lately they’ve been leaning towards the darker and heavier vibes, utilizing black metal tropes among the groovy guitar lines, yet always activating their landmark folky elements on point, be it transitional change or the current flow. The traditional female vocals by Irina Zybina is always the highlight; they haunt and hypnotize greater than any musical instrument.
Check out: Песня мертвой воды, В Объятиях Мары
I first listened to this band back in 2017 with the release of their debut album, Alien World. I was into a lot of post-rock and metal back then, and this album blew me away. Their crisp sound, their calming clean vocals and insane growls, their melodies and inventive parts, the perfect transitions between the crushing doomy riffs and the melancholic atmopsheres was among the best I’ve heard in the genre. Only a few years ago I discovered that this is, in fact, a Russian band. Unfortunately, there was a series of tragic deaths of the band members, and Below the Sun is experiencing rough times now, but I hope they do overcome it and continue making some of the best post metal on the planet. Their latest album deserves the highest praise as well.
Check out: Being, Blind Ocean
When it comes to grim, uncompromising “true” black metal, this is always my pick. The occult themes, the brooding mood, blast beats and the rotten chords – the band has it all, and yet it accomplishes one of the hardest tasks for such type of bands, in my opinion, – staying fresh and keeping the compositions interesting.
Check out: Moon Sorcery, Grant me the Vision
The formula behind Культура Курения is simple: just grab some DSBM vocals, mix them with post-punk and add some basic post-black metal. But somehow their sheer simplicity and sincerity win you over so fast that you don’t notice the 9 minute mark of a song pass. The emotional aspect is their cornerstone, and pure melancholy is the destination they will inevitably take you to.
Check out: 1997, Раны Дождя
My very recent discovery, аннушкаа is a band that has been making huge waves lately in the Russian underground scene. This is really hard to categorize; it has this indie rock with mild female vocals in the core, but the specter sometimes goes so far that you might double check if it’s the same band that’s still playing. I’m not going to go into too much detail, but I’d just hint that it’s not a coincidence that a black metal guy puts this band on his list. Their latest self-titled album is truly an emotional rollercoaster. If you open your mind and let the band say what they want to say, they will carry you far, far away to a place you never knew could have existed.
Check out: Проверять’s Пустошь
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Learn more about, and buy releases from Malist and Crimson Crown, check out their respective Bandcamp pages (Malist here and Crimson Crown here).
For more authoritative lists of the best bands from non-U.S. countries, as picked by bands that hail from those places, check out:
• Top 10 Best Chilean Metal Bands, According to Native Black-Metal Act Ad Finem Omnia
• The 10 Best Canadian Metal Bands, According to Montreal Thrashers Ombra (Exclusive)
• The 10 Best German Heavy Bands, According to Native Black-Metal Sons Der Weg einer Freiheit (Exclusive)
• The 10 Best Bay Area Bands, According to Death-Thrash Hometown Heroes Absolute Darkness (Exclusive)
• The 10 Best Swiss Bands, According to Native Dark-Jazz-Grind-Doom Experimentalists Convulsif (Exclusive)
• The 10 Best Irish Bands, According to Alt-Pop-Addicted Electronic Producer Phenom Vaticanjail (Exclusive)
• The 10 Best Chilean Bands, According to Guitarist for Santiago-Based Noisy Punk-Rock Squad Niño Nuclear (Exclusive)
• The 10 Best Venezuelan Heavy Bands, According to the Country’s Most Badass Garage-Rock Guitarist, Diego Ramirez
• The 10 Best Italian Metal Bands, According to the Country’s New Post-Metal Phenoms Orbita (Exclusive)
• The 10 Best Belgian Metal Bands of All Time, According to Gnarly Native Sons 30,000 Monkies (Exclusive)
• Edge of Sanity Frontman Dan Swanö Reveals 10 Swedish Bands That Made Their Way Into His Musical DNA
• The 10 Best Swedish Heavy Bands Ever, According to Native Sons Prime Creation
• The 10 Best Portuguese Heavy Bands Ever, According to Portugal’s Own Fernando Ribeiro of Moonspell
• Germany’s Top 10 Best Metal Bands Ever, Per the Country’s Native Death-Metal Sons Fleshcrawl
• The 10 Best Finnish Bands Ever, According to Natives the Feral Kids
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