KORROZIA METALLA

Fittingly, Korrozia Metalla is translated from Russian as Corrosion of Metal. The band has always been the project of Sergey "The Spider" Troitsky, who has filled every lineup spot except drums at one point or another. In some form, the band had been around as early as 1982, though it was in 1984 that they officially were formed as Korrozia Metalla.

Their first show was in 1985, literally underground - in a cellar! They were cut off after 4 songs when the KGB stormed in. This show made them legendary even before they had cut a demo. The first vocalist, The Schizophrenic, left and was replaced by The Pussycat for the first demo, and they started gigging heavily - giving as many as four concerts per day. The authorities gave them the legal permission to play only so many shows, so they were frequently shut down. New vocalist Dima appeared in 1987 for a short while, but then he failed to show up for a gig, so guitarist Sergei "The Hog" Vysokosov took over on vocals.

Drummer "Yascher" arrived in 1987 and this led to the most famous lineup, which remained stable for 8 years: "Pauk" (bass), "Kostyl" (guitars), "Borov" (guitars, vocals), and "Yascher" (drums). The band's debut was a live album: Live at October. It was recorded in July, actually - at the October Cultural Palace. The first studio album, The Order of Satan, was recorded at a television studio, Ostankino, and then distributed by a pirate record label on cassette only, as no one was interested in making it officially. It sold 100,000 copies anyway.

The live show was extravagant to say the least - aside from an entourage of "sex performers", there was also a giant robot prop called Lucifer, and monsters and spiders. A second album, Russian Vodka, was recorded in 1989. The first concert for this tour was given in a 1000-capacity concert hall, and 1500 people showed up. The entire place was trashed - this was not an uncommon occurrence at a Korrozia concert. The third album, Cannibal, sold 600,000 and led to another live show that was recorded for an album, Drunken Brawl in Orlenok. This was the last concert they would give for a while, as the Hotel Orlenok owners were not pleased at the state that their property was left in.

1992 gave rise to the album Sadism, which was released on June 1st. The band also appeared at the Infernal Abortion fest. The show featured monsters, flying coffins, psychiatric clinic escapees, vampires, the Lucifer, and naked witches and dwarfs. Two promo videos were recorded: Sadism and Come to Sabbath.

Then, 1995's album 1.966 showed the band taking a more nationalistic stance, with songs in support of the Russian army, celebrating the Russian fleet at Crimea, along with themes of white power and National Socialism. At this point, the revolving door lineup returned, with Vasya Kazyrov replacing Alexander "Yascher" Bondarenko on drums. Then, The Crutch left and became a Christian! Kostya Lepatov replaced him, and in 1997 the album Computer-Hitler was recorded. At that point, longtime guitarist Hog left, so Max "With Bolt" Lajko replaced him, and Spider himself took over on vocals. Lepatov also left, so Valeri Blitzkrieg and Kostya Grinyok played guitars for a while, until Ivan Timoshenko was found. Then, Korrozia put out the album "Kill Devils, Rescue Russia" in 2000 - a collection of traditional Russian songs and others of a patriotic nature. Finally, an entirely new album of original metal came out in 2002: Pagan Gods, with Max and Spider sharing the vocal duties. An EP was released in October, 2002: Eyes of the Vampire, and another new album was planned for 2003.