Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
Zmey Gorynich is an extremely non-standard musical project from Moscow, playing a mixture of perky dance folk metal with folk instruments, extreme progressive metal elements and hardcore breakdowns. Perhaps this is the very case when such a rather clichéd genre like deathcore sounds very original.
Zmey Gorynich was formed in 2013 by the efforts of two well-known musicians on the domestic metal scene - Demether Greil aka Mityay (Grailight, Skylord; ex-Arcane Grail) and Arsafes aka Kudeyar (Kartikeya, Arsafes). As described above, the creators chose a mixture of Russian folk music and deathcore as a musical direction, calling it "lubok-core" or "skomorokh metal". The lyrics are created in a clownish style in Old Russian dialect lexical forms and are dedicated to Slavonic fables, humour and also the glorification of Russian folk traditions. In October 2013, the first single, "Frostbiting", was released, which was positively received by the audience, the musicians' fervor and wild sense of humor were noted. The new material was not long in coming, and in March 2014 the single "Oh Leli-Leli" was released. The female vocals were performed by Alexandra "Rys" Sidorova (choir "Silver Voice", Rarog), who later joined the collective on a permanent basis.
The whole 2015th year the group spent in a calm - either in the studio, or in hibernation. But, one way or another, on November 15, 2016, Zmey Gorynich presented the "Malafya" EP, which immediately blew up the Network and fully met the expectations of the fans. The material turned out to be quite large - 8 killer tracks, including a cover version of the song of Bring Me The Horizon - "Can You Feel My Heart". Having completed the lineup with bassist Gvozd (Kartikeya) and drummer Stalin (Kartikeya), on March 18, 2017, the buffoons played their first concert in St. Petersburg, and on the 31st of the same month they went to play at the Les club in Moscow. After a series of festival performances and private concerts, the group entered the studio to write a large full-length album - and on July 6, 2018, at Kupala, the album "Mother Russia" about 14 tracks, with covers of E-Type and Rammstein, was released on the SoundAge Productions label.
In 2019, the band fully renewed their line-up and in the winter began the recording of their second album, released in June 2020 and entitled "Devilish Dances".
How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?
Skomorokh metal with influences from Finntroll, Devin Townsend, Unexpect, Napalm Death.
Why should a metalhead buy your demos/albums?
Our albums are very beautifully designed, and most importantly, listening to our CDs in the car makes you really happy and alive!
What have you released so far and how were your releases received by the public/media?
EP “Malafya” 2016, CD “Mother Russia” 2018, CD “Devilish Dances” 2020. F.e., album “Mother Russia” won the category “the best album of the year” in 2018 at Folkmetal.nl
Do you play live as well? How's your live activity so far?
Yes, we play live for 3 years already and we are very active in it, continuously reaching to the new levels of it.
What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?
Unfortunately, I think that very few people in the world know our group yet. And any label (by the way, yes, we are looking for a good label in Europe), I think, should tear us off with hands - because we have a very large commercial potential, cheerful, memorable, high-quality and diverse music, as well as the brightest image.
What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
We're going to shoot a video and perform a lot.
Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
F.e. here https://zmeygorynich.bandcamp.com/album/devilish-dances
July 2020