Korrozia Metalla

Biography

Korrozia was founded in 1984 in Moscow by bass guitarist Sergey Troitsky, better known under stage name Pauk (Russian for "spider"). All other members of the band have also taken stage names: Boar (Sergey Vysokosov) - guitars, Schizophrenic - vocals, Clutch (Roman Lebedev) - guitars, Saxon (Vadim Mikhailov) - bass guitar, Morgue - drums. The band's first live show was illegally carried out in an apartment house basement. Annoyed by their noise, the neighbours called for police, which forced Korrozia to leave the stage. Shortly after this incident, they released their first single, a six-song cassette titled Vlast zla (The Power of Evil). The master tapes were lost, but the single kept circulating and eventually a high-quality second generation dub was given to Troitsky in 2001.

Next year the band joined Moscow Rock Lab, which allowed to perform rock music legally. The band's first album, Orden Satany (Order of the Satan) was released in 1988. No Soviet state label was ready to release that kind of music, so Pauk created his own one, Hard Rock Corporation (HRC, Korporatsia Tyazhologo Roka, KTR, or КТР in Cyrillic). Before the album was recorded, Schizophrenic was fired and since then Boar performed vocals as well as guitar. Morgue was replaced by Yasher (Lizard). Orden Satany presented a raw thrash metal with heavy hardcore punk influence, the so-called crossover thrash.

In late Soviet years, censorship was lifted, and Korrozia became notorious for lyrics and imagery that, although consistent with western shock rock traditions, were quite provocative by Soviet Russia's measures. For their live shows, they employed strip girls to dance on stage and decorated it with pyrotechnics and "satanic" imagery. Similarly, the band's lyrics consisted of black humour and strong language, describing violence, supernatural and sex. Korrozia Metalla albums were named Cannibal (1990) or Sadism (1992), and their 'trademark' songs include such titles as Vampire's Panzer , AIDS, Eat in the Flesh, Dead Rasputin.

In 90s, Pauk eventually fired all the original line-up and both band’s lyrics and live performances changed to humorous political and military concept though of course there were many cases when some metal fans took it too serious and blamed the band for its political views. But the band went on shocking and amusing the crowd. During the promotional tour for Computer Hitler album, Korrozia even employed world famous politics and dictators impersonators for their extreme live shows. Pauk indicated his interest in politics when nominated himself for mayor of Moscow in 1993, and for mayor of Khimki in 2012 with a good sense of black humor as well. The band has long been associated with far-right political leanings; several of their songs have been banned and they are included in Russia's federal list of extremist materials in Russia for inciting inter-ethnic hatred.

Korrozia's songs were covered by the number of artists. The band's best known song, Russian Vodka, was covered by Koldbrann and Aggressor.

At the beginning of 2016, due to the local law, Korrozia Metalla's discography was removed from iTunes and Google Play Music. The only tracks that remain are three tracks from a compilations "Russian Metal Ballads" (the only Korrozia tracks available to Russian iTunes users) and the album "Samogon" (eng. "Moonshine") (which can only be purchased in the West).

On 3 September 2016, Troitsky was arrested in Montenegro after the house he was staying at burned down and was sentenced to 5 years in prison. However, the date was changed to 10 months. The band have been inactive since then.

Studio albums

The first four albums were initially circulated on cassette tape and reel-to-reel among fans and sold at concerts. The band lost the master tapes and eventually wound up re-recording both albums, releasing them in 1991 and 1993 respectively. Kannibal was released on vinyl in 1991 by Sintez Records.

Live albums

Singles

A demo tape called "Vii" (Вий) from 1982 is also rumoured to exist.

Literature