“У німому очікуванні...” (In silent waiting…) is the debut full-length album by Ukrainian neocrust band SUICIDEBURG, out today on the Neformat Family label. Founded on an interesting blend of various styles, including d-beat, melodic hardcore, black and crust metal, and drawing from Tragedy, Wolfbrigade, Bane, Ekkaia, Lentic Waters, Amanda Woodward, Geranium, Ictus, the album touches on a consistent concept of the human life cyclicity, which is being reinforced in several ways.
The LP tells us a story about the cyclicity and tragedy of human life, when the main character, disappointed and depressed, still finds inner powers to look for a way out of his situation. The story is backed by the dark hardcore / neocrust soundtrack close to Tragedy, His Hero is Gone or From Ashes Rise.
“The lyrical hero is in a constant search, he goes through disappointments in life, people, friends and relationships. But when he seems to find answers to his questions, waves of depression cover him again.”, explains Andriy, the band’s vocalist.
“So, after “Продовжувати йти” (To persevere) song, where the light of hope seems to be visible, comes the song “Лелека” (Stork), where our hero again asks himself the same question – who am I, what am I doing here and what for? The album ends with the song “Допоки біль не скує намертво скули” (Lest the pain locks my jaw forevermore), where the hero finally decides to let his worrying past go”.
The album art shows the idea of life cyclicity as well. The guitarist Maksym Kotovskyi prepared a drawing series, which the band used on the album design and on t-shirts.
“The girl who committed suicide met death, who was in love with her and saved her from the eternal hell tortures. And in the world of the living, a stork took her remains to transform them into a new life. After all, to create something new it is necessary to destroy the old. I hope that these bones will reincarnate into a child that the stork will bring to a new family,” – comments Maksym Kotovskyi.
Maksym created this album art under the influence of the well-known Ukrainian artist Anatoly Bazilevich, whose works impressed him in his childhood.
The band members live in Lviv. This city in the west of Ukraine is also bombarded by russia, but still it suffers less than, for example, Mariupol, Kharkiv, or Mykolaiv.
The album “У німому очікуванні…” (In silent waiting) was written before the war, but musicians are sure that their current emotions and wartime experiences will show in the future releases.
“The war became the number one topic that pushed all other desires back. My brother and parents stayed in Chernihiv Oblast and refused to leave. A bunch of friends stay in the east of Ukraine. Plenty of refugees. All this news from Bucha and Gostomel. Mariupol, Chornobaivka. Russian warship. With the fuel crisis and the dollar exchange rate, my business was ruined. Severodonetsk. Izyum. Mykolayiv. Odesa. Tortured, mutilated, and brutally killed innocent people. Of all my 35 years of life, I boldly declare that this one is the worst. Undoubtedly, later everything will flow into creativity, but I’d like all this to end as fast as possible,” – adds Andriy.
Currently, the band wants to write new songs, play concerts, and record releases, but there are no specific plans, “because at this time you cannot be sure of tomorrow.”
Suicideburg band was formed during a party in the countryside, late summer of 2020. Andriy K. (vocals, Dan Stark, Dogs Have No Hell, Abusive Fisherman, Mauser) and Maksym (guitar, Bokasso, Elephant Opinions) talked about everything in the world, laughed and listened to some Czechoslovak punk rock from 1992 on cassette near the firepit. Bands often appear at such gatherings, but even more often they disappear the next morning.
Suicideburg, however, became an exception. They invited Yosyp, the Pušča band drummer, to play the drums, and their old friend from Ternopil, Dmytro, who played bass in Raw Grip and Elephant Opinions. After several rehearsals, where the first songs appeared, they realized that a second guitar was lacking. So Andriy D., who played guitar in the Kalush emo band ФРН at that time, joined the band.
In February 2021, Suicideburg played its first concert in Lviv. During the same year, without a single song recorded in the studio, the band managed to travel around the country, playing in Kalush, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Uzhhorod, Odesa and Rivne. In autumn of the same year, the long process of recording the album began. It lasted until the summer of 2022.
An idea behind the band’s name is that people who committed suicide are traditionally denied the opportunity to be buried in a public cemetery with everyone else. So they have their own cemetery, which the musicians named Suicideburg.
