Russkaja – Kosmopoliturbo
Release Date: 4th August 2017
Label: Napalm Records
After their 2015 release was named Peace, Love & Russian Roll you had a feeling their next album would have some equally weird name. Quite where Russkaja found the name ‘Kosmopoliturbo’ I don’t know, but what I do know is that it sounds pretty damn good.
If you’re not familiar with Russkaja then cast your mind towards the likes of Gogol Bordello for the style. Where Gogol call themselves ‘Gypsy Punk’, Russkaja refer to themselves as ‘Russian Turbo Polka Metal’. For the most part, Kosmopoliturbo is pretty low on the metal scale. There are a few Audioslave style riffs in ‘Hello Japan’ but that is really about it. That’s not a criticism, mind. This is a really strong rock record from a band that have been honing their craft for 12 years now.
Kicking off with ‘Hey Road’ it seems obvious that Russkaja are continuing from where they left off, but when that track passes and ‘Alive’ kicks in you see there’s so much more on show here. Twice on the track the riffs stop and a beat that would seem more comfortable at the top of the charts kicks in. If that wasn’t weird enough, it works. It seems completely out of place first time you hear it, but second time it fits and from then on it seems like nothing else could go there.
From there there is a huge amount of variation on show. ‘Still In Love’ is a heavily auto-tuned love song with a ska tone to it. ‘Volle Kraft Voraus’ is a German language track, translated as ‘Full Speed Ahead’ it kind of makes sense as it kick starts the second half of the album. ‘La Musica’ is slower tempo track that signals the beginning of the end, an end which ‘Chef De Cuisine’ signals in with a riff driven track.
Kosmopoliturbo is an experimental step for the Austrians and one that pays off. It’s more varied and more enjoyable than their last effort and could even be enough to see them start to break the UK.
Rating: 8/10
Recommended Tracks: Alive, Cheburaschka
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Interview with Russkaja – Mind Noise Network
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