Add to that the projection evoking mental illness, sometimes moving—it reminds one of the best work by World Press Photo winners—and the picture is complete. And then there’s that almost epileptic light show at times. What a total experience! The audience is (rightly) completely silent between the songs. If sincerity could be captured in one word, it would be Machukha. Wow! Who could top this today?www.metalfan.nl
MACHUKHA, combines elements of post-black metal, dark hardcore, and punk. The members' diverse backgrounds contribute to their creative process, which aims to express shared experiences of maintaining humanity in a harsh world. Their debut album, Мочарi [Mochari], evokes resilience and the human ability to endure atrocities. Sung exclusively in her native Ukrainian language, Natalya uses her voice as an outlet for genuine anguish. The music features intricate guitar melodies that blend into intense rhythmic fury from the bass and drums, creating a sonic landscape that guides listeners through precise emotions.
The band's lyrical and musical narratives reflect their journey of embracing pain and learning to let go by surrendering to it. Machukha invites the listener to acknowledge their pain, to grieve by embracing acceptance, ultimately to emerge stronger. In addition to their music, they have self-produced three music videos that form a continuous story on this idea. Band member Natalya designed modernised traditional Ukrainian costumes for this short film, while Bláthin directed – together, they developed the script.
Machukha started performing live in late 2023 with their first show supporting HIDE in Berlin. Even though they only have a handful of shows under their belt, they have played Core The Festival in Scotland and opened up the main stage at Complexity Fest in Netherlands in Summer 2024 (alongside acts such as Show Me The Body, Gilla Band, Plini, Frail Body, Hexis). They have received enthusiastic praise from press and critics for their outstanding live performances. Machukha worked with Jan Oberg from Hidden Planet Studio (Downfall of Gaia, The Ocean) and Jack Shirley from The Atomic Garden Studios (Deafheaven, Amenra, Wiegedood) on their debut album ‘Mochari’, which was released via Consouling Sounds on 7th of June 2024.
The room is also the venue for perhaps the band of the day, German-Ukrainian black metal outfit Machukha playing their first and only show outside of Germany. It’s a performance that stresses intensity, with frantic bursts of blastbeats and frazzle-fried tremolo building walls of noise around vocalist Natalya Andrasova’s impassioned, tortured howls.www.echoesanddust.com
Aiming to evoke “resilience and the human ability to endure atrocities” and sung in frontwoman Natalya’s native Ukrainian, they’re a powerful exemplar for the power of heavy music to make us feel profoundly connected to each other, at our most deeply human.www.theskinny.co.uk/