Pointless video post - ‘Машина’ by Есхатон

I really don’t know what it is about the former Yugoslavia.

For some reason, they make some truly top-class traditional heavy metal: Forever Storm, Heaven Rain, Tornado, Avven (though they edge more into folk metal), Alogia. You could chalk up their love for heavy music up to the Yugoslav Wars, but that doesn’t explain the sheer awesomeness that is Дивље Јагоде, who’ve been doing their thing since the seventies!

Anyway, suffice it to say that the South Slavs make some kick-arse music. But I recently came across Belgrade’s Есхатон, who turn out some truly haunting, epic melodic heavy metal with a Gothic tinge - probably due in no small part to the rich and soulful baritone of the vocalist, Hadži Nikola Mijović, whose voice carries definite tones of Saviour Machine’s Eric Clayton. The parallels do not stop there: the band’s lyrics are solid white-metal fare: all about Serbian Orthodox Christianity, Judgement Day and the second coming of Christ, the sacraments, opposition to war, Serbian patriotism (their EP was dedicated to Kosovo, after all!) and all that good stuff. But they all sound so much more badass when sung in Serbian! In an era when retro heavy metal bands are crawling out of the woodwork all over the globe (but particularly in Europe), it is very difficult to make this sort of music sound fresh, but do they ever pull it off! Do give their songs a listen, gentle readers, enjoy ‘Машина’, and don’t forget to immanentise the Есхатон!