This group appeared at the beginning of the 2000s. The name justifies itself, as the style of thrash death metal strongly hits the head, and, together with the original and “brutal” texts, it simply smashes on the spot. A rather original combination of the western style of play and performance with texts that can be attributed to social and social with a Russian flavor makes the group unique. So, "Sledgehammer" ("Concrete Mixer" - their most famous song) in action!
The emergence of the group
The Sledgehammer group (Concrete Mixer is the most memorable hit) was formed in 1999 in the Ryazan Region, in the city of Spas-Klepiki. But popularity came to her at the beginning of the two thousandth. The undeniable hit "Concrete Mixer" made the owners of the Russian MTV pay attention to the group. As a result, the clips “Sledgehammers” were shown in programs Shit-parade and “12 evil spectators”. Thus, the group gained instant popularity without investing a dime in the promotion.
The first studio album has the name "Delicatessen", released in 2001. The second was released three years later, under the name "Save and Save," and the third five years later, was called "Alconoid." The group’s repertoire has a number of songs in German and many clips, despite the very small number of albums.
The group includes: vocalist Sergey Lyubavin, bassist Vladimir Martynkin, drummer Alexander Vetkhov and guitarist Ivan Aleshin. By the way, it is the bass player who is responsible for all the clips, and it was thanks to his efforts that they were released. In addition, the group collaborated with the Orgy of the Righteous.
The official website contains interesting facts that cause very, very big doubts. So, for example, one of the statements says that Rammstein actually coordinated the idea with black stockings on their heads (the clip “Ich will”) for them, since the band’s clip for the song “Concrete mixer” was released earlier. Indeed, after all, no robber of the world had ever before guessed to put a stocking on his head. In short, the guys rang out of quick success. Well, or they show their very remarkable talent for comedians (Petrosyan and Drobotenko nervously smoke around the corner).
The style of the group "Sledgehammer"
"Concrete mixer", as well as the whole work of the group, the style is quite atypical for the CIS. Thrash death metal is a very specific direction, which is more characteristic of Western groups. Having decided on such an experiment, the guys did not suspect that the original combination of the Russian spirit and the Western current would play into their hands. In execution, they very much resemble a world-famous group called Cannibal Corpse, with a slight correction for some softness of sound. The texts are dominated by the theme of cannibalism and social problems such as alcoholism at work, severe work-related injuries and much more. But the best and most memorable hit with which the Sledgehammer group entered the thrash-det-metal-pedestal is Concrete Mixer.
The track itself is quite typical for them. The song of the group "Sledgehammer", "Concrete mixer", the text has a very straightforward. This is a description of an accident at work, or more precisely - at a construction site. A song about how the workers at the construction site got drunk, one of them got into that concrete mixer, and the other turned on the unit, because of which the machine began to mix not the cement, but the human remains.
And given enough heavy, growling vocals and no less heavy sound when listening, there is a feeling that you are being hit with the same sledgehammer in the head.
In a word, it is worth the guys to think about how to work more on their work, and then three albums in thirteen years - this is no good. The songs are somewhat sarcastic, but there are very few of them. Less would be filmed and more would be recorded! And it would be worthwhile to pay more attention to both the lyrics and the sound, since all three albums resemble twins, not much different from each other. It would be worthwhile to work on their development.