Аспид - Кровоизлияние (1992)

This album alone made me reconsider the significance of the Russian thrash scene. Needles to say, it's not unique, since there are some fairly evident remnants of early Master and Shah albums.
But what Aspid achieved with their debut/only release is monumental. Feeding of classical influences like the dragon-serpent on the cover. The "icebreaker" - haunting sensation  constructed from a choir and accompanied by a synthesiser would seem cheesy but in fact it served as an awesome intro to the first track entitled Он пришел (Аспид). You'll reach the conclusion about this being a riff based creation right away. The leads are absolutely spectacular and the bass (that can actually be heard) also plays a major role in this thrash odyssey. Some solo guitar bits sound a bit generic at times; I could do without them. But what I couldn't do without is the marvellous drum work from Vasiliy Shapovalov. Кровоизлияние tends to slow down at times, and most of the time it's the drummer's job to stimulate an outblast.
I have long wondered about how much attention this piece of art and others alike would get, had they been performed in the English language. It might cause a drop in obscurity, like for example if Paul Chain suddenly decided to drop his phonetic vocal style and sung actual lyrics.
I have to point out that my first encounter was with the title track of the remastered version, which I later found out was inferior to the original. Not in the sense of overproduction but a right on disgraceful attempt featuring inaccurate song title translations, loudness overload and an increase in pitch, which actually made the album 5 minutes shorter. I've seen Yu-Gi-Oh card knockoffs with more regard to the real thing than this (sadly official) remastered album. But in spite of the blasphemous 2007 version, my interest was noted and when I came across the original recordings, my mind was set. This whole revision was based on the original version, but I am very much tempted to hear what the 2014 edition (Metal Race label) sounds like. Supposedly it has been remastered under the band members' supervision and made to sound like the original takes. 500 CD copies have been made but I have yet to see one available for purchase. That will be all ... my favourite song? Definitely Там где ночь/Where There's Night.