There are some bands you discover because a press release lands in your inbox at the right moment. Others become part of your world slowly, one song and one encounter at a time.
Besomora fall firmly into that second category for me.
I first came across the Sydney melodic death metal band during my years working as a radio presenter. I played a number of their tracks across the stations I worked with, beginning around the time of their early single “Disgraced”. I had also previously interviewed Besomora lead guitarist Matt Perkins during his time with Thrash Bandicoot.
Despite those connections, I had somehow never sat down with Besomora vocalist and guitarist Vlad Martynov for a proper conversation.
That finally changed as the band prepared to release Devotion to the Fear, a five track EP representing a darker, heavier and far more complete version of Besomora.
Due for release on September 18, Devotion to the Fear combines modern production, nine string guitars and the technical abilities of Besomora’s current lineup with the melodic death metal foundation the band was built upon. It also features two formidable guest guitarists: Per Nilsson of Scar Symmetry and Meshuggah on “Imminent Lies”, and Chris Broderick of In Flames and formerly Megadeth on “Leave Me Alone”.
Before we reached the new EP, however, Vlad took me back to the beginning of a musical life that started with a cassette, a brother and an album that has changed more lives than most people could ever count.
Seven Years Old and Master of Puppets
Vlad’s earliest heavy musical memory arrived when he was only seven years old.
His brother brought home a cassette copy of Metallica’s Master of Puppets and put it on. Vlad may not have completely understood what he was hearing, but the impact was immediate.
“I was like, ‘Whoa.’ I was in a bit of shock. I couldn’t understand it, but it felt cool.”
Metal temporarily disappeared from his life after that first encounter, but it returned when Vlad was around twelve or thirteen. Once again, his brother played an important role, bringing home CDs from different bands and opening the door to Metallica, Megadeth and European metal.
The foundations also stretched back to his father, who listened to KISS, Black Sabbath and The Beatles. Of those bands, KISS left the deepest mark on Vlad.
That influence eventually found its way into Besomora through the band’s heavy reworking of “I Was Made for Lovin’ You”.
Vlad loved the original song but always believed the guitars needed more gain. The idea was to take the familiar disco driven KISS anthem and rebuild it as something heavier and more aggressive. The resulting cover also became the subject of Besomora’s first music video.
KISS influenced more than Vlad’s songwriting choices. Ace Frehley helped determine the shape of his first electric guitar.
After beginning on what Vlad affectionately described as an old and fairly terrible Soviet era acoustic guitar, he bought a Stagg Les Paul copy for approximately $200.
The reason for choosing that design was simple: Ace Frehley played a Les Paul, and Vlad loved the instrument.
From Guitarist to Vocalist
Guitar came first, but vocals arrived through necessity.
In one of Vlad’s earlier bands, the musicians could not find a singer. Already deep into bands including Death and Obituary, Vlad decided to try handling the vocals himself.
He discovered that he could produce the voice the music needed, but combining harsh vocals with technical guitar playing presented another challenge.
Chuck Schuldiner became a crucial reference point.
Vlad was fascinated by the way Schuldiner could play one rhythmic idea while singing something completely different over it. Learning how to separate those two parts took time, but the difficulty only made Vlad more determined.
His previous band eventually performed almost the entire Symbolic album, forcing him to build the coordination required to sing and play technical death metal simultaneously.
Long before Besomora, Vlad was already learning how to combine aggression, melody, precision and performance.
Double Face and Walking Away From Music
Before moving to Australia, Vlad played in a band called Double Face.
The group travelled to several countries and opened for internationally recognised acts including Kreator and Cannibal Corpse. It was a significant chapter of his musical life, but eventually his attention shifted towards moving to Australia.
Music demands commitment. Vlad understood that trying to establish a new life in another country while maintaining the level of focus required by a serious band would be difficult.
He stepped away.
Vlad sold his equipment, including most of his guitars and amplifiers. He kept only one special Jackson guitar that he could not bring himself to sell, bringing it to Australia with him.
For a period, music effectively disappeared from his life.
Then the world stopped.
Returning to Music During COVID
Besomora began taking shape during the COVID period before emerging publicly in 2021.
With venues closed, events cancelled and ordinary routines disrupted, Vlad began thinking about playing guitar again. He started practising and gradually realised that the technique he had spent years developing had not completely disappeared.
The ability was still there. It only needed to be rebuilt.
Vlad posted in a Facebook group looking for musicians and received a response from drummer Daniel Zolotic.
The pair initially attempted to play together online, but latency made rehearsing through available applications almost impossible. Instead, Vlad sent demos to Daniel, who recorded drums from his home.
Once restrictions eased, they began rehearsing together at Daniel’s home studio in Campbelltown.
Those first rehearsals were not exactly triumphant.
Both musicians had spent a long time away from regular performance, and Vlad remembers questioning whether returning to music had been a mistake. The only solution was to continue.
“Little steps, man. You take all the little steps, and then at some point, you become good at something.”
Those little steps became Besomora.
Finding Space for Melodic Death Metal in Australia
Vlad and Daniel shared a love of melodic death metal, particularly bands such as In Flames and the wider European metal tradition.
They also recognised an opening within Australian heavy music.
Australia has no shortage of thrash, deathcore and other forms of extreme metal, but Vlad felt melodic death metal was less heavily represented. Besomora could draw from the Gothenburg tradition without becoming another imitation of it.
The early material established the foundation, but the band would continue evolving beyond those first songs.
Besomora’s identity was musical, mythological and visual from the beginning.
Vlad has worked across acting, modelling, live event organisation and other areas of entertainment, and that understanding of presentation carried into the band. Besomora were never intended to be four musicians standing motionless while playing songs.
The movement, expressions, visual atmosphere and interaction with the audience are all part of the performance.
Vlad describes stepping onto the stage as becoming another person for thirty or forty minutes. It is not pretending so much as entering a role and giving yourself completely to the moment.
That transformation is also tied directly to the meaning of Besomora.
Demons, Nightmares and the Meaning of Besomora
The name Besomora combines two figures drawn from Slavic and Eastern European mythology.
“Bes” refers to a male demon or dark spirit associated with possession and rage. “Mora” is a female demonic figure connected to nightmares, choking and the experience now commonly described as sleep paralysis.
Vlad wanted a name that would make people stop and ask what it meant. He deliberately avoided choosing a conventional English band name and combined the two mythological figures into something unique.
The name does more than provide the band with an interesting origin story. It reflects Besomora’s music and live presence.
“When we’re on stage, you feel that possession. You have this adrenaline and, for thirty or forty minutes, you feel as if you’re possessed.”
Fear, demons, nightmares, rage and the darker sides of human nature are not simply lyrical decorations for Besomora. They run through the sound, artwork and energy of the band.
That world first became fully realised on Besomora’s debut EP, Delusional Monster.
Building Delusional Monster Alone
Delusional Monster featured guest contributions from Tobi Morelli of Archspire and Joe Haley of Psycroptic, but the recording itself was largely created from within the band.
Daniel handled much of the sound, and the EP was recorded through his Campbelltown home studio without an external producer guiding the process.
That independence gave Besomora control, but it also left the band without someone outside the room who could challenge decisions or suggest a different direction.
Looking back, Vlad can hear moments that he believes could have been improved. That is not a dismissal of the EP. It is the perspective that comes from experience.
“We did the best we could do at the time, and it sounded great at the time.”
Delusional Monster captured the band Besomora were at that exact stage. It followed the early singles and gave listeners a more complete picture of their melodic aggression, technical ambition and developing identity.
It also presented a considerable challenge for Matt Perkins.
Matt Perkins Steps Into a Different World
Having previously interviewed Matt during his Thrash Bandicoot days, I was already familiar with his ability as a guitarist.
Joining Besomora forced him to approach the instrument differently.
Matt had to learn the guest solos recorded by Tobi Morelli and Joe Haley for live performances, but there were no tablature files waiting for him. He had to slow the recordings down and work through the solos piece by piece.
The process was difficult and occasionally frustrating, but it also became an education.
By studying how Morelli and Haley constructed their solos, Matt began understanding melodic and technical phrasing outside the more straightforward thrash approach he had previously used.
“It allowed him to understand the structure of the solos and how Joe Haley and Tobi Morelli created them.”
Vlad believes Matt grew significantly through that experience. By the time Besomora entered the next recording cycle, those once intimidating melodic passages were no longer the same obstacle.
Naturally, Vlad decided the next sensible step was to hand him a nine string guitar.
There is always another opportunity for growth.
A New Drummer and a New Besomora
The evolution heard on Devotion to the Fear began with a major lineup change.
Original drummer Daniel Zolotic left the band and moved overseas, forcing Besomora to find a replacement while significant live opportunities were approaching.
Mustafa Okudan joined the band and brought a considerably different musical background.
Daniel was largely self taught and heavily influenced by European melodic death metal. Mustafa is a professional drum teacher with experience in progressive music, jazz and Death.
He reads and writes musical notation and approaches arrangements from a different technical perspective.
Both are highly capable drummers, but their methods and musical personalities are not the same. Vlad knew immediately that Besomora’s next recording would feel different.
Mustafa’s arrival did not erase the band’s melodic death metal foundation. It expanded what Besomora could build upon it.
Making Devotion to the Fear Sound Complete
Where Delusional Monster was predominantly self produced, Devotion to the Fear brought several outside perspectives into the process.
The new EP was recorded by Besomora and Matt Clarke of To The Grave, with the drums captured at Brain Studios in Sydney. Mike Trubetskov handled the mix, while Lance Prenc, known for his work with artists including Polaris and Alpha Wolf, mastered the release.
Clarke helped capture the size and impact of Mustafa’s drumming. Trubetskov brought a modern production approach informed by metalcore, deathcore and contemporary heavy music, while Prenc provided the final lift during mastering.
For Vlad, involving experienced people outside the band was one of the most important differences between the two releases.
The musicians still remained deeply involved and maintained control over their music, but they were now surrounded by people capable of challenging ideas and helping each track reach its full potential.
“When you work with more people on your music, especially on your sound, you can achieve so much more.”
Vlad can hear inconsistencies when revisiting the first EP. He does not hear those same gaps on Devotion to the Fear.
This time, everything feels connected.
“The new EP sounds so complete.”
That completeness can be heard from the moment “Devotio” begins building towards “Imminent Lies”.
Devotio and the Death Connection
The five track EP opens with “Devotio”, an atmospheric introduction designed to lead directly into “Imminent Lies”.
As the tension rises, the drums become the bridge between the two tracks.
Vlad revealed that the drum opening was conceived as a small tribute to Death, drawing inspiration from the way the band used drums to introduce material during their later period, particularly around The Sound of Perseverance.
It is another link in a chain stretching back to the music Vlad used to teach himself how to sing and play at the same time.
Then “Imminent Lies” arrives, and Besomora’s new chapter properly begins.
Per Nilsson and Imminent Lies
Besomora toured with Scar Symmetry two years before the recording of Devotion to the Fear. During that time, the musicians became friends, and Vlad raised the possibility of Per Nilsson contributing to a future Besomora song.
Nilsson told Vlad to contact him when the material was ready.
When “Imminent Lies” reached that point, Vlad did exactly that.
Matt had already attempted a solo for the song, but the band wondered what Nilsson might bring to the track. The intention was not to replace something poor. It was to push a strong song even further.
Nilsson’s technique and musical personality gave “Imminent Lies” something unmistakably his own.
“That guitarist is insane. His technique is very unique.”
The track also contains the nine string guitar section that demonstrates how far Besomora were prepared to push the weight of their new material.
“Imminent Lies” is still recognisably melodic death metal, but the lower range, modern production and added rhythmic force make it clear that Besomora are no longer confined to the sound of their first EP.
Chris Broderick and Leave Me Alone
The closing track, “Leave Me Alone”, features another musician with a deep connection to Vlad’s history as a metal fan.
Vlad first met Chris Broderick in 2011 during Broderick’s years with Megadeth and had kept a photograph from the encounter. Years later, Vlad saw him again when In Flames toured with Kreator.
That second encounter planted an idea.
When the song was ready, Vlad emailed Broderick and included their old photograph as a reminder that they had met more than a decade earlier.
Broderick listened to the demo and asked to read the lyrics before agreeing. He wanted to ensure he was not attaching his name to anything controversial or contrary to his values.
Once he was comfortable with the song, he recorded his contribution.
Vlad liked the first version but believed the ending could be even stronger. Despite approaching a guitarist of Broderick’s standing, he asked him to revise it.
Broderick did.
The finished performance closes Devotion to the Fear with the kind of technical authority expected from a musician whose career has included Megadeth, Jag Panzer and In Flames.
For Vlad, the reality still feels slightly surreal.
“Chris Broderick is playing on our record. For me, it’s just mind blowing.”
The collaboration also provided a form of validation.
When musicians operating at that level hear a Besomora song and decide they want to become part of it, Vlad sees that as evidence that the band has created something worthwhile.
“It means musicians on that level really liked your song. That means you have actually done something good.”
Five Tracks, No Wasted Space
Devotion to the Fear contains five tracks:
- “Devotio”
- “Imminent Lies” featuring Per Nilsson
- “Killing Passion”
- “Before I Die”
- “Leave Me Alone” featuring Chris Broderick
The EP moves from cinematic atmosphere into modern melodic death metal built upon enormous drums, low extended range guitars, sharp melodic leads and Vlad’s aggressive vocal presence.
It is darker than the debut, but it is also clearer.
Besomora have not abandoned the sound that brought me to them during my radio years. They have taken that sound, placed it under greater pressure and surrounded it with the experience, musicians and production required to make it hit harder.
This is not a completely different band.
It is Besomora becoming more fully themselves.
FOLLOW AND SUPPORT BESOMORA
All Links:
https://linktr.ee/besomora
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Facebook:
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YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/besomora
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7HGEaKlotOUFVv2Ni1ObPO
Apple Music:
https://music.apple.com/au/artist/besomora/1575127831
