Serbian Metal Bands You Should Check Out #6

When you talk about Serbian metal in general, you don't have many of them old ones, and one of the biggest reasons for that are Yugoslavian wars that happened thorough the nineties. A lot of people went to war, got KIA-d, it was an awful time period, obviously. When things started settling down, came 1999 and another war. So, when you look at that time, you can say that it's not the best time for anything, especially having a band. That's why most of them split-up and never came back to it.

One of the rare examples, that later reunited is the band called Bombarder, or in English, Bomber.

About them:

Bombarder is a Serbian and former Yugoslav speed/thrash metal band. They were originally formed in 1986 in Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the time part of SFR Yugoslavia. During the Bosnian War, during which guitarist Maho Šiljdedić lost his life, vocalist Nenad Kovačević moved to Serbia, where he reformed Bombarder in the new lineup.

Before the release of their first album in 1989. „Speed Kill“ the band was actively playing live shows. The line-up at the time was: Nenad Kovačević – vocals, Maho Šiljdedić (R.I.P.) – guitars, Zlatko Slatinac – guitars, Senad Ljubunčić – bass and Senad Marava – drums. 3000 copies that were made of their first album were sold very quckly.

In 1991. the band re-enters the „Vogue“ studio to work with Mustafa Čengić as their producer, and records their second album „Bez Milosti“ (Without Mercy) and it become cult classic speed metal album in ex-Yugoslavia. Soon the bands guitarist Zlatko Slatinac was replaced by Jasmin Lamadžema.

In 1991. they released a VHS entitled „Bombarder: Sarajevo – Novi Sad“, that contained live shows, interviews and backstage moments of the band. After the release of „Bez Milosti“ Senad Marava left the band to form D-Throne in 1994.

Than came war in Yugoslavia and band stops to play in 1992. After the war Nenad Kovacevic moved from Sarajevo (Bosnia) to Belgrade (Serbia) and as the only former member, he gathered new guys to continue working, so it was the new beginning and second, after the war, phase of the band. Band released three more albums in traditional Thrash Speed Metal style and one, BestOf CD, called “Bez ballads” (No ballads) from then to 2000.

Album “Crni dani” (Black days) was the album directly inspired by war in Bosnia. In it, Nenad Kovacevic described his life through that hard time - his physical state full of pain and anger. So, the tempo on the whole album is much slower then the first and second album.

After that album, band splits again, and in 1996. Nenad gathered new line up. Band records album “Ko sam ja” (Who am I?).

Album "Ledena krv" (Ice blood) was recorded in Belgrade, as the past two albums. It is mixture of speed thrash and somewhere even black and death metal. It also have some experimental songs, like, for example the title song, where they had two guest female vocalists from Belgrade’s metal gothic band Abonos.

In 2011 band released album called Ima li zivota prije smrti? (Is there a life before death). It has eleven songs, one of which is a cover song from the band Nifelheim called "Sodomizer".

The latest instalment in their discography is LP called "Okot iz pakla". Well, for starters, this album has much cleaner production, which Luka Tower Marković is responsible for (and he is also session guitarist for Bombarder on this album). This is the best album in their discography in so many ways, and they are here for almost 30 years.

Source:
http://bosnian-metal.blogspot.com/2010/05/bombarder.html
https://www.last.fm/music/Bombarder/+wiki

People across whole old Yugoslavia like them because of their spontaneous, natural and true approach to the music they are playing. Because of that, they were unofficial headliners of almost every metal festival in ex-Yugoslavia. Singer and leader of the group, Nenad Kovacevic - Neso, is the real showman and he definitely knows to entertain the audience with his jokes between and during the songs. He also has the recognizable style of narrative, out of rhythm, singing with his lyrics written in Serbian language, which is the one of the main weapons of the band. If you ever have a chance to see them live, do it, you'll have a great time!

Line up:
Nenad "Nešo" Kovačević - Vocals
Predrag "Predo" Šarić - Bass
Milan "Mikac" Janković - Drums
Ivan "EVL" Makso - Guitars
Luka - Guitars (lead)

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Links:
https://www.facebook.com/Bombarder-official-195374023830401
https://www.facebook.com/BOMBARDER-Sarajevo-Belgrade--311061508780/
https://www.reverbnation.com/bombarederofficial