"Since starting Powerplant as a bedroom recording project in 2017, a couple of years after he left Ukraine to study in London, he has released records built around fizzing electro-punk, dungeon synth and treble-heavy hardcore, concocting Dungeons & Dragons-inspired role-playing adventures to accompany some of them, while slinging visually arresting DIY merch through his Arcane Dynamics label. Yet even coming amid an output this freewheeling, his upcoming new record is full of surprises."
"Bridge of Sacrifice is a pivot into black metal, with Zhykharyev's antic synth melodies and slashing garage-rock guitars now accompanied by eerie screams and drum-machine blastbeats tinny enough to evoke the frost-bitten demos that emerged from Norway in the early 90s. It's a head-spinning mix carried off with the gleeful energy of a fan indulging their passions in the video for the title track, a trenchcoat-sporting Zhykharyev plays a Flying V in a creepy cellar."
"In these perma-anxious times, when hope is pretty much limited to placing one's faith in the least-worst outcome, Zhykharyev's desire to prioritise fun, earnestness and escapism in his fabulously odd music feels like sweet relief. He knows the stakes better than many Beautiful Boy, a ripping punk song from 2023's Grass EP, lamented everything that's been lost since Russia's invasion of Ukraine."
Theo Zhykharyev launched Powerplant as a bedroom project in 2017 after leaving Ukraine to study in London. He released records blending fizzing electro-punk, dungeon synth and treble-heavy hardcore. He created Dungeons & Dragons-inspired role-playing adventures and sold striking DIY merch through his Arcane Dynamics label. Bridge of Sacrifice marks a shift into black metal, adding eerie screams and tinny drum-machine blastbeats to antic synth melodies and slashing garage-rock guitars. The title-track video features Zhykharyev in a trenchcoat playing a Flying V in a creepy cellar. His music foregrounds fun, earnest escapism while reflecting political loss and resistance.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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