Kukeri ( Bulgarian : кукери ; singular: kuker , кукер) are elaborately costumed Bulgarian men, who perform traditional rituals intended to scare away evil spirits.
124-613: Closely related traditions are found throughout the Balkans and Greece (including Romania and the Pontus ). The costumes cover most of the body and include decorated wooden masks of animals (sometimes double-faced) and large bells attached to the belt. Around New Year and before Lent , the Kukeri walk and dance through villages to scare away evil spirits with their costumes and the sound of their bells. They are also believed to provide
248-754: A "flop" nonetheless. Around this time, veteran industrial metal artists (Ministry, Godflesh, and White Zombie ) began to repudiate the industrial label. Sales remained high throughout 2000–2005; at least 10 million records were sold during that time frame. Many groups began to take influence from hip hop and electronic music , in addition to industrial metal. As a result, acts like Powerman 5000 are often described as industrial metal as well as nu metal . Several industrial metal groups have produced eye-catching videos. These include Godflesh's collaboration with Andres Serrano , Aidan Hughes 's graphics for KMFDM, Nine Inch Nails' work with Mark Romanek , Rob Zombie 's visual work for White Zombie (for which he received
372-533: A German digital hardcore musician, declared that "[Rammstein is] successful for all the wrong reasons. I think they're not a fascist band at all, but I think in Germany there's a lot of misunderstanding and that's why they sell records and I think that's dangerous." In response to the controversy, Rammstein stated that "We are not Nazis, Neo-Nazis, or any other kind of Nazi. We are against racism, bigotry or any other type of discrimination." The band went on to create
496-571: A commercial force in 1992 when Nine Inch Nails' Broken and Ministry's Psalm 69 went platinum in America, though the latter took three years to reach that status. Both groups were nominated for the Best Metal Performance in the 1992 Grammy Awards , with Nine Inch Nails winning. Two years later, Nine Inch Nails released The Downward Spiral , which debuted at No. 2, and would eventually go quadruple-platinum. This record
620-418: A controversial artist, one who dares to have an opinion and bothers to create music and videos that challenge people's ideas in a world that is watered-down and hollow. In my work I examine the America we live in, and I've always tried to show people that the devil we blame our atrocities on is really just each one of us. [...] Sascha Konietzko reported that KMFDM was "sick and appalled" by the shootings, issuing
744-527: A critical backlash at the turn of the millennium. In an April 2000 review for the Chicago Sun Times , Jim DeRogatis dismissed Nine Inch Nails' new music as a "generic brand of industrial thrash" and accused Ministry of repeating an act that "was old by 1992". Although The Fragile reached the top spot of the Billboard 200 and went on to earn double platinum status, DeRogatis considered it
868-602: A few industrial metal groups vulnerable to attack from American social conservatives . For example, Sen. Bob Dole , then head of the Republican Party, sharply criticized Time Warner after a meeting between Michael J. Fuchs (head of the Warner Music Group), William Bennett , and C. Delores Tucker , at which Tucker and Bennett demanded that Fuchs read lyrics from NIN's " Big Man with a Gun ". A year later, Bennett, Tucker, and Joseph Lieberman launched
992-572: A fight between Zeus and the monster/titan Typhon . Zeus injured Typhon with a thunder bolt and Typhon's blood fell on the mountains, giving them their name. The earliest mention of the name appears in an early 14th-century Arab map, in which the Haemus Mountains are referred to as Balkan . The first attested time the name "Balkan" was used in the West for the mountain range in Bulgaria
1116-437: A general Balkan mumming tradition that emerged sometime in the early modern period, influenced by Greek , Slavic , Albanian , and Turkish practices. The precise origin of the word "Kukeri" is unclear. The term could be derived from Proto-Slavic *kuka ("evil spirit") with the agentive suffix *-ařь (i.e. literally meaning a "chaser of evil spirits"), or from a pre-Slavic divinity named Kuk. Another theory suggests
1240-401: A good harvest, health, and happiness to the village for the year ahead. The Kukeri traditionally visit people's houses at night so that "the sun would not catch them on the road." After parading around the village, they usually gather at the village square to dance wildly and amuse the people. Kukeri rituals vary by region, but remain largely the same in essence. 19th century scholars considered
1364-523: A high of 8 million in the late 16th-century to only 3 million by the mid-eighteenth. This estimate is based on Ottoman documentary evidence." Most of the Balkan nation-states emerged during the 19th and early 20th centuries as they gained independence from the Ottoman or Habsburg empires: Greece in 1821, Serbia, and Montenegro in 1878, Romania in 1881, Bulgaria in 1908 and Albania in 1912. In 1912–1913,
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#17327649701401488-640: A member of the Axis, Germany, with Bulgaria, invaded both Greece and Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia immediately disintegrated when those loyal to the Serbian King and the Croatian units mutinied. Greece resisted, but, after two months of fighting, collapsed and was occupied. The two countries were partitioned between the three Axis allies, Bulgaria, Germany and Italy, and the Independent State of Croatia ,
1612-452: A protégé of Reznor's, came to prominence. The group's live performance and its transgressive appeal was often more commented on than their music. Industrial metal reached its commercial zenith in the latter half of the 1990s – according to the RIAA databases, its top-selling artists sold around 17.5 million units combined. Records by major industrial metal artists routinely debuted on
1736-457: A puppet state of Italy and Germany. During the occupation, the population suffered considerable hardship due to repression and starvation, to which the population reacted by creating a mass resistance movement. Together with the early and extremely heavy winter of that year (which caused hundreds of thousands of deaths among the poorly fed population), the German invasion had disastrous effects in
1860-641: A revolutionary organization with predominantly Serb and pro-Yugoslav members, assassinated the Austro-Hungarian heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital, Sarajevo . That caused a war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, which—through the existing chains of alliances —led to the World War I. The Ottoman Empire soon joined the Central Powers becoming one of
1984-536: A similar campaign against MCA Records for their distribution of Marilyn Manson 's music. Many of his concerts were cancelled by authorities after this uproar. In addition, Dennis Cooper cited Ministry's video for " Just One Fix ", which featured footage of William S. Burroughs , as an early example of heroin chic . Some initial reports claimed that Columbine High School shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were Marilyn Manson fans. In fact, they preferred KMFDM and Rammstein. Asa Coon , another school shooter,
2108-596: A statement the following day saying: First and foremost, KMFDM would like to express their deep and heartfelt sympathy for the parents, families and friends of the murdered and injured children in Littleton. We are sick and appalled, as is the rest of the nation, by what took place in Colorado yesterday. KMFDM are an art form – not a political party. From the beginning, our music has been a statement against war, oppression, fascism and violence against others. While some of
2232-489: A strong anti-rock stance. British post-punk band Killing Joke pioneered the crossing over between styles and was an influence on major acts associated with industrial metal such as Ministry , Godflesh , and Nine Inch Nails . Another pioneer industrial rock group, Big Black , also impacted some later groups. By the late 1980s industrial and heavy metal began to fuse into a common genre, with Godflesh's self-titled EP and Ministry's The Land of Rape and Honey at
2356-420: A sudden it was like there was a whole new parameter within guitar playing itself – especially in combination with sounds that you get out of a keyboard . Jourgensen seemed particularly fond of thrash metal . After the release of Land , he recruited guitarist Mike Scaccia from Texas thrashers Rigor Mortis . On one occasion, Jourgensen told the press that Sepultura was his favorite band. He also expressed
2480-501: A top seller, Godflesh nonetheless became an influential act, their name mentioned by Korn , Metallica , Danzig , Faith No More , and Fear Factory . Ministry emerged from the scene surrounding Wax Trax! Records , a Chicago indie label dedicated to industrial music. Ministry's initial foray into guitar rock happened during a recording session of The Land of Rape and Honey on Southern Studios , in London. The band's frontman,
2604-694: A whole and southern parts of Slovenia. The Province of Trieste in Italy, although by some definitions on the peninsula, is generally excluded from the Balkans. Hungary and Moldova are occasionally included in discussions of the Balkans due to cultural and historical affiliation, but are generally excluded. The term Southeast Europe is also used for the region, with various definitions. Individual Balkan states can also be considered part of other regions, including Southern Europe , Eastern Europe , and Central Europe . Turkey, including its European territory,
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#17327649701402728-544: Is a small, niche scene within industrial music. Very few bands today describe themselves or are described as coldwave. Bands like Cyanotic and Medicant Downline are perhaps the exception. Despite sharing the same name as the French genre , it is otherwise unrelated. Industrial metal blossomed in the early 1990s, particularly in North America, where it would eventually sell close to 35 million units. It first became
2852-474: Is a sub-genre of industrial metal originating in the 1990s. It has its roots in acts like Nine Inch Nails and Ministry . The style focuses on heavier, punk-based guitars, sampled hard rock-like guitars, synthesizer accompaniment, and acid house elements. Lyrical content is typically cyberpunk-oriented with pop music sensibilities, although it can vary. Chemlab 's 1993 album Burn Out at the Hydrogen Bar
2976-531: Is carried out with the participation of numerous allegorical personages, among which is the Emperor and his entourage. Capra comes from the Latin word "Capra," meaning goat. A halo like head piece was worn as a crown to symbolize the spiritual divine realm, while fur, feathers and other external body-parts of an animal attached to represent the natural world. The fact that nature has good and evil, and that humans are
3100-429: Is considered by AllMusic as "one of the bleakest multi-platinum albums ever". Overall, popular heavy rock music has changed to become more "industrialized". This robbed the industrial hardcore movement of any hopes of establishing a new identity of its own. The style is dead (or at least dying); the elements of the style continue on in new musical settings. Following Nine Inch Nails' success, Marilyn Manson , led by
3224-548: Is generally encompassed in the region known as Southeast Europe . Italy currently holds a small area around Trieste that is by some older definitions considered a part of the Balkan Peninsula. However, the regions of Trieste and Istria are not usually considered part of the Balkans by Italian geographers, due to their definition of the Balkans that limits its western border to the Kupa River. The borders of
3348-736: Is generally included in Western Asia or the Middle East . The Western Balkans is a political neologism coined to refer to Albania and the territory of the former Yugoslavia, except Slovenia , since the early 1990s. The region of the Western Balkans, a coinage exclusively used in pan-European parlance, roughly corresponds to the Dinaric Alps territory. The institutions of the European Union have generally used
3472-459: Is in wide use, from over 1,000 dams. The often relentless bora wind is also being harnessed for power generation. Metal ores are more usual than other raw materials. Iron ore is rare, but in some countries there is a considerable amount of copper, zinc, tin , chromite , manganese , magnesite and bauxite . Some metals are exported. The Balkan region was the first area in Europe to experience
3596-409: Is interpreted by a man attired in a sheep- or goat-pelt, wearing a horned mask and girded with a large wooden phallus . During the ritual, various physiological acts are interpreted, including the sexual act, as a symbol of the god's sacred marriage, while the symbolical wife, appearing pregnant, mimes the pains of giving birth. This ritual inaugurates the labors of the fields ( ploughing , sowing ) and
3720-458: Is known as babari or mechkari ("bear-man"). In Romania, this figure mostly appears together with a goat, known as capra , turca or brezaia . Kukeri is a divinity personifying fecundity. Sometimes in Bulgaria and Serbia it is a plural divinity. In Bulgaria, a ritual spectacle of spring (a sort of carnival ) takes place after a scenario of folk theatre, in which Kuker's role
3844-623: Is mostly unsuccessful because of the mountains, hot summers and poor soils, although certain cultures such as olive and grape flourish. Resources of energy are scarce, except in Kosovo , where considerable coal , lead , zinc , chromium and silver deposits are located. Other deposits of coal , especially in Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia, also exist. Lignite deposits are widespread in Greece. Petroleum scarce reserves exist in Greece, Serbia and Albania. Natural gas deposits are scarce. Hydropower
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3968-730: Is no longer Balkan proper, but the cradle of our Western civilization. Most of the area is covered by mountain ranges running from the northwest to southeast. The main ranges are the Balkan Mountains (Stara Planina in Bulgarian language ), running from the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria to the border with Serbia , the Rila - Rhodope massif in southern Bulgaria, the Dinaric Alps in Bosnia and Herzegovina , Croatia and Montenegro ,
4092-498: Is often considered the album that defined the coldwave style. Artists like the aforementioned Chemlab, 16 Volt and Acumen Nation exemplified this genre. The coldwave style began to wane rapidly when industrial music in general started to lose popularity in the latter half of the 1990s-early 2000's. Many artists within the genre moved on to different styles that included; Hard rock, heavy metal, nu metal, synth-metal, synth-rock, and synth-pop among other genres. Coldwave today
4216-585: Is seen on the Adriatic coasts of Albania, Croatia and Montenegro, as well as the Ionian coasts of Albania and Greece, in addition to the Aegean coasts of Greece and Balkan Turkey (European Turkey) . Over the centuries, forests have been cut down and replaced with bush . In the southern part and on the coast there is evergreen vegetation. Inland there are woods typical of Central Europe ( oak and beech , and in
4340-495: Is ultimately the whole of continental Europe itself that functions as a kind of Balkan Turkish global empire with Brussels as the new Constantinople, the capricious despotic center threatening English freedom and sovereignty. So Balkan is always the Other: it lies somewhere else, always a little bit more to the southeast, with the paradox that, when we reach the very bottom of the Balkan peninsula, we again magically escape Balkan. Greece
4464-519: The Aegean Sea in the south, the Turkish straits in the east, and the Black Sea in the northeast. The northern border of the peninsula is variously defined. The highest point of the Balkans is Musala , 2,925 metres (9,596 ft), in the Rila mountain range, Bulgaria. The concept of the Balkan Peninsula was created by the German geographer August Zeune in 1808, who mistakenly considered
4588-588: The Balkan Peninsula ( Peninsula of Haemus , Haemaic Peninsula ), is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains (Haemus Mountains) that stretch throughout the whole of Bulgaria . The Balkan Peninsula is bordered by the Adriatic Sea in the northwest, the Ionian Sea in the southwest,
4712-849: The Baltic Sea are closer to Trieste than Odesa yet it is not considered as another European peninsula. Since the late 19th and early 20th century no exact northern border has been clear, with an issue, whether the rivers are usable for its definition. In studies the Balkans' natural borders, especially the northern border, are often avoided to be addressed, considered as a problème fastidieux (delicate problem) by André Blanc in Géographie des Balkans (1965), while John Lampe and Marvin Jackman in Balkan Economic History (1971) noted that "modern geographers seem agreed in rejecting
4836-584: The First Balkan War broke out when the nation-states of Bulgaria , Serbia , Greece and Montenegro united in an alliance against the Ottoman Empire . As a result of the war, almost all remaining European territories of the Ottoman Empire were captured and partitioned among the allies. Ensuing events also led to the creation of an independent Albanian state. Bulgaria insisted on its status quo territorial integrity, divided and shared by
4960-764: The Grammy -winning Broken and the best-selling The Downward Spiral , accompanied by their groundbreaking performance at Woodstock '94 . The rivethead subculture also developed at this time, along with the so-called "coldwave" subgenre, which encompassed Chemlab , 16 Volt , and Acumen Nation . Some electro-industrial groups adopted industrial metal techniques in this period, including Skinny Puppy (on their Rabies , co-produced by Jourgensen), and Front Line Assembly . British band Pitchshifter , formed in 1989 by brothers Jon and Mark Clayden, also started as an industrial metal band. The band later included elements of drum and bass . Frontman JS mentions: [...]In
5084-670: The Korab - Šar mountains which spreads from Kosovo to Albania and North Macedonia , and the Pindus range, spanning from southern Albania into central Greece and the Albanian Alps , and the Alps at the northwestern border. The highest mountain of the region is Rila in Bulgaria, with Musala at 2,925 m, second being Mount Olympus in Greece, with Mytikas at 2,917 m, and Pirin mountain with Vihren , also in Bulgaria, being
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5208-493: The MTV Video Music Award for Best Hard Rock Video), and Marilyn Manson's output with Richard Kern and Floria Sigismondi . NIN later collaborated with Bill Viola for live accompaniment. Trent Reznor also produced the soundtracks for the films Natural Born Killers and Lost Highway , and served as "musical consultant" for Man on Fire . Rob Zombie has directed three films. In 2009, Marilyn Manson
5332-657: The Ottomans several decades later. Ottoman expansion in the region began in the second half of the 14th century, as the Byzantine Empire continued to lose its grip on the region after several defeats to the Ottomans. In 1362, the Ottoman Turks conquered Adrianople (now Edirne , Turkey). This was the start of their conquest of the Balkan Peninsula, which lasted for more than a century. Other states in
5456-770: The Rhodope Mountains to be the northern limit of the Peninsula of Haemus and the same limit applied approximately to the border between Greek and Latin use in the region (later called the Jireček Line ). However large spaces south of Jireček Line were and are inhabited by Vlachs ( Aromanians ), the Romance-speaking heirs of Roman Empire. The Bulgars and Slavs arrived in the sixth-century and began assimilating and displacing already-assimilated (through Romanization and Hellenization) older inhabitants of
5580-517: The Thracian king Haemus was turned into a mountain by Zeus as a punishment and the mountain has remained with his name. A reverse name scheme has also been suggested. D. Dechev considers that Haemus (Αἷμος) is derived from a Thracian word *saimon , 'mountain ridge'. A third possibility is that "Haemus" ( Αἵμος ) derives from the Greek word haima ( αἷμα ) meaning 'blood'. The myth relates to
5704-488: The death metal scene, such as Fear Factory , Nailbomb , Autokrator and Meathook Seed , also began to experiment with industrial. Fear Factory, from Los Angeles, were initially influenced by the Earache roster (namely Godflesh , Napalm Death and Bolt Thrower ). The German band Oomph! after their second album Sperm started to play industrial metal combined with elements of death metal and groove metal until
5828-653: The Balkan Mountains the dominant mountain system of Southeast Europe spanning from the Adriatic Sea to the Black Sea. The term Balkan Peninsula was a synonym for Rumelia in the 19th century, the parts of Europe that were provinces of the Ottoman Empire at the time. It had a geopolitical rather than a geographical definition, which was further promoted during the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in
5952-501: The Balkans after the Indo-European migrations in the region. In pre-classical and classical antiquity , this region was home to Greeks , Illyrians , Paeonians , Thracians , Dacians , and other ancient groups. The Achaemenid Persian Empire incorporated parts of the Balkans comprising Macedonia , Thrace (parts of present-day eastern Bulgaria ), and the Black Sea coastal region of Romania beginning in 512 BC. Following
6076-560: The Balkans and eventual creation of a joint military staff for the three countries. When the pact was signed, Turkey and Greece were members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), while Yugoslavia was a non-aligned communist state. With the Pact, Yugoslavia was able to indirectly associate itself with NATO. Though, it was planned for the pact to remain in force for 20 years, it dissolved in 1960. As
6200-403: The Balkans are due to many contrasting definitions disputed. There exists no universal agreement on the region's components. The term by most definitions fully encompasses Albania , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Bulgaria , Greece , Kosovo , Montenegro , North Macedonia , European Turkey , Romanian coast , most of Serbia and large parts of Croatia . Sometimes the term also includes Romania as
6324-537: The Balkans by using its protectorate Albania to invade Greece . After repelling the attack, the Greeks counterattacked, invading Italy-held Albania and causing Nazi Germany's intervention in the Balkans to help its ally. Days before the German invasion, a successful coup d'état in Belgrade by neutral military personnel seized power. Although the new government reaffirmed its intentions to fulfill its obligations as
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#17327649701406448-599: The Balkans inhabitants who were pagan beforehand. Initially, it was adopted by the Bulgarians and Serbs, with the Romanians joining a bit later. The Albanians , on the other hand due to their isolation in their mountain settlements, were not immediately affected by the spread of Christianity. The emergence of the First Bulgarian Empire and the constant conflicts between the Byzantine Empire and
6572-591: The Balkans is dominated by its geographical position; historically the area was known as a crossroads of cultures. It has been a juncture between the Latin and Greek bodies of the Roman Empire , the destination of a massive influx of pagan Bulgars and Slavs , an area where Orthodox and Catholic Christianity met, as well as the meeting point between Islam and Christianity. Albanic , Hellenic , and other Palaeo-Balkan languages , had their formative core in
6696-547: The Balkans place their greatest folk heroes in the era of either the onslaught or the retreat of the Ottoman Empire. As examples, for Greeks, Constantine XI Palaiologos and Kolokotronis ; and for Serbs, Miloš Obilić , Tsar Lazar and Karadjordje ; for Albanians, George Kastrioti Skanderbeg; for ethnic Macedonians , Nikola Karev and Goce Delčev ; for Bulgarians, Vasil Levski , Georgi Sava Rakovski and Hristo Botev and for Croats , Nikola Šubić Zrinjski . In
6820-556: The Cuban-born Al Jourgensen , explained this transition: Rediscovering the guitar on this record was almost like the first day I got my Fairlight . The possibilities just seemed endless on something that had seemed so limiting before. That's really funny. I started out as a guitarist, but I hadn't really touched a guitar in five years. Then I heard that first feedback come out of the Marshall stack and all of
6944-410: The First Bulgarian Empire significantly weakened the Byzantine control over the Balkans by the end of the 10th century. The Byzantines further lost power in the Balkans after the resurgence of the Bulgarians in the late 12th century, with the forming of their Second Bulgarian Empire . After the collapse of the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Byzantine's Empire grip on power was prolonged by the inability of
7068-437: The Great Powers next to the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78) in other boundaries and on the pre-war Bulgarian-Serbian agreement. Bulgaria was provoked by the backstage deals between its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on the allocation of the spoils at the end of the First Balkan War. At the time, Bulgaria was fighting at the main Thracian Front. Bulgaria marks the beginning of Second Balkan War when it attacked them. The Serbs and
7192-399: The Greeks repulsed single attacks, but when the Greek army invaded Bulgaria together with an unprovoked Romanian intervention in the back, Bulgaria collapsed. The Ottoman Empire used the opportunity to recapture Eastern Thrace , establishing its new western borders that still stand today as part of modern Turkey. World War I was sparked in the Balkans in 1914 when members of Young Bosnia ,
7316-423: The Hungarian experimental metal act Thy Catafalque , Blut aus Nord and Norwegian band Shining with their critically acclaimed Blackjazz album, which blended progressive rock, black metal, free jazz and industrial. Canadian artist Devin Townsend , the founder of industrial thrash metal band Strapping Young Lad , later fused industrial with progressive metal during his prolific solo career. Coldwave
7440-418: The Kukeri to have a pre-Christian Thracian origin, and theorised that they were a remnant of a Thracian cult of the god Dionysus ; this view was encouraged by Bulgarian nationalists and folklorists who wished to lend Bulgarian cultural practices a sense of prestige via association with the classical world. However, modern scholarship generally rejects this view, and the Kukeri are now considered to be part of
7564-543: The Norwegian black metal scene, but later chose to experiment with industrial music. Several artists with their roots in progressive music, though not often associated with industrial metal scene, also incorporated industrial textures into their music. Later-era King Crimson , whose 2000s albums were referred as "industrial art metal", and OSI can be named as examples of progressive industrial metal. Several acts associated with extreme metal subgenres also mix progressive and avant-garde metal with industrial, those include
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#17327649701407688-399: The Ottoman occupied parts of Europe), while Yugoslavian maps also included Croatia and Bosnia. The term Balkan Peninsula was a synonym for European Turkey, the political borders of former Ottoman Empire provinces. The usage of the term changed in the very end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, when it was embraced by Serbian geographers, most prominently by Jovan Cvijić . It
7812-435: The Ottomans for a time (1443–1468) by using guerilla warfare . Skanderbeg's achievements, in particular the Battle of Albulena and the First Siege of Krujë won him fame across Europe. The Ottomans eventually conquered the near entirety of the Balkans and reached central Europe by the early 16th century. Some smaller countries, such as Montenegro managed to retain some autonomy by managing their own internal affairs, since
7936-556: The Persian defeat in the Greco-Persian Wars in 479 BC, they abandoned all of their European territories, which regained their independence. During the reign of Philip II of Macedon (359-336 BC), Macedonia rose to become the most powerful state in the Balkans . In the second century BC, the Roman Empire conquered the region and spread Roman culture and the Latin language, but significant parts still remained under classical Greek influence. The only Paleo-Balkan languages that survived are Albanian and Greek . The Romans considered
8060-411: The Slavs to unite, which was caused by frequent infighting amongst themselves. Bulgaria in the first half of the 14th century was then overshadowed by the new rising regional power of Serbia, which was a result of Stefan Dušan rising up and conquering much of the Balkans to create the Serbian Empire . The Serbian and Byzantine empires continued to be the dominant forces in the region until the arrival of
8184-406: The Turkish suffix -an 'swampy forest' or Persian bālā-khāna 'big high house'. It was used mainly during the time of the Ottoman Empire . In both Ottoman Turkish and modern Turkish , balkan means 'chain of wooded mountains'. From classical antiquity through the Middle Ages , the Balkan Mountains were called by the local Thracian name Haemus . According to Greek mythology,
8308-416: The West, later even spearheaded, together with India and Egypt the Non-Aligned Movement . Albania on the other hand gravitated toward Communist China , later adopting an isolationist position. On 28 February 1953, Greece , Turkey and Yugoslavia signed the treaty of Agreement of Friendship and Cooperation in Ankara to form the Balkan Pact of 1953 . The treaty's aim was to deter Soviet expansion in
8432-400: The Western Balkans, joined the EU in July 2013. The term is criticized for having a geopolitical, rather than a geographical meaning and definition, as a multiethnic and political area in the southeastern part of Europe. The geographical term of a peninsula defines that the sea border must be longer than the land border, with the land side being the shortest in the triangle, but that is not
8556-554: The album Plastik . Sepultura singer Max Cavalera 's Nailbomb , a collaboration with Alex Newport, also practiced a combination of extreme metal and industrial production techniques. A lesser-known example of industrial death metal is Meathook Seed, made up of members of Napalm Death and the Florida death metal group Obituary . An industrial music fan, Obituary guitarist Trevor Peres suggested drum machines for The End Complete , Obituary's most successful album. The other band members' refusal led him to form Meathook Seed . In
8680-450: The area starting falling like Serbia after the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, Bulgaria in 1396, Constantinople in 1453, Bosnia in 1463, Herzegovina in 1482, and Montenegro in 1499. The conquest was made easier for the Ottomans due to existing divisions among the Orthodox peoples and by the even deeper rift that had existed at the time between the Eastern and Western Christians of Europe. The Albanians under Skanderbeg's leadership resisted
8804-483: The arrival of farming cultures in the Neolithic era. The Balkans have been inhabited since the Paleolithic and are the route by which farming from the Middle East spread to Europe during the Neolithic (7th millennium BC). The practices of growing grain and raising livestock arrived in the Balkans from the Fertile Crescent by way of Anatolia and spread west and north into Central Europe, particularly through Pannonia . Two early culture-complexes have developed in
8928-525: The broad geographical, social-political and historical context of the Balkans, while the neologism Western Balkans is perceived as a humiliation of Croatia by the European political powers. According to M. S. Altić, the term has two different meanings, "geographical, ultimately undefined, and cultural, extremely negative, and recently strongly motivated by the contemporary political context". In 2018, President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović stated that
9052-428: The case for the Balkan Peninsula. Both the eastern and western sea catheti from Odesa to Cape Matapan ( c. 1230 –1350 km) and from Trieste to Cape Matapan ( c. 1270 –1285 km) are shorter than the land cathetus from Trieste to Odesa ( c. 1330 –1365 km). The land has too long a land border to qualify as a peninsula – Szczecin (920 km) and Rostock (950 km) at
9176-558: The desire to produce a Metallica album. Jourgensen's interest in dance-oriented electronic music did not entirely fade, however; he also formed the side-project Revolting Cocks , a more electronic body music -inflected collaboration with Richard23 of Front 242 . German band KMFDM was another seminal industrial metal group. Although not a metal fan , KMFDM leader Sascha Konietzko 's "infatuation with ripping off metal licks " stemmed from his experiments with E-mu 's Emax sampler in late 1986. He told Guitar World that, It
9300-784: The dissolution of the union as unconstitutional and the Yugoslav People's Army unsuccessfully tried to maintain the status quo. Slovenia and Croatia declared independence on 25 June 1991, which prompted the Croatian War of Independence in Croatia and the Ten-Day War in Slovenia. The Yugoslav forces eventually withdrew from Slovenia in 1991 while the war in Croatia continued until late 1995 . The two were followed by Macedonia and later Bosnia and Herzegovina, with Bosnia being
9424-409: The early 20th century. The definition of the Balkan Peninsula's natural borders does not coincide with the technical definition of a peninsula; hence modern geographers reject the idea of a Balkan Peninsula, while historical scholars usually discuss the Balkans as a region. The term has acquired a stigmatized and pejorative meaning related to the process of Balkanization . The alternative term used for
9548-439: The early days we were inspired by bands like Head of David and Swans and the like... coming out of punk into the weird, angry, total noise, kind of pre-industrial music. It gets called industrial but I don't know if it really is. Industrial metal's popularity led a number of successful thrash metal groups, including Megadeth , Sepultura , and Anthrax , to request remixes by "industrial" artists. Some musicians emerging from
9672-538: The early years of the 21st century, groups from the black metal scene began to incorporate elements of industrial music. Mysticum , formed in 1991, was the first of these groups. DHG (Dødheimsgard), Thorns from Norway and Blut Aus Nord , N.K.V.D. and Blacklodge from France, have been acclaimed for their incorporation of industrial elements. Other industrial black metal musicians include Samael , The Axis of Perdition , Aborym , and ...And Oceans . In addition, The Kovenant , Mortiis and Ulver emerged from
9796-627: The end of World War I, the Balkan Pact , or Balkan Entente, was formed by a treaty between Greece , Romania , Turkey and Yugoslavia on 9 February 1934 in Athens . With the start of the World War II , all Balkan countries, with the exception of Greece, were allies of Nazi Germany , having bilateral military agreements or being part of the Axis Pact . Fascist Italy expanded the war in
9920-555: The end of the 18th century, and other authors started applying the name to the wider area between the Adriatic and the Black Sea. The concept of the "Balkans" was created by the German geographer August Zeune in 1808, who mistakenly considered it as the dominant central mountain system of Southeast Europe spanning from the Adriatic Sea to the Black Sea. During the 1820s, "Balkan became the preferred although not yet exclusive term alongside Haemus among British travelers... Among Russian travelers not so burdened by classical toponymy, Balkan
10044-528: The first battleground of the emerging Cold War. The Truman Doctrine was the US response to the civil war , which raged from 1944 to 1949. This civil war, unleashed by the Communist Party of Greece , backed by communist volunteers from neighboring countries (Albania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia), led to massive American assistance for the non-communist Greek government. With this backing, Greece managed to defeat
10168-514: The forefront. Godflesh was founded by former Napalm Death guitarist Justin Broadrick . Drawing from a wide array of influences— power electronics forefathers Whitehouse , noise rock band Swans , ambient music creator Brian Eno and fellow Birmingham hard rockers Black Sabbath —the Godflesh sound was once described as " Pornography -era The Cure on Quaaludes ". Though not
10292-415: The former band members are German as reported in the media, none of us condone any Nazi beliefs whatsoever. Rammstein stated that they "have no lyrical content or political beliefs that could have possibly influenced such behavior". Rammstein have also been controversial for their use of Nazi imagery, including footage shot by Leni Riefenstahl for Olympia in their video for " Stripped ". Alec Empire ,
10416-482: The genre when they began to mix extreme metal with industrial music in the late 1980s. Pigface , formed by Martin Atkins and including Ministry drummer Bill Rieflin , emerged as an industrial metal collective of sorts, participating with many figures from the noise rock and industrial worlds. Nine Inch Nails, the "one-man-band" formed by Trent Reznor , brought the genre to mainstream audiences with albums such as
10540-564: The historical and political connotations of the term Balkans , especially since the military conflicts of the 1990s in Yugoslavia in the western half of the region, the term Southeast Europe is becoming increasingly popular. A European Union initiative of 1999 is called the Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe . The online newspaper Balkan Times renamed itself Southeast European Times in 2003. In other languages of
10664-715: The intermediary between spirit and nature, it was a made-time to pay homage to the Spieth gods. Some cultures imbibed in human flesh to satiate the god's thirst for blood, as an act of solidarity for the gods. Kukeri or Kuker Warriors are some of the main characters in the epic fantasy animated series The Golden Apple , which is currently being developed by Studio Zmei. In it, young brothers Bran and Vlad have been trained as Kuker Warriors to fight evil spirits, but they have to question what they have been taught when they are forced to team up with half-spirit Vihra and Samodiva-spirit Tina in order to protect their world. Kukeri are featured in
10788-589: The last outpost of the peaceful Mitteleuropa. For Italians and Austrians, it begins with Slovenia, where the reign of the Slavic hordes starts. For Germans, Austria itself, on account of its historic connections, is already tainted by Balkanic corruption and inefficiency. For some arrogant Frenchmen, Germany is associated with the Balkanian Eastern savagery—up to the extreme case of some conservative anti-European-Union Englishmen for whom, in an implicit way, it
10912-440: The late 1980s, as industrial and metal began to fuse into a common genre. Industrial metal did well in the early 1990s, particularly in North America, with the success of groups such as Nine Inch Nails , but its popularity began to fade in the latter half of the 1990s. Though electric guitars had been used by industrial artists since the early days of the genre, archetypal industrial groups such as Throbbing Gristle displayed
11036-470: The late 19th century to the creation of post– World War I Yugoslavia (initially the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918). After the dissolution of Yugoslavia beginning in June 1991, the term Balkans acquired a negative political meaning, especially in Croatia and Slovenia, as well in worldwide casual usage for war conflicts and fragmentation of territory (see Balkanization ). In part due to
11160-682: The most affected by the fighting. The wars prompted the United Nations' intervention and NATO ground and air forces took action against Serb forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina and FR Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro). Industrial metal Industrial metal is the fusion of heavy metal and industrial music , typically employing repeating metal guitar riffs , sampling , synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Prominent industrial metal acts include Ministry , Nine Inch Nails , Fear Factory , Rammstein , KMFDM , and Godflesh . Industrial metal developed in
11284-491: The mountains, spruce , fir and pine ). The tree line in the mountains lies at the height of 1,800–2,300 m. The land provides habitats for numerous endemic species, including extraordinarily abundant insects and reptiles that serve as food for a variety of birds of prey and rare vultures . The soils are generally poor, except on the plains , where areas with natural grass, fertile soils and warm summers provide an opportunity for tillage. Elsewhere, land cultivation
11408-427: The music video for the song " Fish on ", by the industrial metal band Lindemann , and in the film Toni Erdmann , directed by Maren Ade . Kukeri are the subject of a 2023 New Yorker documentary short by filmmaker Killian Lassabliére titled "Kukeri". Balkans The Balkans ( / ˈ b ɔː l k ən z / BAWL -kənz , / ˈ b ɒ l k ən z / BOL -kənz ), corresponding partially with
11532-749: The name kuker derived from Latin cuculla meaning "hood, cowl" or cucurum , " quiver " (i.e. in the sense of a container; an abbreviation of koukouros geros ), though the practice pre-dates Roman rule by several centuries. The corresponding figure in Greek-speaking Thrace is known as Kalogeros ("monk" or literally the "good-old" one), also shortened to cuci , in former Yugoslavia known as didi , didici , in Bulgaria as kuker or babushar , as momogeros in Pontic Anatolia, in North Macedonia it
11656-727: The northern and central Balkans. This migration brought about the formation of distinct ethnic groups amongst the South Slavs, which included the Bulgarians , Croats and Serbs and Slovenes . Prior to the Slavic landing, parts of the western peninsula have been home to the Proto-Albanians . Including cities like Nish , Shtip . This can be proven through the development of the names, for example Naissos > Nish and Astibos > Shtip follow Albanian phonetic sound rules and have entered Slavic, indicating that Proto-Albanian
11780-603: The old idea of a Balkan Peninsula". Another issue is the name: the Balkan Mountains , mostly in Northern Bulgaria, do not dominate the region by length and area as do the Dinaric Alps . An eventual Balkan peninsula can be considered a territory south of the Balkan Mountains, with a possible name "Greek-Albanian Peninsula." The term influenced the meaning of Southeast Europe which again is not properly defined by geographical factors. Croatian geographers and academics are highly critical of inclusion of Croatia within
11904-518: The only non-communist countries, Greece and Turkey were (and still are) part of NATO composing the southeastern wing of the alliance. In the 1990s, the transition of the regions' ex-Eastern bloc countries towards democratic free-market societies went peacefully. While in the non-aligned Yugoslavia , Wars between the former Yugoslav republics broke out after Slovenia and Croatia held free elections and their people voted for independence on their respective countries' referendums. Serbia, in turn, declared
12028-464: The partisans and, ultimately, remained one of the two only non-communist countries in the region with Turkey. However, despite being under communist governments, Yugoslavia (1948) and Albania (1961) fell out with the Soviet Union. Yugoslavia, led by Marshal Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980), first propped up then rejected the idea of merging with Bulgaria and instead sought closer relations with
12152-502: The past several centuries, because of the frequent Ottoman wars in Europe fought in and around the Balkans and the comparative Ottoman isolation from the mainstream of economic advance (reflecting the shift of Europe's commercial and political centre of gravity towards the Atlantic ), the Balkans have been the least developed part of Europe. According to Halil İnalcık , "The population of the Balkans, according to one estimate, fell from
12276-412: The peninsula, is generally excluded. Although they have no territory on the peninsula, Hungary and Moldova are occasionally incorporated into discussions of the Balkans due to cultural and historical affiliations. The origin of the word Balkan is obscure; it may be related to Turkish bālk 'mud' (from Proto-Turkic * bal 'mud, clay; thick or gluey substance', cf. also Turkic bal 'honey'), and
12400-669: The region is Southeast Europe . The borders of the Balkans are, due to many contrasting definitions, disputed. There exists no universal agreement on the region's components. The term by most definitions fully encompasses Albania , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Bulgaria , Greece , Kosovo , Montenegro , North Macedonia , European Turkey , the Romanian coast , most of Serbia and large parts of Croatia . The term sometimes includes all of Romania , Serbia and Croatia, and southern parts of Slovenia . The Province of Trieste in northeastern Italy , although by some definitions considered part of
12524-598: The region, Starčevo culture and Vinča culture . The Balkans are also the location of the first advanced civilizations. Vinča culture developed a form of proto-writing before the Sumerians and Minoans , known as the Old European script , while the bulk of the symbols had been created in the period between 4500 and 4000 BC, with the ones on the Tărtăria clay tablets even dating back to around 5300 BC. The identity of
12648-680: The region, the region is known as: The Balkan Peninsula is bounded by the Adriatic Sea to the west, the Mediterranean Sea (including the Ionian and Aegean seas) and the Sea of Marmara to the south and the Black Sea to the east. Its northern boundary is often given as the Danube , Sava and Kupa Rivers. The Balkan Peninsula has a combined area of about 470,000 km (181,000 sq mi) (slightly smaller than Spain). The peninsula
12772-558: The same territory, used the term Südosteuropäische Halbinsel ('southeastern European peninsula'). Another reason it was not commonly accepted as the definition of then European Turkey had a similar land extent. However, after the Congress of Berlin (1878) there was a political need for a new term and gradually "the Balkans" was revitalized, but in the maps, the northern border was in Serbia and Montenegro without Greece (it only depicted
12896-496: The southern part, winters are milder. The humid continental climate is predominant in Bosnia and Herzegovina, northern Croatia, Bulgaria, Kosovo , northern Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia, and the interior of Albania and Serbia . Meanwhile, the other less common climates, the humid subtropical and oceanic climates, are seen on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria and Balkan Turkey (European Turkey) . The Mediterranean climate
13020-407: The style on their second album, L'Eau Rouge (1989). Prior to its release, singer Franz Treichler declared: We just wanted to hear guitars. We missed the attack of ' Envoyé '. That's what we want to hear right now, pure power. A metal sound that isn't revivalist, isn't biker style, speed metal style, any style, just WHAP! Canadian thrash metal band Malhavoc became one of the earlier acts of
13144-517: The term Western Balkans to mean the Balkan area that includes countries that are not members of the European Union, while others refer to the geographical aspects. Each of these countries aims to be part of the future enlargement of the European Union and reach democracy and transmission scores but, until then, they will be strongly connected with the pre-EU waiting program Central European Free Trade Agreement . Croatia, considered part of
13268-459: The territory was too mountainous to completely subdue. Another small country that retained its independence, both de facto and de jure in this case, was the Adriatic trading hub of Ragusa (now Dubrovnik , Croatia). By the end of the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire had become the controlling force in the region after expanding from Anatolia through Thrace to the Balkans. Many people in
13392-402: The third at 2915 m. The karst field or polje is a common feature of the landscape. On the Adriatic and Aegean coasts, the climate is Mediterranean , on the Black Sea coast the climate is humid subtropical and oceanic , and inland it is humid continental . In the northern part of the peninsula and on the mountains, winters are frosty and snowy, while summers are hot and dry. In
13516-476: The three empires participating in that alliance. The next year Bulgaria joined the Central Powers attacking Serbia, which was successfully fighting Austro-Hungary to the north for a year. That led to Serbia's defeat and the intervention of the Entente in the Balkans which sent an expeditionary force to establish a new front , the third one of that war, which soon also became static. The participation of Greece in
13640-663: The timetable of the planned invasion in Russia causing a significant delay, which had major consequences during the course of the war. Finally, at the end of 1944, the Soviets entered Romania and Bulgaria forcing the Germans out of the Balkans. They left behind a region largely ruined as a result of wartime exploitation. During the Cold War , most of the countries on the Balkans were governed by communist governments. Greece became
13764-646: The top spots of the Billboard 200 chart: Rob Zombie 's Hellbilly Deluxe (No. 5), Marilyn Manson's Antichrist Superstar (No. 3), and Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile (No. 1). A number of industrial metal albums performed well on Billboard's Heatseekers chart: Filter 's Short Bus (No. 3), Stabbing Westward 's Wither Blister Burn + Peel (No. 1), Rammstein 's Sehnsucht (No. 2), Orgy 's Candyass (No. 1), and Static-X 's Wisconsin Death Trip (No. 1). During this era, Trent Reznor
13888-404: The use of the term "Western Balkans" should be avoided because it does not imply only a geographic area, but also negative connotations, and instead must be perceived as and called Southeast Europe because it is part of Europe. Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek said of the definition, This very alibi confronts us with the first of many paradoxes concerning Balkan: its geographic delimitation
14012-604: The war three years later, in 1918, on the part of the Entente finally altered the balance between the opponents leading to the collapse of the common German-Bulgarian front there, which caused the exit of Bulgaria from the war, and in turn, the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ending the First World War. Between the two wars, in order to maintain the geopolitical status quo in the region after
14136-858: The word popular in Bulgaria, however it is only an unscholarly assertion. The word was used by the Ottomans in Rumelia in its general meaning of mountain, as in Kod̲j̲a-Balkan , Čatal-Balkan , and Ungurus-Balkani̊ , but it was especially applied to the Haemus mountain. The name is still preserved in Central Asia with the Balkan Daglary (Balkan Mountains) and the Balkan Region of Turkmenistan . The English traveler John Bacon Sawrey Morritt introduced this term into English literature at
14260-641: Was a Manson fan. Manson, a former journalist, published a detailed response to the controversy following the Columbine shootings in an article published in Rolling Stone . It concluded: I think that the National Rifle Association is far too powerful to take on, so most people choose Doom , The Basketball Diaries or yours truly. This kind of controversy does not help me sell records or tickets, and I wouldn't want it to. I'm
14384-428: Was chosen by Time as one of the most influential Americans of 1997. The genre's popularity was such that established glam metal groups, including Guns N' Roses and Mötley Crüe , began to dabble in the style. Figures from the hip hop scene also began to seek out collaborations with and remixes from industrial metal musicians. When industrial metal climbed the charts of the late 1990s, its sudden popularity
14508-576: Was done with political reasoning as affirmation for Serbian nationalism on the whole territory of the South Slavs , and also included anthropological and ethnological studies of the South Slavs through which were claimed various nationalistic and racialist theories. Through such policies and Yugoslavian maps the term was elevated to the modern status of a geographical region. The term acquired political nationalistic connotations far from its initial geographic meaning, arising from political changes from
14632-430: Was in a letter sent in 1490 to Pope Innocent VIII by Buonaccorsi Callimaco , an Italian humanist, writer and diplomat. The Ottomans first mention it in a document dated from 1565. There has been no other documented usage of the word to refer to the region before that, although other Turkic tribes had already settled in or were passing through the region. There is also a claim about an earlier Bulgar Turkic origin of
14756-438: Was in the process of directing Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll . The movie has since languished in development hell . Other films that have included prominent contributions from industrial metal artists include The Crow , Johnny Mnemonic , Hideaway , ( Mortal Kombat / 1997 sequel ) , The Matrix , Blair Witch and A.I. Artificial Intelligence . Its emphasis on transgressive themes has made
14880-447: Was just interesting to use it as a kind of white noise reinforcement for our music. All of a sudden heavy metal was free from all those tempo changes and boring attitudes it always had. What I always hated most about heavy metal was that the best riffs came only once and were never repeated. So the fascination, actually, was to sample a great riff, loop it, and play it over and over again. A Swiss trio, The Young Gods , brushed with
15004-598: Was met with negative reactions from the early innovators of industrial music . Peter Christopherson told The Wire that he no longer felt any kinship with the industrial scene: "this is not me, this is not what I'm about". Lustmord , a prominent early industrial musician, declared that "Ministry just doesn't interest [him]" and "[he has] no time for all this rock and roll shit they're doing now." Skinny Puppy frontman Nivek Ogre dismissed Nine Inch Nails as " cock rock " but have since patched things up and have even performed on stage together. Industrial metal suffered
15128-607: Was never precise. It is as if one can never receive a definitive answer to the question, "Where does it begin?" For Serbs, it begins down there in Kosovo or Bosnia, and they defend the Christian civilization against this Europe's Other. For Croats, it begins with the Orthodox, despotic, Byzantine Serbia, against which Croatia defends the values of democratic Western civilization. For Slovenes, it begins with Croatia, and we Slovenes are
15252-532: Was spoken prior to the Slavic invasion of the Balkans. During the Early Middle Ages , The Byzantine Empire was the dominant state in the region, both military and culturally. Their cultural strength became particularly evident in the second half of the 9th century when the Byzantine missionaries Cyril and Methodius managed to spread the Byzantine variant of Christianity to the majority of
15376-632: Was the preferred term". In European books printed until late 1800s it was also known as Illyrian Peninsula or Illyrische Halbinsel in German. The term was not commonly used in geographical literature until the mid-19th century because, already then, scientists like Carl Ritter warned that only the part south of the Balkan Mountains could be considered as a peninsula and considered it to be renamed as "Greek peninsula". Other prominent geographers who did not agree with Zeune were Hermann Wagner , Theobald Fischer , Marion Newbigin , and Albrecht Penck , while Austrian diplomat Johann Georg von Hahn , in 1869, for
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