VICIOUS CRUSADE is one of the most popular Belarusian heavy metal bands, formed back in 1996 by the students of Minsk Linguistic University (lead guitarist and vocalist Dmitry Basik, rhythm guitarist Alex Vertel, drummer Alex Gladysh and bassist Pavel Reunov).
In just 45 days after the first meeting in the practice room the newly formed band recorded a demo-tape that was and still is a brilliant example of how the first recording should sound. Inspired by a sudden success among the public and Mass Media the musicians decided to record another five tracks to be able to release a full-length album. In order to broaden the creative horizons the band invited Elena Gorshuk, a female singer that pushed the music to quite new and higher limits.
Thus, in December 1996 VICIOUS CRUSADE released a full-length self-financed debut album Life That Kills. Musically, this album was based on thrash metal riffs with death growling and female soprano. All that created a wonderful harmony and gothic-folk atmosphere.
The promo copies were distributed among local music stores and in a month the band was asked to sign a contract with the biggest and most influential metal magazine in the post-USSR territory at that time — LEGION magazine. In February 1997 “Life That Kills” was released in MC-format by Legion Productions, the label that was established in order to release this particular album.
The number of the sold copies was beyond all expectations. The band became immediately popular all over Belarus.
