Rock Monsters Romania

Our next stop is in Iasi, where we found an amazing Death Metal band that just released their debut EP this year.

HRUBA is a Slamming Brutal Death Metal founded in 2019, that captured the Romanian Underground attention by releasing “Inherent Obedience” in September 2022.

We tried to find out more about them, their inspiration behind their debut album and, last but not least, their future plans.

How did you meet?

Through friends of friends, word of mouth and forum or social media posts, the kind where you’re looking for band members. So at the end of the day it was just by chance that we met each other.

How was the band founded?

Initially, we started covering death/black songs with a vocalist friend of ours, who later left. Just after this we’ve shifted our focus solely on writing material for a slam/brutal death release. Along the way we’ve found Dan who was a perfect fit as a vocalist. Having not found a drummer, we’ve been using programmed drums since the inception.

Where does the band’s name come from?

The band name is Romanian for an open underground cave-like space used as passage between places. It doesn’t translate directly to anything, but it encompasses our themes really well, along with having a tonality which matches our sound.

In 2022 you released your first singles and your debut album. What did it feel like?

We’ve been working towards this release for the last couple of years, through numerous hurdles and careful polishing as in to release the best version of our debut material that we could – and we think we’ve accomplished just that. It felt relieving, exciting and surreal finally seeing all the pieces fall into place. At the end of the day we felt proud for finally letting it out into the wild and we’re glad to see others enjoying our work.

How hard is it to release an album as a newcomer band in Romanian Underground and who helped you to record and promote the album through the social media platforms?

The tough part is not releasing it, there’s plenty of new (and exciting) material these days, but having it be noticed and not forgotten in the following weeks, especially when the project doesn’t have a live show lineup. Apart from mixing/mastering, all the recording and promotion was done by us & close friends. Having outlets such as yours reach back to us for interviews, publishing press releases or any other kind of mention is by far the thing that can help newcomer bands, and we appreciate it enormously.

Are there any songs already written or recorded that are ready for the band’s next steps?

There are some ideas that didn’t make the cut for our initial release, but at the moment we’re still focusing on supporting this EP.

Are there any plans for a debut mini-tour? Which bands would you love to join you?

We currently don’t have a live lineup, that would be our next goal, so nothing on that front yet. But if it were to play live, we’d love to join the stage with the likes of EvergreeD, Rotheads, Vorus, Pathogenic Virulence and the list can go on.

And now a question for all the band’s members… If you had to choose one song from the ones who were released/are going to be released in 2022, which one would you choose and why?

Emi: Analepsy’s latest release, Quiescence, has been on repeat since its launch so I’ll go with that, specifically Locus of Dawning – it’s such a great mix of classic slamming Analepsy, tasty solos and Călin’s vermin gutturals. Same goes for Andu, we’re perfectly in sync on this one.

Dan: For me it’s a tough one as I’ve been hooked on dissonant death metal and there’s been a LOT of good releases. Would have to go with “Beneath Abyssal Plains” by Dysgnostic, as far as singles go this has me eagerly awaiting the album. 

What about your favorite track from “Inherent Obedience”?

Andu: Slave Pod Anomaly. No description needed.

Dan: Planetary Sabotage.

Emi: Planetary Sabotage as well, I think it encompasses all elements of our EP in a tight package.

What are your goals and plans for the rest of 2022? But for 2023?

Pretty straightforward – promoting Inherent Obedience the best we can and then looking into putting together a live line up.

What objectives do you have for the next 5-10 years? What is your main goal as a band?

We do things as we go along, looking that far into the future is too much at the moment, but make no mistake, there’s some very thrilling stuff coming up. When it comes to goals, we’d like to create excitement and awareness around this new wave of death metal bands that seems to be creeping up lately, both old school and new, and to the diverse but underrated local underground metal scene.

What message do you have for the people who supported this project? But for the ones who are discovering the band through this interview?

We’d like to send infinite thanks to all the people that listened to our release, spread news about it, followed us on our social or streaming platforms, the media outlets that published our PRs or reached out for interviews and everyone involved that made this release a reality. If you’ve just discovered us and you’re into gnarly, guttural slamming brutal death metal give a listen to our debut EP, Inherent Obedience, which you can find on all streaming platforms and follow us in order not to miss our upcoming stuff!

Big thanks to all who have supported Hruba and anyone about to dive in, crank up the volume!

Interview by Radu Mihai