Top 10 heavy metal songs about the Chernobyl disaster

25/11/2020 Articles Share

April 26^th 1986. Chernobyl's Reactor 4 had exploded due to human error and caused the world’s worst nuclear disaster, only to be surpassed by Fukushima Daichi. Chernobyl was a historical tragedy that reminded the world how dangerous a nuclear war could be. And it happened on the peak of Cold War tensions between the USA and USSR. The Chernobyl disaster was truly a sobering point for both Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan. The most optimistic of people say that only 31 died as a result, but those with more pessimistic view on this disaster say 200 000. We will never know the exact number because of the Soviet’s glasnost (Voice) policy (oh the irony). However, radiation swept across the whole of Europe (excluding the lucky ones such as Spain and Turkey) and it even ended up all the way to California after a mere seven days. The fear of radiation was spreading as fast as the radionuclides from the reactor. Mixed with the Cold War fears of nuclear war, it created the perfect fertile ground for some of the best songs we’ve heard from the 80s and later. This is our list of top 10 songs inspired by Cold War’s biggest nuclear energy catastroph

10) Traitor - Reactor 4

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A reference to Reactor 4, one of 4 Chernobyl reactors where this nuclear tragedy took place! Traitor play Teutonic thrash metal and believe me, these guys rule! Of course, “Reactor 4“ tells a story of our beloved nuclear doom!

9) Serocs - ChernoVile

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Are you ready for some brutal technical death metal? Serocs’ “ChernoVile“ is a brutal track. Of course, the lyrics tell the story of Chernobyl and its horrendous aftermath . These guys have just released a new EP titled Vore. What a find! This band slipped under my radar! Highly recommended for all the death metal freaks around the world!

8) Cytotoxin - Redefining Zenith

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A band whose whole existence is based on the Chernobyl nuclear disaster! It is kind of tricky to pick one of their songs and put it on the list, since their conceptual albums tell a story of the Chernobyl nightmare! Their first album Plutonium Heaven is a conceptual depiction of Chernobyl nuclear disaster with the tiniest of details! But we chose a song that has a direct reference within the lyrics – Redefining Zenith. Technical death metal carnage! And yeah, Plutonium Heaven, Radiophobia and Gammageddon album covers depict the Chernobyl nuclear reactor.

7) Evildead - Future Shock

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Evildead’s Future Shock is a song that sums up the whole Cold War madness that was going on. But among other things, it touches upon the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl nuclear disasters. Atomic safety, non-existent, Chernobyl's burning /We won't miss it...radioactivity in their brains… Brutal to say the least! And the artwork also reminds us of the problem of nuclear waste. It was featured on our list of Ed Repka’s best 50 album covers!

6) Voivod - Overreaction

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This song is totally influenced by the Chernobyl Disaster, as well as the rest of Killing Technology album. The song deals with the ugly underside of the nuclear energy and it depicts a nuclear reactor meltdown. It also touches upon a Cold War theory about the China Syndrome (that the nuclear meltdown will cut a hole through the Earth that will reach to the other side of the hemisphere). You can read about the whole damn thing in our article 7 Chapters of Voivod – A Saga of the Nuclear Vampire. However, Voivod’s "Overreaction" will make you think twice about the peaceful atoms!

5) Saxon - Red Alert

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NWOBHM veterans Saxon are killing it! “Red Alert“ is a song based on real-time events. It tells a story about Saxon being stuck in Hungary (then part of the Warsaw Pact) while the Chernobyl Disaster happened. This is literally the catchiest tune on this list if you ask me! Pure heavy metal track! And the thing that Saxon was on tour while Chernobyl happened, inside the Iron Curtain, makes this song pretty cool to say the least! Warning: the chorus will totally stay in your head on loop for ages!

4) Imperial Triumphant - Chernobyl Blues

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Bring it on! Nobody does it like Imperial Triumphant, and it seems that the band is quite obsessed with the nuclear theme (“Atomic Age“ approves this!). Don’t be fooled by the cheerfully sounding song title! “Chernobyl Blues“ is de facto the most brutal song on the list! And what makes it even cooler is the fact that the lyrics are in Russian even though the band is from New York! What you get is 7 minutes of avant-garde black metal madness! The translation in English is beyond brutal: We are children of a deathly God/ Fathers of a nuclear dream. PRICELESS!

3) Watchtower - Mayday in Kiev

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This one is probably the most political song on the list. The band bashes the Soviet coverup of the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe. Even though the Chernobyl reactor exploded on April 26^th, Mikhail Gorbachev came out in public about the catastrophe on May 14^th! The name of the song, “Mayday in Kiev” is a reference to the celebration of First of May, international workers day. This is Watchtower’s rant on how the Soviets let millions of people go out on the streets during the celebration without even knowing about the dangers of radioactivity that covered whole Europe.

2) Municipal Waste - Wolves of Chernobyl

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Literally one of the coolest songs related to Chernobyl. A pack of wolves getting bigger and bigger due to the exclusion of humans from the Zone. Nature strikes back! And yes, the wolves are as radioactive as anything within the Chernobyl exclusion zone. It’s a pity that the band didn’t make a video for this song in vein of Sadistic Magician. Regardless, Municipal Waste’s Wolves of Chernobyl is one of the coolest songs about our favorite nuclear disaster.

1) Tankard - Don’t Panic

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And we have a winner! Tankard’s Don’t Panic is the band’s 80s Cold War rant. The song is about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Iran-Contra affair, AIDS epidemic and our favorite nuclear disaster:

Let they say: Nothing's wrong at Chernobyl
And they've found another cure for AIDS
Send their guns to Nicaragua
And shake their fingers at Afghanistan
Don't panic - it's just our world

The 2^nd part of the song explicitly talks about the damage done by Chernobyl:

Russian meltdown - people dying Is it fair?
Poison clouds - water our cities - Loss of hair

This is the song that will always come to mind first when Chernobyl is in question! It just can’t get any better than this! This track perfectly preserved the 80s paranoia that made the Cold war look like the Hottest war!

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