Unfortunately Dead.

Recently I have been rediscovering Czech death metal legends Krabathor, in particular 1993's Cool Mortification.
I used to be fascinated by the fact that there were bands coming out from behind the Iron Curtain playing gritty thrash and death metal at the end of the eighties, it's hard enough for bands to exist in an underground in a free country, it must have taken total dedication for bands like Tormentor, Krabathor etc to continue to perform and record under such oppressive regimes.
I think it's strange that there will not be a set of circumstances anywhere in Europe for the foreseeable future that will help mould aggressive metal in the way that Communism did during the eighties.
Formed as Krabator in 1984 and releasing three demos, Petr Krystof changed their name to Krabathor (I have no idea of the significance of the extra H) for the release of 1991's Pocity Detronizace demo.
Krabathor released six full length albums (from Only Our Death is Welcome in '92 through to Dissuade Truth in 2003) and were so consistently brutal that when Bruno Kovaric left, fucking Paul Speckmann joined. A good starting point for the uninitiated would be the 2005 best of 20 Years of Madness on Lava Productions.
My personal favourite is 1993's Cool Mortification, I love the drumming from Petr Kopecek on this one. Krabat(h)or's story features quite heavily in Albert Mundrian's book Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore, and you can find more information on the band at their official website.

Unfortunately, the band haven't recorded together after the release of 2003's Dissuade Truth, Paul Speckmann returning to Master.