Line #4 Music/RadioTapok


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/radio_tapok.jpg]]
2	[[https://radiotapok.ru/ Radio Tapok]] is the StageName of Oleg Abramov (born 15 February 1989), an independent heavy metal artist from UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}.
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4	Abramov got his start singing and playing guitar for the band Music/{{PopCorn}} from 2009 to 2016. After leaving the band, he started performing as a one-man heavy metal tribute act, recording [[TranslatedCoverVersion Russian-language covers]] of mainly Western rock and metal songs, and releasing them through streaming services and his [[https://www.youtube.com/c/RADIOTAPOK YouTube channel]]. He gained a decent following in Russia but was virtually unknown outside of it...
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6	...That is, until 2019, when Swedish PowerMetal band Music/{{Sabaton}} discovered some of his covers of their songs and [[ApprovalOfGod got in touch with him]]. They helped him make and film a Russian-language version of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRow6G5wQIw "The Attack of the Dead Men"]] as a cross-promotion for their upcoming album ''The Great War'', releasing it the day before the album release. Sabaton later brought him onstage for two shows of their 2020 Russian tour, which was cut short shortly after due to the onset of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, and returned the favor with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TjXanLjpTU an English-language cover]] of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw0jQBLbhLU "Battle for Moscow"]]--an original track [[{{Homage}} written in the style of Sabaton]].
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8	Radio Tapok has continued recording covers since then, but has also started writing many more original songs than before. He announced his first full-length album, ''Наследие'' (''Naslediye'', "Heritage") on 8 February 2022.
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10	!! Discography:
11	* ''Наследие''[[note]]''Naslediye'', "Heritage"[[/note]] (2022)
12	* ''Эпоха Империй''[[note]]''Epokha Imperiy'', "Age of Empires"[[/note]] (2023)
13	----
14	!!Tropes:
15	* AcePilot: In addition to Oleg covering Music/{{Sabaton}}'s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV8d4Grhej8 "Night Witches"]] in Russian before he started writing full-length albums, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKHpec-yFKM "Белая Лилия"]] ("White Lily") is about Lydia Litvyak, a Muscovite woman who became the first of only two female fighter aces in history[[note]]Depending on the source you read, she's credited with five to twelve solo kills and up to 66 partial kills.[[/note]] (the other being Yekaterina Budanova, also from the Soviet Air Force) before being killed in action in the Battle of Kursk. The song declares her TheDreaded to the Luftwaffe and also alludes to the supernatural aspects of "Night Witches" with lines like "Приоткрывая врата преисподней, в ночь / Собирая души врагов" (roughly "Opening the gates of the underworld into the night / Collecting the souls of enemies").
16	* CapitalOffensive: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw0jQBLbhLU "Battle for Moscow"]] (covered by Music/{{Sabaton}} in English as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TjXanLjpTU "Defence of Moscow"]]) tells the story of the Soviet Union's all-out defense of Moscow against Operation Typhoon -- the final German offensive to capture the Soviet capital city.
17	* TheCoup: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKyM3bofM8M "Чёрный октябрь"]] ("Black October") is about the time Russian President UsefulNotes/BorisYeltsin ordered the Russian Army to fire on the Russian parliament when they tried to impeach him following a power struggle.
18	* CoolVersusAwesome: "Khalkin-Gol" portrays the eponymous series of battles between the Red Army and Kwantung Army as {{samurai}} versus TankGoodness.
19	* {{Crossover}}:
20	** Music/{{Sabaton}} guest-stars in the video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRow6G5wQIw "The Attack of the Dead Men"]], having taken Oleg prisoner for covering their songs in TheTeaser in a spoof of UsefulNotes/ColdWar spy thrillers. Joakim also accompanies Oleg in the closing chorus.
21	--->'''Joakim Brodén:''' Is this the Russian who's been translating our songs?\
22	'''Pär Sundström:''' Yeah. I have to admit, these Russians are hard to catch.\
23	'''Joakim:''' So, what should we do with him?\
24	'''Pär:''' Well, tomorrow we are releasing a new album. I have an idea.
25	** The [[https://youtu.be/dotXK529dhU music video]] for "Smuta" was produced in collaboration with developers of then-upcoming [[VideoGame/{{Smuta}} videogame by the same name]]. Unsurprisingly, both the song and the game are about the same period in the Russian history, known in English as "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_of_Troubles Time of Troubles]]".
26	* CurbStompCushion: Essentially the theme of "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tv8QIAM7t0 Peter's Guard]]". It describes the battle of Narva of 1700, when Peter I's army was crushed by Swedish army one third its size due to bad positioning, poor training, and betrayal of a high-ranking foreign officer, and lost most of its officers and armaments. However, two regiments of Peter's "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_army_of_Peter_the_Great toy army]]" and one "Western-style" regiment retained the battle order and repulsed all attacks, retreating only after nightfall. They were later designated as "Guards Regiments", and granted the right to wear red stockings, as "they stood knee-deep in blood" in this battle.
27	* DeathByMaterialism: In "Yermak" the titular Cossack ataman fails to take off his golden (actually more like glided) chain mail before trying to escape an ambush by swimming across a river, and drowns. Downplayed, as ItWasAGift personally from the Tsar. Overlaps with DeathByIrony, since a point is made how good the armor is, said to be impervious to swords.
28	* {{Eagleland}}: Type 2 in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MRw6UGcbcY "Operation Allied Force"]], which describes "the eagle's claws squeezing" in a song about [[UsefulNotes/TheYugoslavWars the NATO bombardment of Belgrade]].
29	* EndOfAnAge: The refrain of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx_7s5hx_0E "Tsushima"]] mournfully describes the Baltic Fleet as "the last fleet of the emperor". Historically, the UsefulNotes/RussoJapaneseWar cost UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia almost her entire navy and was a massive blow to the nation's prestige, becoming one of the factors that led to [[UsefulNotes/RomanovsAndRevolutions the failed 1905 Russian Revolution]], which Lenin would later consider to be essentially "dress rehearsal" for the successful 1917 revolutions.
30	* EpicShipOnShipAction: The video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx_7s5hx_0E "Tsushima"]] was co-produced with ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarships'' and depicts the LastStand of the Russian Baltic Fleet under Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky against Admiral Heihachiro Togo of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
31	* FunWithSubtitles: The Website/YouTube closed captions, when provided, are generally accurate... except during guitar solos. At that point anything goes: the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV8d4Grhej8 "Night Witches" cover]] started SayingSoundEffectsOutLoud and [[SelfDeprecation making fun of Oleg's own performance]].
32	* {{Homage}}:
33	** In the video for his song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bju_G8Uu_30 "Ripper"]], patterned after Music/{{Rammstein}}, he actually breaks down the creative process as part of the video (which fortunately has Russian captions that Website/YouTube can translate).
34	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw0jQBLbhLU "Battle for Moscow"]] is patterned after Music/{{Sabaton}} songs, while [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx_7s5hx_0E "Tsushima"]] leans on Sabaton for the chorus and Music/{{Manowar}} for the verses.
35	** The verses of "Operation Allied Force" sound way too much like "Inside the Fire" by Music/{{Disturbed}} to be a coincidence. "Life for the King" sounds like a Music/{{Powerwolf}} song.
36	* HornyVikings: While obviously not true in real life, in "Peter's Guard" UsefulNotes/CarolusRex is praisingly described as "the last viking", referencing his great ambitions, and the effective end of the Swedish Empire after his death.
37	* HorribleHistoryMetal: Aside from covers:
38	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw0jQBLbhLU "Battle for Moscow"]] is about the Red Army's YouShallNotPass against the Axis at the gates of Moscow in 1941.
39	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx_7s5hx_0E "Tsushima"]] is about the Battle of Tsushima, which decided the UsefulNotes/RussoJapaneseWar in Japan's favor.
40	** The full runtime of ''Наследие'' (which includes "Tsushima" and "Battle for Moscow") consists of songs about Russian military history from UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia to the Chechen Wars. The follow-up ''Эпоха Империй'' focuses on the Tsarist period specifically.
41	* ItMakesSenseInContext: "White Lily" includes a line about the Luftwaffe "smelling" her coming. The historical Lydia Litvyak was a GirlyGirlWithATomboyStreak and got the nickname because she liked to wear perfume and put flower bouquets in her Yak-1's cockpit and had NoseArt of a white lily on her plane.
42	* LastStand:
43	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx_7s5hx_0E "Tsushima"]] describes the phenomenal journey halfway around the world that the Russian Baltic Fleet took to even ''reach'' the battlefield in the Far East, even though it was doomed. It came to be known in naval history as "the Voyage of the Damned".
44	** "Высота 776" ("Height 776") is about the two-day [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_for_Height_776 Battle for Height 776]] in May 2000, where a company of Russian VDV were surprised by Chechen separatist fighters and dug in on a hill in the Argun Gorge. Due to a series of snafus, only six of 90 Russian soldiers survived.
45	* MeaningfulName: "Tapok" is Russian for "slipper", meaning that Oleg's StageName is basically SelfDeprecation about the fact he's making metal songs without getting out of his pajamas (because he's a Website/YouTube-based artist).
46	* PerspectiveFlip: "Peter's Guard" is essentially a viewpoint reversal of the second half of Music/{{Sabaton}}'s ''Carolus Rex'' album and their single "Livgardet"/"Royal Guard". The latter song directly mentions [[UsefulNotes/CarolusRex Karl XII of Sweden]]'s decisive victory at the Battle of Narva, whereas "Peter's Guard" is about that specific battle and the [[YouShallNotPass holding action]] fought by three Russian regiments against the Caroleans and Swedish Life Guard.
47	* RedBaron: "The White Lily" is about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydia_Litvyak Lydia Litvyak]], the highest scoring female fighter ace in history. She is credited with 12 solo and 4 group victories, including two flying aces. She got this nickname for a white flower drawn on her plane. In the song, she in only ever called "The White Lily", and not her name.
48	* {{Samurai}}: Referenced in the chorus of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSiRmPlFnmw "Khalkin-Gol"]], which is about that time the Japanese Kwantung Army tried to advance into Mongolia and [[YouShallNotPass got their asses handed to them by the Red Army]] in the first major victory of General Zhukov's career.
49	* SelfImmolation: "Искупление Огнем" ("Redemption by Fire") is about Russian [[UsefulNotes/OrthodoxChristianity Starovery]] who committed mass suicide in this fashion while facing religious persecution.
50	* TranslatedCoverVersion: Oleg got his start as a solo artist making Russian-language covers of various Western rock and metal songs. He's done everything from Music/{{Rammstein}} to Music/{{Disturbed}} to Music/FooFighters to Music/TwentyOnePilots. His BreakthroughHit[[invoked]] in the west was Music/{{Sabaton}}'s "Attack of the Dead Men".
51	* WoodenShipsAndIronMen: [[https://youtu.be/Lwf9ACmduHM "Petropavlovsk"]], in which an outnumbered Russian fort that threatened European trade routes in the Far East during the Crimean War came under attack by an Anglo-French flotilla and drove them off.
52	* WorthyOpponent: The Swedish Empire and personally UsefulNotes/CarolusRex are described in flattering terms, such as "The Last Viking" in "Peter's Guard", and "Unbreakable warriors of the brave Carl" in "Gangut". At the end of the latter song, Russians pay respect to their opponents, in lines "The felled foe fought worthily / The fleet shall lower the St. Andrew's flag [Navy ensign]".
53	* YouShallNotPass:
54	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw0jQBLbhLU "Battle for Moscow"]] tells the story of the Soviet Union's all-out defense of Moscow against the German Army in 1941.
55	** [[https://youtu.be/Lwf9ACmduHM "Petropavlovsk"]] describes the UsefulNotes/{{Tsarist Russia}}n defense of the eponymous fort on the Kamchatka Peninsula during the Crimean War. Outnumbered almost two to one in manpower and four to one in cannon, the Russians beat off a heavy Anglo-French attack.

Context Music / RadioTapok