Korol i Shut

An immensely popular Russian horror punk outfit that paired melodic hard rock with lyrics derived from grim regional fairy tales and folklore, Korol I Shut, which translates to "the king and the jester," formed in 1988 in Saint Petersburg around founding members Mikhail Gorshok Gorshenev, Alexandr Balu Balunov, and Alexandr Lieutenant Shchigoliev. The group's dark imagery and makeup-heavy, Misfits-inspired look helped make them a huge draw regionally, and from 1996 to 2012 they issued over a dozen studio albums (with a rotating cast of bandmembers) and became one of Russia's most iconic rock bands. In 2014, the band officially called it quits in light of the overdose death of frontman Gorsheniov. ~ James Christopher Monger, Rovi