Undercode

Creation and the Early Years (1997 - 2001)

Undercode was founded in 1997 in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. Its founders are former vocalist of the band Drinking Scull , Damir Lubicic, and his friend Allen Jursinac, who subsequently left the group shortly before the start of the demo album. ^[1] Before the creation of Undercode, its members were members of various musical groups in Croatia. Initially, musicians performed at concerts in local rock clubs and played songs of such famous groups as Metallica , Iron Maiden , Judas Priest . The early composition of the group included:

• Damir Ljubicic - vocalist ( Drinking Scull )
• Danko Lukacevic ( Danko Lukacevic ) - solo guitar
• Dario Sabo ( Dario Sabo ) - bass ( Hard Time, DavidiaN, Big Rock )
• Davor Keranovic - drums ( DavidiaN, Big Rock )

In 1998 , the group began work on their debut album. On July 26, 1999, a demo version of the album called “Before the Sunrise” was created, which was intended for publishers and included only four songs. ^[2]

After the band successfully found a record label , Undercode set about recording the full version of the album, entitled " Enlightening The World ". The album was almost completely ready, however, Undercode were unsatisfied with the final product and decided to rewrite it in a new studio and on a new label. At the same time, the group joined the second guitarist - Ivan Shpelyak ( Horv. Ivan Špeljak-Jitz ) , who replaced Danko Lukashevich and almost completely rewrote many songs, which ultimately resulted in the final version of the album.

Popularity Growth, First Album Release (2001 - 2003)

Work on the album " Enlightening The World " was conducted from April to October 2001 on the Metal Warriors label.

In January 2002 , the Croatian computer game company Croteam released its game Serious Sam: The Second Encounter , which included three-song soundtracks performed by Undercode. Thanks to this, the group dramatically gained popularity in the world, as a result of which on September 19, 2002 their album officially went to print, but under the agreement it was published only in the territories of New Zealand and Australia .

The group began touring with success in Croatia and surrounding countries. Undercode repeatedly participated in the opening act of various eminent rock bands and musicians like Grave Digger , Paul Di Anno , Dungeon, etc. ^{[3] [4]}

In 2003 , members began work on their second album.

Shooting in the film and change of composition (2004 - 2005)

A year later, Undercode was invited to take part in the film The Warrior , which was directed by an Australian director with Croatian roots, Steve Ravic, who had previously dealt with the group and shot three music videos for their songs from Enlightening the World . " The band members did not appear in the film, however, they performed several musical compositions for him. ^[5] The film debuted on the big screen only in 2007 , but by this moment serious changes had already occurred in Undercode.

In 2004 , two members of the band left the band - bass player Dario Szabo and drummer Davor Keranovic, who for financial reasons left to play another, more popular at that time Croatian group “Rafo i Legende”. Then Undercode began to look for new members, and soon the young guitarist of the Iron Fist band, Marco “Karo” Karachich, was approved as the bass player, and the old friend and classmate of Damir Lyubichich, Mario “Brko” Yakopovich, took the place of the drummer. The group continued recording the album and performing on stage. ^[6]

Tribute recording and band breakup (2005)

In 2005 , Saxon released their tribute album, entitled “ Eagleution, ” which included a song remade by Undercode, Great White Buffalo (original name Dogs of War). The song "Broken Heroes", contrary to popular belief, is not a cover performed by Undercode and is declared in the track list of the disc under the name of the group due to a publisher error. ^[7]

Undercode continued to work on its second album, by 2005 more than half of the new songs were written, however, the musicians faced various financial and personal problems, as a result of which the group broke up a few months later. Vocalist Damir Lubichich flew to Australia, and the rest of the participants continued to play, but already in the composition of other musical groups.

Group Reunion (2010 - 2012)

On October 17, 2010 , Russian-language fan sites managed to interview one of the band’s members, Marco Karačić, in which he told fans that the group continues to work on their second album, despite the break-up status and the fact that the lead singer is in Australia. ^[8]

On February 20, 2011 , the group in an interview with undercode.ru confirmed their intentions for the release of their second album in 2011. ^[9]

On March 15, 2011, Russian fans of Undercode and the computer game Serious Sam filed a petition with Croteam and Devolver Digital to invite the group to record a new soundtrack for the upcoming game Serious Sam 3 . ^[10] The petition scored 315 votes and a month later, on April 16, 2011, the developers contacted Undercode and agreed on the use of two musical compositions of the group in Serious Sam 3 - Gladiator and Final Fight. ^[eleven]

In July of that year, vocalist Damir Lubicic flew to Croatia to record vocal parts for the album. On July 28, 2011, the Undercode return concert was held at the Zagreb rock club “In-Bar”, where the musicians announced the official reunion of the group. ^[12]

Soon after, there was information that Undercode would write a song for the game Serious Sam 3 , as well as shoot a video clip on it. Filming began on August 15, 2011, it used footage from the game itself, kindly provided by Croteam . ^{[13] [14]} . The video for the song “Final Fight” was released on November 22, 2011, on the same day as the release of Serious Sam 3: BFE. The video was published for viewing on YouTube ^[15] .

On October 17, 2011, the group provided an amateur video from a July performance in Croatia, during which metallers played one of the songs from their new album - “Radical Changes”. ^[16]

On July 13, 2015, the official release of the second album of the Undercode group entitled “Post-Apocalyptic” took place.

Albums

1999 - Before The Sunrise (Demo)

"Before The Sunrise" ( Rus. Before dawn ) is a demo album of the Undercode group, which was released on July 26, 1999 and was intended for acquaintance with future publishers. The album included only four tracks, only three of which subsequently entered the full-length studio album “ Enlightening The World ”

Album track list:

• 01. Do not forgive us
• 02. Angellic rebellion
• 03. Alone
• 04. Before the sunrise

2002 - Enlightening The World (Full-length)

"Enlightening the World" ( Russian Enlightenment of the World ) is the debut album of the Undercode group, released on September 19, 2002 and, by agreement, was released only in Croatia , Australia and New Zealand . The album earned some positive reviews from critics. ^[17] Three songs from this album served as the soundtrack for Serious Sam: The Second Encounter .

Album track list:

• 01. Do not Forgive Us
• 02. Enlightening The World
• 03. My Mandylion
• 04. Alone
• 05. Kingdom Of The Sand
• 06. Freedom
• 07. Ashes Up Your Sleeves
• 08. New Jerusalem
• 09. Angelic Rebellion
• 10. As Above, So Below

2015 - Post-Apocalyptic (Full-length)

Album track list:

• 01. Ready to Rumble
• 02. The Gladiator
• 03. Post-Apocalyptic Indians
• 04. Driven
• 05. Believe In Me (feat. Caterina Nix)
• 06. Radical Changes
• 07. The Strong Will Survive
• 08. The Great White Buffalo
• 09. Final Fight
• 10. The Curse Of Staying Alive

Singles

• Before the Sunrise - a song from the demo album of the same name. For many years it was considered lost, but in March 2011 the band members provided the song to fans. ^[eighteen]
• Final Fight is a song written specifically for the game Serious Sam 3: BFE . Available in two versions: instrumental, included in the soundtrack of the game, and with words. A video was also shot for the song. Available for free download on the group’s website.

Tributes and covers

• Great White Buffalo is a cover version of Saxon ’s Dogs of War recorded for the 2005 Eagleution: A Tribute To Saxon tribute album.
• U viskiju je davo is a cover version of the song “ Whiskey in the Jar ” by Thin Lizzy , sung in Croatian . This song was not officially released and appeared only as a video on YouTube in 2008 . ^[19]

First squad (1997-2001)

• Damir Ljubicic - vocals
• Danko Lukacevic (Danko Lukacevic) - guitar
• Dario Sabo - bass
• Davor Keranovic - drums

Second Team (2001-2004)

• Damir Ljubicic - vocals
• Danko Lukacevic - rhythm guitar
• Ivan Speljak - solo guitar
• Dario Sabo - bass
• Davor Keranovic - drums / backing vocals

Third Composition (2004 to present)

• Damir Ljubicic - vocals
• Ivan Speljak - solo and rhythm guitar \ backing vocals
• Marko Karacic - bass / backing vocals
• Mario Jakopovic - drums

Former members

• Danko Lukacevic (Danko Lukacevic) - guitar
• Dario Sabo - bass
• Davor Keranovic - drums

• The song "Before The Sunrise" from the demo album of the same name has long been considered lost by fans. However, almost 11 years after her recording, the group placed it in the public domain on the Internet.
• The subjects of the group’s songs are Bible stories, prophecies, wars and politics. In many songs, the lyrics are twofold and contain various references to political and social events. ^[twenty]
• The group became famous due to the fact that three songs from their debut album “Enlightening The World” were used as the soundtrack in the game Serious Sam: The Second Encounter . An interesting fact is that after nine years, upon the numerous requests of fans, the group was again invited to record the soundtrack to the game Serious Sam 3 .
• The vocalist of the group - Damir Lubichic - works as an editor in the Australian newspaper CroExpress, produced for the Croatian community. ^{[21] [22]}
• The group’s guitarist - Ivan Shpelyak - in addition to participating in Undercode, also plays in his own band called Big Rock. ^[23]

• The official website of the group
• Myspace Official Undercode Page
• Undercode official Facebook page
• The official Russian-language fan site of the group