Metal School - Turbo: Polish Thrash Pioneers

A retrospective on one of the biggest metal bands from Poland. Turbo started off with a more traditional heavy metal style before switching to power/thrash with a side of death metal. They went through a couple different sounds but they are very much worth checking out. So, I hope you kick back and relax as we look at a largely unknown band here in the West, Turbo!
Patreon: / metalschool136
#Turbo #MetalSchool #PolishMetal #ThrashMetal #80sMetal #listentothis #lastwarrior #DorosłeDzieci #SmakCsizy #KawaleriaSzatana #OstatniWojownik #WojciechHoffmann #GrzegorzKupczyk #PoznanPoland #AndrzejŁysów #BoguszRutkiewicz #DeathMetal #heavymetal

[@FAF4567]

In 1984, Iron Maiden came to Poland for the first time. Bruce Dickinson heard the lead singer of Turbo and said, "You should sing in Deep Purple, not Turbo." Of course it was a compliment. Bruce was very nice, but apparently he appreciated Grzegorz Kupczyk's vocals.

[@JoeyArmstrong2800]

Finally, a Metal School episode on a band I've never heard of. Prepare to be schooled!

[@kevynhansyn2902]

It's great I know. There are others out there asking "do this band" or "please we need you to do this band" and as for the bands they want.....we already know of them already. Thanks for Metal school keeping it different.

[@JoeyArmstrong2800]

@@kevynhansyn2902 I definitely agree with that statement. This channel has become one of my favorites.

[@stevenfunderburg1623]

Agree 👍 💯 This is the first one completely new to me and I'm hella old! There have been a few which I had not thought about for decades, but Turbo somehow slipped under my radar back in my teenage days of scanning the old school metal internet... Keraang, Hit Parader and Rip🤘

[@Stevie-Joe]

I haven’t heard of most of these bands but I love every episode

[@danielwolski873]

I honestly would bet on me winning the lottery before seeing Turbo on Metal School. What a pleasant surprise.

[@FenderGreg]

The 2nd bass player, Piotr, sounds like a prodigy. His parts are exceptional.

[@krzywy180]

Prędzej bym się spodziewał, że piekło zamarznie, niż polskiej kapeli tutaj. 🇵🇱 Polecam jeszcze kapele TSA oraz Kat.

[@vicenteraira]

Tak is such an amazing band!!!😍

[@dive3d]

święte słowa bracie

[@MEMBassist2]

Both amazing bands

[@av193]

Wolf Spider was really good Polish band.

[@ghostfreakelo420]

thank you for talking about this beautiful band from my beautiful country! TURBO RULES!!!

[@tattooeddragon]

I seriously miss the simpler days of the 70’s and early 80’s. Playing D&D and listening to bands like this.

[@prowlingfrost5588]

In think D&D wasn't a big hit in the communist Poland but point taken. We used to read, write, draw, play outside and of course listen to music until the mid 90's no matter where you lived. It was only the mid/late 90's, global internet and mobile phones which started to change everything (to worse). Well, people still write etc but on the net and there's almost unlimited sources of information (good/bad?).

[@atomicgrasshopper4391]

Hail Poland from Romania!

[@vasilykudinov132]

Turbo's life path is quite typical for post-soviet countries. As an example in Russia we have Master with a similar fate. Sensational start from traditional heavy metal suddenly becomes ordinary death metal. Talented musicians tried to follow the fashionable trends and lost their identity somewhere in the middle of the road. I completely agree with the author of the video: Dorosłe dzieci, Ostatni wojownik & Kawaleria Szatana are the best picks.

[@Miraihi]

That's really cool how you pay attention to the bands that are iconic in their countries of origin, but otherwise unknown elsewhere. Just a really admirable focus of the channel. I bet Turbo has been the first metal band for many people in Poland.

[@nfld1973]

I´m bafled. This band WAS awesome.

[@lorddrac_dontaskmetodance]

This band is a mystery to me. I'm pumped.

[@themetalspotlight]

Shit you beat me to it...I've had these guys on my to do list for a video too. Great band. The Polish version of Last Warrior is my personal favorite.

[@TheThreeCount]

One of Speed Metal pioneer in europe that never get enough attention. Kawaleria Szatana (Satan's Cavaliers) are the Beast of the Best album from Turbo.

[@blizborpipi4117]

Ostatni Wojownik is better.

[@TheThreeCount]

@@blizborpipi4117 yes, one of a kind. really raw sound.

[@shannonm.townsend1232]

Epidemic

[@Keith-dv9vo]

I never heard of Turbo. Definitely wasn’t expecting the SEPULTURA sound change lol

[@profile1674]

Me and my mates were all into underground death and grind as teens (and I still am, as are quite a few of those guys too), and we only knew Turbo and the "Dead End" album. Imagine the look on our faces when we heard their earlier stuff. "You sure this is the same band?", "Erm, not so much now. Same logo, though..." I also like to point out that around 24:13, you can see some totally sweet Atomkraft and Deathrow shirts!! And as always, great job, brother!

[@DarkturtleX]

Great video and great band! Used to grow up with them during my youth. Only ever understood like 30% of what they were singing about but the instrumentals and melodies always stuck with me.

[@kowalsolosolo]

Dorosle Dzieci song from their debut album was actually a tragic song. As the title of the album it means ""Grown-up Children''.Well,it was a protest song against the communist regime,that kept the society cut off from the outside world. Do not think,do not ask questions,do not try to grow up,do not rebel.Just be like a child lost in the mist,without your own path.That was what the government demanded. So,the entire young generation was supposed to be like grown-up children.Unaware of their own potential.This was something Turbo rebelled against,obviously.Hence the album's title.

[@ELEKTROSKANSEN]

Huh, never expected to find a vid about a Polish band here. Cool! Also, hearing you struggle with Polish names is amusing as hell :D EDIT: "Avatar" was a pretty big deal when it came out. Here in Poland it was like THE reunion, the most important heavy metal event of the decade - until they broke up again soon, of course. A few of their previous albums that you seem to appreciate were really, REALLY not liked here - I'm talking about Dead End and One Way, the fans really complained about the sound and change of direction. We somewhat always saw Turbo as our own local equivalent of Iron Maiden and the "NWOBHM" era of Turbo from Smak Ciszy and Kawaleria Szatana were always the most appreciated. We had another band for thrash metal things, and it was called KAT. Now KAT produced the single best Polish metal record, "Oddech Wymarłych Światów" (The Breath of the Extinct Worlds), which you REALLY should look into. Cheers!

[@karolmatelski9122]

It's awesome to hear american comentary on such underground Polish band live Turbo. Awesome and funny. 🙂💪

[@matsnilson7727]

The thrashy stuff is definitely competent and sounds like something I could have been into at that time, but today it's the earlier stuff that interests me. When I started watching I didn't expect much from this totally unknown (to me) Polish band, but hearing the songs from the first album put a big smile on my face. Their early- and mid 80s stuff, before it got too thrashy, definitely sounds like something I should investigate further. 👍

[@NIGHTROCKER70]

Piotr Pryzbylski sounds like a heavy weight, wow. Hearing him on this video has me wanting to hear much more of him. Thx for sharing TURBO with us 🤘

[@metalmickey]

I've heard one album once and know nothing about them so this is great to see. 🤘

[@lukaszkoziol8302]

Kawaleria Szatana - NAJLEPIEJ !!! \m/

[@Takato]

A band outside of the usa/uk axis that sings in their local language? Neat! Gonna check them out.

[@FretboardToAsh]

Definitely do not feel beholden to abstain from covering lesser known bands like this. That's what I'm here for, we already know about the big names, show us the weird and rare gems.

[@bogorodskiy8057]

Cool, I am from Russia and I know Turbo. Great to see them on this channel, really interesting to know about them more, you are doing a great job!

[@plisskenationbackfromthede3657]

We need more eastern european/iron curtain band episodes. Would love to see master (you already did the sister band aria) and black obelisk to name a couple.

[@oxygenium92]

Hi from poland. Love how you butcher polish names ;-) you nailed grzegorz tho. Those yellow overalls are in the theme of album name "adult children"

[@MetalSchoolChannel]

lol, I'm a quarter Polish and those name were still tough!

[@jamesmoss3424]

I will get all of Tubro albums. 😀👍🤘🎸

[@syli666]

Hello from Poland ! 😃 Thx for video. One of my favourite band 🤘 Another good band from Poland is KAT 😉🔥

[@unkelkreepy8529]

Smoking up amd seeing there's a new meta school. Makes my day and yes,theor first album is AMAZING

[@antreynolds9775]

Thank you metal school for introducing me to this band never heard of em till today

[@lemmy85pl]

Great video and lesson, even for us - polish metalheads :) Please make another lesson (somewhere in the future) about Acid Drinkers - second legendary metal band from Poznan. That was the first and main band for Robert Litza Friedrich and Im sure you`ll like this band, maybe even more than Turbo... Acids started with sth like crossover punk/trash and go almost only "down" in sound from there. Oh and all of their stuff is in english by design :)

[@lemmy85pl]

And one more thing - if you don`t know Acids and want to have sth to start on, try those 3 albums: Infernal Connection (their opus magnum!), High Proof Cosmic Milk and Verses of Steel.

[@totallynotpisnew840]

IMPOSSIBLE! I ALWAYS WANTED YOU TO DO A VIDEO ON TURBO

[@MetalSchoolChannel]

😄🤘🏻

[@coldvoid]

Turbo is freaking amazing! My favorite album is One Way

[@RossoNero1987]

2:15 if you understand those Polish times, a lot of things were avoiding censorship thanks to symbolism, second meaning and so on. Just like lyrics on first album. And on this cover you can see Łysów aiming on the guitar at the east (at USSR) and Hoffmann's hands and Anioła's sticks are made in shape of V - victory.

[@MetalSchoolChannel]

Woah that’s pretty interesting! Thanks for the insight 🤘🏻

[@RossoNero1987]

​@@MetalSchoolChannelthank you bro for your video 🍻🤘 if you liked Turbo's Dead End and One Way... Hoffmann recorded selected tracks from those once again as Hellium project, made it sound modern, listen if you want kzbin.info/www/bejne/o2OWkIV-qMt1ac0 And new album from Hellium in this style is on the way 🤘

[@Miraihi]

Edgy

[@Wolf.Leo.Old_soul]

Another perfect metal lesson! Thank you. Hope to see you one day make a metal school video about Arakain, metal legends from Czech Republic.

[@MetalSchoolChannel]

I’ll check ‘em out!

[@shannonm.townsend1232]

​@@MetalSchoolChanneland Root!

[@joe-johncastles141]

No bullshki or lies I've actually never heard of them! This I already can tell will be a blast from the past!

[@Dolorin123]

These guys are awesome! I got into them about 15 years ago. They have so many good songs with awesome solo's. Also there is one amazing one from "dead end" called "Prophetic Sound" that I love.

[@sicaferal]

bro i can't describe how much i love your videos and text! many thanks and congrats for the master content

[@MetalSchoolChannel]

Thanks, man! 🤘🏻

[@nikki78225]

Man, I feel were getting close to the Pokolgép vid, I'm gonna definitely start listening to them, geniune metal!

[@adamkaczmarek2674]

I was quite shocked to see an episode about a Polish band that sings in Polish❤

[@metalowyzow2988]

Finaly a band from my country! hope Kat will be next! (can't blame ya for butchering the names tho)

[@krzywy180]

Kat trochę tu nie pasuje, wszak to ojcowie polskiego black metalu, a tego gatunku tu raczej nie uraczysz. Ale fajnie by było.

[@jankowalski7844]

I would never expect this band here. Especially since they don't sing in English and that's why they're not well known outside of Poland. Respect Metal School.

[@petegrusky2715]

Dude, they sing in English! Just not few first albums.

[@jankowalski7844]

@@petegrusky2715 Yes I know. However, most of the albums are in Polish. And even bilingual ones are written in Polish and then translated into English. Listen to the Polish versions and then the English ones. You can hear that the tempo and rhymes sound much better in Polish. The only exceptions are albums in English with Litza on vocals.

[@petegrusky2715]

@@jankowalski7844 Turbo, never the less is a great band. I liked this communist version of it. If I may interest you with a new, fresh breath of metal, it would be Haken! Absolute artistic creation. They're heavy, they're beautiful, they're Haken! Honest suggestion, mate.

[@jankowalski7844]

@@petegrusky2715 Thanks for the recommendation. I will check for sure.

[@MrDivingfool]

I hear Maiden, Priest and even some Megadeath influences. All wrapped up in some insanely cool riffs. This band rocks!

[@georgezajkowski2723]

Righteous! Finally info on Turbo! Poland had a long Rock Scene since the 60s that always gets overlooked by magazines and documentary makers. I first discovered Turbo in the 80s when my family went there for a visit. I bought a single and cassette of OSTATNI WOJOWNIK. Even when the Internet rose up, I was never able to find information on those guys. I did meet and talk to Hoffman in Detroit when he toured as guitarist for the final stages of the band Czerwone Gitary. He told me about his time in Turbo. His favorite guitar was the Ibanez Gem Vai edition and was a huge fan of Crüe's self-titled Vince Neil-less album. Bravo to you for this undertaking. FAST FACT ~ DOROSLE DZIECI means grown up children, thats why he's wearing the yellow overalls and striped shirt. Trying to look like a brat.

[@kenl3805]

Never heard of these guys but their faster stuff sounds pretty awesome especially the release "Dead End" I'm definitely going to try and find some of those records.

[@chrisdoran8111]

What a great Metal history lesson once again! Rightly or wrongly not primarily singing in English probably only kept Turbo back from being much bigger. Their music, a bombastic melodic mix of Maiden and Priest and latterly Metallica, was certainly good enough to gain them international recognition! I will be honest though early Turbo sounded better than the later day Thrash sound. Metal School keeps delivering these gems. Long may it continue 🤘🏻

[@jakubprenosil5582]

I hope that one day you make a video about czech band... maybe Arakain, Master's Hammer or Kabát. Greetings from Czechia.

[@killsjbeats8201]

Love the focus on international bands! always interesting to see

[@jaysonraphaelmurdock8812]

Once again a band I've never heard of but yet very interesting. Well done sir. 🤘😎🤘

[@slawomirw7566]

Big thanks for presenting this band!

[@tylermoulton7294]

This ripppppppssssssssss. Thank you

[@rzeszo222]

Thanks for your hard work and great research about this band!

[@dragonqueen6589]

Speaking next month’s band - I’m actually seeing them in mid-December - new vocalist is super cool, and sounds a fair bit similar to Mike, and on sadder terms l, it’s not been all that long since the og drummer gained acceptance to rock n roll heaven🤍 RIP Mr. Arrington.

[@99percentirish64]

Wow. Very cool. Never heard of Turbo. Great documentary!

[@crusingandbrusingtv3824]

These guys Rip ! 🤘 Hopefully a not fragile video in the future 🙏

[@HeavyBen]

Man I clicked on this video because it mentioned polish. I’m about 50% Polish and this is nice to find a band who are from there. Time to start listening!

[@markgreene1162]

Wow can't believe your doing a video about turbo! Your the first on youtube to do anything related to turbo. I have three of their albums on CD from metal mind production. Poland in the 80's and 90's have such a best kept secret of talented heavy metal bands especially technical thrash. Also what I like about this band their first six albums they kind of change styles nwobhm, power, thrash and death thrash. Hope sometime down the road you give some other polish bands some attention too. Like Dragon and Wolf Spider. Great video what a enjoy.

[@JohnDoe-yr4wc]

Wow, sick! Thanks again for an awesome lesson in metal.

[@krzysztofwalendziuk5000]

Great video !

[@payneasylum469]

Very cool, I love these videos on obscure old metal bands. They have some great tunes!! Thanx for making this Metal School.

[@kennethjanczak4900]

Wow.... Never heard about these guys.... They are pretty good. Thanks for taking the time to make the video and share it...

[@5HlNOBI]

Cool cool. Gonna check them out! Gotta be honest, if I did see the record somewhere in the past, I might have overlooked it bc of the overly-simple name of the band. I'm finicky like that. But gotta make allowances for the culture, non-english, etc. I grew up. I'm ready to give em a chance. Thanks!

[@portuguesebeer5069]

I had an álbum from an 80's thrash metal polish band called DESTROYERS, they sang in polish, i couldnt understand nothing 😂 but was really Nice. A suggestion for a next vídeo, the portuguese band TARÂNTULA, the still in action since the 80's. The álbum "Kingdom of Lusitânia" is great. Give it a try. Cheers from Portugal 🤘🍺🇵🇹

[@franciskocher200]

Great video.Good band.

[@viajahtur]

Great discover for me. Thanks from Brazil

[@Strahli]

Amazing🙌🏻

[@matthewwallington2552]

Dead end such a great album

[@sarasarah1810]

Reaching deep into the world of metal musik bag here. Great share.

[@GhanimaGalach]

W sobie (In Itself) has to be one of the most beautiful instrumentals ever created. BTW, great work, as always.

[@nonphenomenon4862]

Awesome episode!!! Never listened to Turbo!!!

[@JanKowalski-ty2zu]

Done perfectly.

[@MorbidEmpireRD]

Wow, I was not expecting a video about Turbo and they're my favourites from my country! Usually people tend to go for KAT when it comes to early metal from Poland. Thanks for that!

[@ChrisBennettGameDesign]

What if this was the real Turbo Lover? 🤔😅🔥

[@DoomRoomRecords]

Great work! Back in the day I bought the english version of The Last Warrior and then the following album (which was a bit of a disappointment as it lacked the great melodic aspects of TLW), they are a great band. The Last Warrior is a wonderful thrash album

[@thomasday3294]

Never heard of these dudes? Nice Work Bro🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘

[@NiePrzeklinaj]

Jeden z fundamentów polskiego metalu.

[@AndyMetalHeadBR]

Your videos should have a lot more views but I know they will very soon 🤘

[@MetalSchoolChannel]

❤️🤘🏻

[@12SkippyRay]

Damn. I thought you fell off the edge of the earth. You've been gone so long. Thanks for the post. I'd love to see a Canadian band by the name of Brighton rocks, possibly crimson Glory or an opus of Magnum. May I also postulate a potential series for you. You could do an expose on different genres over You know 3 months or so, All thrash, all melodic rock, all glam all black metal or whatever. That'd be really cool

[@dominmax72]

TURBO album „DEAD END”💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼

[@steamh4mmer264]

Everyone in Poland is named Wojciech

[@Sitting-Bull-]

This comes from old slavic word "Woy"- what means "Warrior"

[@kenfrederick6223]

What a great band. 🎸

[@Grzegosz.J]

Pamiętam jak w połowie lat 90 kiedy z okien wszystkich dzieciaków na osiedlu leciały nóż Illusion albo scyzoryk Liroya to my paru metali na zmianę w naszych modnych wtedy pierwotnych walkmanach słuchaliśmy Kawalerii Turbo albo Lamiastraty Ceti. Oczywiście przewijanie tylko patyczkiem od loda żeby oszczędzać baterie. Tak na to patrzę to byliśmy nieźle odklejeni że słuchaliśmy wtedy klasycznego metalu zamiast panującego wtedy black metalu albo dzwnych rzeczy typu roots Sepultury.

[@gniewko8190]

CETI = G.Kupczyk.

[@unkelkreepy8529]

Lemme say it agsin..again... AMAZING

[@hancock1934]

Dead end is a masterpiece!

[@dragonqueen6589]

Sorry, for some reason I never got the notification for this, in spite of my settings to have all notifications from you - great vid as usual btw. Not that I try to find a way to inadvertently bring up Sweden in every comment i make, but they do have the market cornered when it comes to beautifully produced (sometimes clunky sounding depending on the band - which is understandable since English ain’t their native tongue) album oriented/80s inspired (again depending on the band), melodic rock with catchy (albeit a little cliche at times) hooks.

[@konradkruczek1341]

As a guy from Poland, I can tell that your country truly belongs to the metal major league. Next to delicious Swedish Death Metal scenę, right after pretty decent Black Metal forest, lays obscure and underrated Heavy Metal oblivion full of treasures waiting to be digged! Cheers bro.

[@collenrung5009]

Super awesome bad ass!!!!

[@AdolfStalin]

Subbed because it’s a new band for me

[@putridtorso]

I discovered this band the first time on the Speed Kills 5 sampler from 1990.

[@The6977]

My childhood..Those musicians are still playing as TURBO of course

[@mariuszsikorski6015]

O pięknie,jeszcze Kat,Acid Drinkers

[@cenobith73]

Najlepsze albumy Ostatni Wojownik i Dead End

[@samusvikerness661]

I can't believe they went from that shit they started with to such aggressive thrash and even a touch of death metal. What an impressive sound change.

[@januszgroth6329]

Fantastic material 38:20 the Avatar album was released in both Polish and English vocal version. English version incl. Deep Purple's cover Burn.

[@tpecillo]

Love all the Metal School videos... this is the second video (besides Aria) of a band I've never heard. Being swedish but having polish parents I actually understand the band as well. So I'm sure to make the home work this time around.

[@ediacz]

Damn. Turbo is one od my fav. Metal band. Kawaleria szatana LP sounds like Iron Maiden from it's best years. Still got few LP in my collection.

[@brittanyarmstrong2352]

I cheered when they got to the seriously heavy metal on Satan's Calvary! Yay Turbo go on! Leave those hideous yellow overalls in the dust! 😂 🤘🤘🤘 another great video Metal School!

[@MetalSchoolChannel]

😄🤘🏻

[@mikerivera7509]

That bass player is off the chain