Fortress Madonna

Originating from an insignia carved onto the reverse of a map designed to rally German troops during the Stalingrad campaign, Fortress Madonna remains an outlier among bands. Its roster has always been fluid, shifting anywhere from four to sixteen participants, while its backstory stays wrapped in lore. In 1998 the core players Nick Morewood, Bob Collins, Brian Sullivan, Russ Baxter, and Chris Flack aligned themselves with the elusive frontman Alex Serikov and wrote, tracked, and delivered the debut album One Hundred Beacons for the Australian independent label Laughing Outlaw. Once the record appeared and the group completed a tour of Africa, Serikov—described as a former Russian Olympic gymnast and KGB agent—retreated for an extended period to a hidden location in the Congo to escape a life-threatening financial entanglement with certain “New Russians.” The year 2001 marked the beginning of sessions for the EP Estonian Female Snipers, the final undertaking with their hesitant leader. Speaking with Robert Wall of Pop Culture Press that December, Serikov outlined his next personal plan with the words “I’m thinking about climbing Kilimanjaro; I’m fit enough but not too sure about the altitude sickness.” On March 2, 2002, Alex Serikov died from high-altitude pulmonary edema on Mount Kilimanjaro. The remaining members issued Estonian Female Snipers in March 2003.