Photo by: Ivan Vyzhletsov

I saw that you had problems crossing the border earlier. Do you still have them?

Well, all bands have them still, because men’s travel is limited, or rather it is almost impossible. But every time we submit documents to the Ministry of Culture to facilitate our travel. And all our concerts abroad are charity events. Once again, we bring money for the needs of the army. But the problem is that we never know. All these permits, each trip, is a separate permit, a separate package of documents. And in fact, it is given very close to the departure, and you never know whether you will actually be able to leave, because the rules of departure are also changing, laws are changing, more and more people are needed on the frontline, so we never know what will happen tomorrow.

And you also said that there was no metal scene in Ukraine, in an interview a few years ago, but what about now? Has it changed or not?

The thing is, maybe I didn’t put it that way, there is a metal scene and it’s quite big, but we don’t have the infrastructure around it. I mean, we don’t have big, serious metal labels. We don’t have media as such. So, metal is still underground in Ukraine. It’s slowly starting to change, because I think genres are blurring a lot these days. The genres in music as a whole are coming together, and we can already see that, for example, Pivovarov comes to a concert with Ksalyush or something like that. I mean, or an international example, like Poppy I Noct Loose performing on television. I mean, we can see that society is slowly moving towards the fact that there is nothing wrong with, I don’t know, listening to techno and then black metal the next day. And I think it’s great, because I listen to a lot of different music myself. But, nevertheless, metal in Ukraine is still underground. So maybe we have a bigger part of our audience abroad.

Are you staying true to your original sound, or has the concept changed?

I would say that if you listen to all our music, we don’t really stick to one thing, because on one album we can have some standard symphonic metal, then there’s super brutal black metal, and then there’s a song with just orchestra vocals or vocals and guitar, and it sounds almost like a Disney lullaby. That’s why I always ask people not to judge us by one song and listen to more, because we have a very diverse range of tracks.

How do you combine melody with growling vocals in your songs?

I’m still learning. I mean, I’m not taking any classes or anything, but I think I still have room to grow. I probably first tried to growl in 2012. But back then, it was impossible to find anything on YouTube, no tutorials, nothing.

So, of course, I was doing it wrong, I was breaking my voice, shouting and so on. And I can say that even on some of the first recordings, I definitely did it not from a healthy point of view. But now, of course, the more we perform, the more I record, I keep finding this safe zone.

Like we did last year with Fear Factory, we had a two-month tour. If you do it wrong, it’s impossible to roll a tour for two months and 43 shows. That’s it. So if people want to learn this, there are a lot of great coaches, teachers, courses today. And I advise you, if you try it, to do it right away.

Where do you get the inspiration for your songs?

It’s really hard for me to say, because I’ve never really tried to copy anyone, or vocal technique, or anything else. I mean, it just kind of comes naturally to me. But when I’m trying to polish my technique, I always refer to the vocalist of the band Whitechapel, because he has a very ideal technique for me.

He has a lot of lines where he growls, a huge number of lines without any type of air pickup. And it really shows how much he’s got it down.

Can I ask you about your latest album, Dreams of Lands Unseen? It’s based on a Ukrainian-French journalist. Why her?

Yes, our last album is dedicated to Sofia Yablonska. There were some demos. I realised that I wanted this album to be about travelling. And at first I thought about making an album about different travelers from different times. But when I found out about Sofia Yablonska, I was so inspired by her, she has so many stories that I could’ve make 10 albums about her. So I was very interested in telling the world about her and also Ukrainians, because many Ukrainians don’t know who she is and still don’t.

How did you find out about her?

Actually, it was just from the Internet. And it just so happened that when we were writing this album, several of her books were published in Ukrainian. And I had the opportunity to get acquainted with them, read them and get inspired.

After the release of your latest album in 2023, will you stick to the same sound or will you go further and experiment more?

We are always experimenting. We are in the process of writing the next album, and it will be very different from the previous one. At the moment, because it’s still being formed, I really don’t want to make any statements or promises. The only thing I can say is that we have a certain vector and, for example, we have a page on Patreon and we have already made a video for patreons, in which we gave some hints about what it might be about, showed some artefacts that we have already acquired that will relate to the visuals of our album and so on. But we don’t want to give the general public any super spoilers yet, because even they don’t know the concept yet.

Who is responsible for the style, costumes, lyrics…?

Yevhen is the keyboardist in our band, he is the main composer. I’m more responsible for the lyrics, for the concepts, for the whole style, visuals, and so on. We have a roughly similar division.

How do you create and produce the music for the band?

Well, again, it’s just that Yevhen mostly writes the main music, and then we rehearse it all together. Of course, the musicians can somehow change the parts depending on their instrument and playing technique. And when we record in the studio, we already work with a producer who can also influence, somehow offer some additional things. For example, very often we can record additional backing vocals directly in the studio. It is all formed in its purest form when we record it.

And how do you come up with those ideas for music or videos? How do you know that this is it?

I don’t know if Yevhen would have said more in terms of music… In terms of concepts and so on, I have a very immersive experience, even if I’m already groping for a topic, I try to read as much as possible on this topic, watch some films, listen to music, actually the least, because I don’t want it to influence what we write in any way.

So sometimes it happens that I have just one phrase that can inspire me to create lyrics for a whole song. Or a painting, or a building, or something like that. I mean, I perceive a lot visually, and I really only realised this over the years and with the writing of several albums. So visuals and creating a certain mood, a theme for an album is something that works very well for me.

And what bands are inspiring you now, or do you choose from other genres as well?

I don’t know, we don’t try to take and copy what some other bands have done. I mean, we are also human beings and we listen to music for pleasure or, I don’t know, to change our mood and so on. For example, I’m really into what Lady Gaga is doing right now. I really like her and her new looks, and her new songs, and so on. She’s always been a huge inspiration to me, and one of my favourite artists is Chelsea Wolfe. I mean, I have a lot of different things that I listen to. But then again, we shouldn’t forget that our keyboardist mostly writes the music. And he listens to a huge range of music. I just don’t know how many hours a day he listens to this music. It’s hard to say.

Does every band member bring their own musical passion?

Well, yes. That’s the way it is. Our guitarist, for example, he’s a DJ. Apart from being our guitarist. So it’s like he loves techno music. But he also has a classical education. He graduated with a degree in piano and organ. So in fact, musical overcoming is very different for all of us. And it seems to me that the fact that we listen to super-versatile music is why it turns out to be super different for us.

What is planned for 2025, besides the upcoming album + tour?

Well, really, working on a new album is a huge piece of work, because we need not only to finish the songs, but also to choose singles, somehow either draw a cover, or choose it, come up with it. Usually we shoot at least three or four videos, and each video also takes time, choosing locations, styling, and so on. So it’s a really huge work plan, and I think that’s the main thing we’re going to do this year, because we finally have this concept and we’re going to develop it further. And besides the dates that have already been announced, we are still in the process of booking other dates.

There may be another tour in the autumn. Most likely, we will still be adding dates in June. So it’s kind of an ongoing process. By the way, in Ukraine, we will also have a performance at the Faine Misto Festival. The work is in full swing.