Belarusian post-black/doom metal act Dymna Lotva release new single and music video »Смерць Цалуе Ў Вочы« (Death Kisses Your Eyes)
Belarusian post-black/doom metal act Dymna Lotva has released the second single and music video »Смерць Цалуе Ў Вочы« (Death Kisses Your Eyes) taken from their upcoming album, »Зямля Пад Чорнымі Крыламі: Кроў« (The Land Under The Black Wings: Blood), due out on August 4th, 2023 via Prophecy Productions.
Video by Jay Flokker, starring Nokt Aeon.
Tracklist:
01. Ідзі І Глядзі (Come And See)
02. Пахаваны Жыўцом (Buried Alive)
03. Смерць Цалуе Ў Вочы (Death Kisses Your Eyes)
04. Пекла (Hell)
05. Папялішча (Ashes)
06. Яма (The Pit)
07. Лютасць (Cruelty)
08. Nachthexen (Night Witches)
09. Да Скону (Till The End)
10. Мёртвым Не Баліць (Dead Don’t Hurt)
11. Нязгаснае (Unquenchable)
12. Да Волі (To Freedom)
13. Кроў (Blood)
Courtesy of Prophecy Productions:
Belarusian post-metal duo Dymna Lotva’s second single from »Зямля Пад Чорнымі Крыламі: Кроў« (The Land Under The Black Wings: Blood) is out now – watch »Смерць Цалуе Ў Вочы« (Death Kisses Your Eyes) in full here! https://youtu.be/_CILlYt9J8Q
“This song is dedicated to the memory of the Belarusian protest activist Roman Bondarenko, who was killed by the Lukashenka regime. Roman’s last words were a message in the neighbours chat, ‘I’m going out’. When unknown people arrived in his yard and began to destroy protest art and national symbols which were created together by the residents of nearby houses, he could not stand aside. Roman Bondarenko left the house and was beaten and kidnapped by unknown people in black clothes and masks. He died from his injuries the next day, November 12, 2020. The same day the first demo of this song was mixed. The song lyrics with the words ‘those who wear midnight will take you away’ and ‘let’s go’ were too reminiscent of his story.”
Photo by Vasili Korzun
Dymna Lotva have many reasons to carry the torch of rebellion. The duo had to flee their native Belarus due to political persecution and attempts by the Lukashenka dictatorship to censure and suppress their art. On their third album, »The Land Under The Black Wings: Blood« (original, not transcribed tile: “Зямля Пад Чорнымі Крыламі: Кроў”), Dymna Lotva continue to sing songs filled with grief and pain. The Belarusians have beautifully and powerfully enhanced their very personal style. With a solid base in black metal, but also taking many elements from doom as well as traditional music, the duo has moved beyond the post-black metal tag and created melancholic, haunting melodies that bear their unmistakable trademark and results in a unique emotional sound. Dymna Lotva base their lyrics on true tales from Belarus, which is filled with accounts of sorrow gleaned from historical archives or folklore, while new horrors are committed in their country every day. Composer Jauhien Charkasau and vocalist Katsiaryna “Nokt Aeon” Mankevich date the inception of Dymna Lotva to November 8, 2015.
The spark that ignited their musical fire was the news of Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexandrovna Alexievich winning the Nobel Prize in Literature. On the same day, the duo created their first song, which was inspired by the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe and released as a single entitled »Самотны Чалавечы Голас« (A Solitary Human Voice) in 2016. This was followed by Dymna Lotva’s first full-length »The Land Under The Black Wings: Swamp« (Зямля пад чорнымі крыламі: Дрыгва) in the same year. The debut album also formed the first part of a conceptual trilogy based on the duo’s homeland. With their sophomore album, »Wormwood« (Палын), which is not part of the planned trilogy, Dymna Lotva returned to the topic of Chernobyl in 2017.
In 2020, Dymna Lotva openly supported the protests against their country’s dictator Lukashenka. In 2021, following a politically motivated trial of singer Lesley Knife, who was the guest vocalist on the latest single »To Freedom« (Да Волі), all the band’s scheduled concerts were officially banned and they had to disband their live line-up. Vocalist Nokt Aeon was forced to leave the country to avoid arrest. The duo intended to reunite in Ukraine, but then Russia invaded the country. Two weeks after the outbreak of war, the singer finally escaped from the heavy fighting around the city of Irpin. Both musicians were later able to meet again in Poland.
For Dymna Lotva the release of »The Land Under The Black Wings: Blood« (Зямля Пад Чорнымі Крыламі: Кроў) is also an act of defiance. Their music can be read in more than one way. By itself it is an extremely beautiful yet also a very painful piece of contemporary metal on the dark end of the spectrum with an audible Belarusian sound. Yet in a wider artistic context, Dymna Lotva unleash a furious and mournful cry for freedom and justice with »The Land Under The Black Wings: Blood« (Зямля Пад Чорнымі Крыламі: Кроў).
Pre-order the album: lnk.spkr.media/dymna-lotva-blood
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well