Doomed Confessionary: Dmitry Ilaltdinov (Wildweed)
Wildweed is a stoner/doom/sludge power trio from Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. The band’s lineup consists of Egor Istomin (drums), Ilia Kramnik (bass) and Dmitry Ilaltdinov (guitar, vocals).
Formed in February 2018, Wildweed is inspired by the work of such bands as Electric Wizard, Sleep, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats and, of course, Black Sabbath. While their music style is balancing between doom, sludge and stoner, the lyrical side of the group’s creativity is primarily related to the themes of the occult and black magic, charged with viscous riffs from stoned cosmic spaces.
Wildweed’s latest album »Cattle Burial Ground«, released in October 2025 via CSBR Records, tells a Lovecraftian story written by Georgii Akbaa. You can read the whole story HERE.
Can you please say a few words about your band?
Wildweed is a stoner-doom/stoner-sludge band from Nizhniy Novgorod, Russian Federation. Started at 2018 and still going. We try to create Lovecraftian vibes with heavy and slow smokey riffs.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
The hardest challenge is to find enough time to do all bands chores, like composing new music, managing gigs, creating merch and so on. It is a hard work with little to none gratitude and absolutely no profit. It only consumes money and time.
What can you be most proud of so far?
The biggest one yet is the latest »Cattle Burial Ground« LP. It took about a full year to complete the whole thing. I came up with a bit about KGB agents fighting the monster of Yib-Tstll blood at a cattle burial ground in Siberia. Found a writer who is researching Lovecraft literature heritage, and proposed my idea, he liked it and wrote the 5 chapter story for this album. I’ve spent around 3000$ on old analog compressors, console and commutation to do the recording the right way. We recorded everything live, and in a one night the whole album was done. The best result, the sound is killing, it’s unique and there is nothing to compare to it.
What was your biggest regret?
The main regret is that I didn’t had all that experience that I have now when I started. It would’ve saved a lot of effort and helped to avoid errors. But where else would I get it. It’s like wishing to start again school after finishing the university.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
The Power Of Riff 2026. The biggest show yet, around 300 people, it was organized by the label that we are signed to, CSBR. The organization was on incredibly high level. All was done exactly minute to minute with no screwups. It was amazing.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
I’m not sure what kind of surprise is meant, but I never feel surprised by anything on music scene, I guess this is because I don’t care at all about it, so nothing touches me in a slightest.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Meth Drinker – Oil
Satanico Pandemonium – III
Bell Witch – Demo
Diazepam – Chemical Justice
Sahara – The Light
Goblinsmoker – Toad King/A World In Haze
Heavy and slow stoned music, where you can feel the smoke.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
The best advise is still from our sound engineer – sell all the stuff and be done with this shit. It’s objectively the best one but I’m not acting on it yet.
What are your guilty pleasures?
Cigs, booze, subway sandwiches with tuna.
Can you say something more about the current music scene in Nizhniy Novgorod?
In the city of Nizhniy Novgorod there is no much appreciation for heavy stoned music (real stoner, where you can feel the ones composing and playing it is stoned as balls). Mostly of what there is it’s like beer stoner, sober stoner, which is more energetic and fun and has no smokey vibes – I hate it.
After the Covid and certain geopolitical events local underground scene is not what it used to be. I can’t say it’s dead, but some transformations are ongoing, time is required to see where it will go in the end.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
Russia – City of Vladimir, Nizhniy Novgorod, Moscow, Saint Petersburg.
The logistics and the sheer distances are killers. The closest gig from our city was 250km, Saint Petersburg is 1000km. It’s like to travel through dozen European countries. It is very time consuming and expensive and to get even in costs is the best we can do in our case.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
Persevering. Doing new music. Doing new shows. Trying to stay afloat, because every day gives more challenges and it seems like there is nothing and no one that help or assist or do anything for us to be easier with what wildweed is doing.
How can people best support your band?
By spreading the word to those who like this kind of music, subscribe to social media, adding our albums to favorites on music platforms. All the usual, nothing special.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
If you genuinely like Wildweed, I’m impressed, this music is non conventional and made with no effort to be likable by mass listener, only the chosen ones can appreciate it. Keep it up!
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well