Doomed Confessionary: Mykhailo Chuha (Mental Torment)
Photos by Dmytro Golovchenko
Kyiv, Ukraine based death/doom metal veterans Mental Torment have just released their new album »Dead Shot Revival« on October 28th, 2024 via Metallurg Music. The album includes 6 tracks and evolves classic death-doom metal into a modern sound. While recording, the band experimented with many different ideas, so whether you like powerful riffs or soulful melodies, you’re bound to find something you like here.
»Dead Shot Revival« is a 100% Ukrainian language album. Working on it started during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which directly affected the music and lyrics. The album is a direct echo of the events that took place hundreds of years ago in Ukraine – and is a kind of reflection of all-encompassing experiences, both physical and mental. But at the same time, it is a reflection of the feelings and emotions that we all experience here and now.
Mental Torment are Roman Kostiuchenko (vocals), Mykhailo Chuha (guitars, keys), Maria Vynohradska (guitars, vocals), Andrii Potemkin (bass) and Artur Myrvoda (drums).
Can you say a few words about your band?
Well, I will refer to press releases. Mental Torment is death-doom metal band from Kyiv, Ukraine. We have played sad music since 2009, released 3 LPs, played a lot of shows and don’t plan to stop doing this, no matter what’s going on.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
Pass overall time check, continue to do what we do, and stay honored to ourselves. As some bands appeared and disappeared, trends changed, as well as the overall environment, but we kept play music that we liked and we are happy, that we kept getting responses from listeners.
What can you be most proud of so far?
Our latest LP »Dead Shot Revival«. This is a huge step forward for the band if you look back you will notice how the musical approach changed, how often we could experiment and at the same time – keep being that good one Doom Metal.
What was your biggest regret?
Lack of communication and understanding, caused the band to make a huge pause before the 2019 reunion. If something is not okay – you need to speak, negotiate, and find a solution.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
Doom Over Kyiv festivals for sure. I played there as a musician of Mental Torment as well as the Endlesshade project. That was a great opportunity to play live with mastodons of doom, like Saturnus and October Tide. And of course – gather around a lot of listeners in one place. This is an atmosphere, energy, some kind of ritual for sure.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
The main one – organizers could be truly assholes . Especially when you arrive in a different city or even country – there is a bare minimum of what you expect to be done, like at least meeting you at the rail station, providing you with some apartments, and finally – do not violate your initial agreements (line-ups, schedule, etc).
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Nothing. Recently I went back into bluesy and instrumental stuff. Probably that is my force source, whether it is listening or guitar noodling(improvisation). I worked hard during the latest release production, so I need to chill out.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Don’t lose yourselves. And estimate truly what you are going to do. If you wanna millions of fans and streams, but you just play with your friends on weekends for fun – expect corresponding outcomes. Music is business, so be ready to do some job.
What are your guilty pleasures?
Being angry old-misanthropic-redneck and hating everyone, broke my guitar with damn upgrades… buy another one with useless stuff and forget about it, hehe.
Can you say something more about the current music scene in Kyiv?
We are facing challenges. We have a war here, rockets keep flying, and a lot of young audiences leave the country as refugees. Due to that, some event places are closed, and organizers have to look for safe places to respect all safe requirements for both listeners and musicians. Of course, foreign bands are scared to visit Ukraine due to that, even if all requirements are met and the show can be performed far enough from battle lines. But we deal with it somehow, playing charity events, trying to populate our music worldwide, and getting support for sure.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
Our album presentation was 16/11/2024 at Volume Club in Kyiv. You can watch the full live stream of this event HERE.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
Keep growth, record new music, hopefully – survive, and play more shows.
Do you have any special plans for New Year’s Eve?
Not yet, but wanna something cozy. Sit with friends and family, cook some snacks, and play some board and video games.
How can people best support your band?
We have PayPal, where you can donate. If you are a Bandcamp user – we can issue your code for an album activation (unfortunately PayPal supports only P2P to UA accounts, so we cannot properly sell music elsewhere). Would be great to issue some physical copies, but the current label doesn’t do it yet. But we are open to offers regarding physical distributions.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Yeah, listen to good music and support your local bands. And of course – listen for Mental Torment and subscribe for more, cheers!
Links:
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well