DYMNA LOTVA reveal music video ‘Zory‘
& details of forthcoming new album “Vyraj“
Fast rising Belarus act DYMNA LOTVA unveil the stunning music video ‘Zory‘, which is also the opening track and first advance single taken from their forthcoming new full-length “Vyraj“. The fourth album of the Belarus post-black metal band has been scheduled for release on August 7, 2026.
DYMNA LOTVA comment on ‘Zory’: “For millennia, the stars have guided us through the night”, vocalist Nokt writes. “According to Belarusian legends, the Milky Way guides migrating birds to warmer climes at the end of summer and its stars also lead the souls of the dead to another world. So where are we now? Is this a strange land or a different realm? Maybe we have already died and just didn’t realise it yet?”
Video credits
Directed by Ryncuk Vystarobski
Filmed at Astra Studio, Warsaw, Poland
Tracklist
1. Zory
2. Veha
3. The Boat of Despair
4. Viedźmieragina
5. Niama Darohi
6. Bu Samoje
7. Ustań Za Mianie
8. Return My Coffin Home
DYMNA LOTVA are taking a quantum leap in their rapid musical evolution with their fourth album “Vyraj”. The rebellious Belarus dissidents are powerfully demonstrating that they are far more than a ‘one-trick pony’ in every conceivable artistic aspect.
Although “Vyraj” is still based on a solid foundation of black and post-black metal, DYMNA LOTVA move far beyond any easy labelling by also drawing inspiration from doom, heavy, and progressive metal, while venturing even deeper by incorporating elements from electronic music, goth, and folklore. The album is a cornucopia of great songs that are atmospherically dense and invite the listener onto an emotional roller-coaster ride from the darkest depths of depression and fear, via raw anger and defiance, to heights of ecstatic exhilaration. “Vyraj” is a musical kaleidoscope with ever changing patterns and sonic colours of remarkable beauty – that often dissolves into captivating melodies that at times even achieve a pop-like appeal.
DYMNA LOTVA continue to carry the torch of rebellion, which is only natural as the founding members had to flee their native Belarus due to political persecution and continued attempts by the Lukashenka regime to censor and suppress their art. Yet on “Vyraj”, they put their lyrical focus elsewhere. The album’s main concept could be described as ‘Belarusian ethno-astronomy.’ In Slavonic legends, the starry sky is associated both with the afterlife and with journeys, which becomes closely intertwined with the musicians’ personal experience of forced emigration. This idea is captured in the album title “Vyraj”, which is a mythical realm to where birds migrate for the winter, and where the souls of the departed find their final rest.
An important aspect of this concept is the idea of finding a way back home, just as the birds return in spring. A group of DYMNA LOTVA‘s friends had travelled to the dying Belarusian village from which the ancestors of vocalist Nokt hail. There, they spent the entire night photographing the sky during the Perseid meteor shower from a small family cemetery. These images were used for the cover art and booklet of “Vyraj”.
The name, DYMNA LOTVA, means ‘Swamp in Smoke’, which relates to the atrocities surrounding the burned villages of Paliessie, which has endured bloody massacres and brutal conflict in the past. Their lyrics are often based on Belarusian tales filled with accounts of sorrow gleaned from historical archives, folklore, and new horrors that are committed in their home country at the present.
Composer Jauhien Charkasau and vocalist Katsiaryna “Nokt Aeon” Mankevich were inspired to the founding of DYMNA LOTVA by the news of Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexandrovna Alexievich winning the Nobel Prize in Literature on November 8, 2015. On the same day, the creative core duo created their first song. ‘Самотны Чалавечы Голас’ (“A Solitary Human Voice”), based on quotes from Lyudmila Ignatenko, the widow of Chornobyl liquidator Vasily Ivanovich Ignatenko, whose heroic actions and death inspired the main character of the HBO series “Chernobyl”.
DYMNA LOTVA‘s debut album “The Land under the Black Wings: Swamp” (Зямля пад чорнымі крыламі: Дрыгва) appeared in 2016 and marks the first part of a conceptual trilogy based on the artists’ homeland. Also in 2016, they assembled a live line-up and quickly became one of the most active metal acts in Belarus while also gaining followers in neighbouring countries such as Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia.
This trilogy was continued on “The Land under the Black Wings: Blood” (original, not transcribed title: “Зямля Пад Чорнымі Крыламі: Кроў”). DYMNA LOTVA‘s third album was again filled with songs of grief and pain that had developed into a beautifully and powerfully enhanced very personal style. With this album, the Belarus achieved their international breakthrough. “The Land under the Black Wings: Blood” was continuously toured and got the band invited to festivals across Europe.
“Vyraj” is not part of the trilogy and rather continues the path of DYMNA LOTVA‘s sophomore full-length, “Wormwood” (Палын), which also stood alone. With the latter, the band returned to the topic of Chernobyl in 2017.
DYMNA LOTVA take another big step with “Vyraj” in their whirlwind artistic evolution. It is easy to predict that this unique and highly original band will soon appear on even bigger festival billings and European stages.
Artist: Dymna LotvaAlbum title: Vyraj
Release date: August 7, 2026
Style: Post-black metal
Label: Prophecy Productions
Distribution: SPKR
Review Impact Date: July 6, 2026
Line-upKatsiaryna “Nokt Aeon” Mankevich – vocals, traditional flutes, lyrics
Jauhien Charkasau – guitars, bass, keys, all music
Mikita Stankevich – guitars, backing vocals
Wojciech “Bocian” Muchowicz – drums
Guest musicians
Aaron Stainthorpe (HIGH PARASITE, ex-MY DYING BRIDE – vocals on track 3
Ingvarr (SCHREIGARM) – vocals on track 8
Déhà (WOLVENNEST, SILVER KNIFE, SLOW) – fretless bass on track 8
Deanna F. – harp on track 2
Andrii “Deicider” Sovgar – backing vocals on track 6
Miraslava Palynskaya & Jan Palynski – child vocals on track 2
Velzevul – backing vocals & FX on track 8
Balbuta Choir on track 6: Andrii “Deicider” Sovgar, Jan Mačuĺski, Aliaksandr Čarnuha, Jauhien & Mikita
Drum recording by Piotr Nowak at Studio Młyn, Bycina (PL)
Vocal recording by Pavel Sinila at Everest Studio, Warsaw (PL)
Guitar & bass recording by Jauhien at Hata Studio, Warsaw (PL)
Artwork & layout by Jauhien
Shop
https://spkr.store/collections/dymna-lotva
Available formats
“Vyraj” will be available as a ltd. hardcover 60-page 2CD artbook incl. 8-track instrumental bonus CD, a ltd. Gatefold jellyfish galaxy marbled vinyl vinyl LP (300 copies), a Gatefold black vinyl LP, and on Digipak CD.
Links
www.facebook.com/dymnalotva
www.instagram.com/dymnalotvaband
Live
22 MAY 2026 Stará Ves (CZ) Bugrfest
04 JUL 2026 Friesack (DE) Under the Black Sun Festival
23 JUL 2026 Ostrý Grúň (SK) Gothoom
15 AUG 2026 Pyskowice (PL) Niech Cisza Milczy
22 AUG 2026 Łęka Wielka (PL) 666 United Metal Fest
