Belarusian post-metal duo DYMNA LOTVA have signed with Prophecy Productions. The band’s vocalist had to emigrate from her home-country due to political persecution. Soon after, she also had to leave her first point of refuge in Ukraine. Both musicians have meanwhile reunited in Poland. DYMNA LOTVA will release the forthcoming third full-length via the label this year.
DYMNA LOTVA comment: “When we received the offer from Prophecy Productions, I had been under constant Russian bombing in the Ukrainian city of Irpin for a week”, vocalist Katsiaryna “Nokt Aeon” Mankevich writes. “This was literally the first good news after a long series of bad ones. It strongly motivated me to survive, as well as the desire to hold a new album in my hands, and the wish to go on stage again. We are very glad to join such a wonderful label and to be in the company of awesome musicians, whose music we have been listening to and loved for so many years.”
As a means of introduction, the DYMNA LOTVA video-clip ‘Да волі’ (“To Freedom”) featuring Belarusian metal singer Lesley Knife (CHEMICAL WARFARE, GODS TOWER), and thematically revolving around the fate of political prisoners in the country has been added below: https://youtu.be/LdJRzYCmQso
DYMNA LOTVA sing songs of grief and pain. Their lyrics are based on true tales from their native Belarus, which is filled with tales of sorrow gleaned from historical archives or folklore, and new ones are being added every day. Musically, the duo is often placed into the post-metal genre, but elements from doom, black metal, and traditional music also play a quite prominent part in their unique sound.
Even the name of the band, DYMNA LOTVA, which means “Swamp in Smoke” relates to the atrocities surrounding the burned villages of Polesie – a marshy region along the River Pripyat that is now divided between the modern-day states of Belarus, Ukraine, and Poland, and which has endured bloody massacres and brutal conflict in the past.
Composer Jauhien Charkasau and vocalist Katsiaryna “Nokt Aeon” Mankevich date the inception of DYMNA LOTVA precisely to November 8, 2015. The spark that ignited the 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 based on quotes from Lyudmila Ignatenko, the widow of a Chernobyl liquidator. Her account of her husband Vasily Ivanovich Ignatenko largely inspired the main character of the HBO series “Chernobyl”.
The song was released as a single entitled ‘Самотны Чалавечы Голас’ (“A Solitary Human Voice”) in 2016 and was followed by DYMNA LOTVA‘s first full-length “Зямля пад чорнымі крыламі: Дрыгва” (“The Land Under The Black Wings: Swamp”) in the same year. The debut album also formed the first part of a conceptual trilogy based on the duo’s native Belarus.
Also in 2016, the duo 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.
With their sophomore album, “Палын” (“Wormwood”), DYMNA LOTVA returned in 2017 to the topic of Chernobyl for which the duo also referred to the works of Svetlana Alexandrovna Alexievich.
In 2020, DYMNA LOTVA openly supported the protests against the dictator Lukashenka. In 2021, following a politically motivated trial of singer Leslie Knife, who was the guest vocalist on the latest single “To Freedom,” all of the band’s scheduled concerts were officially banned. Vocalist Nokt Aeon was forced to leave the country in order to avoid persecution. The live line-up was disbanded. The duo intended to reunite in Ukraine when Russia started their invasion of the country. Two weeks after the outbreak of war, the singer was able to evacuate from the heavy fighting around Irpin. Finally both musicians were able to meet again in Poland.
Currently, DYMNA LOTVA are preparing the release of their third full-length.
Current line-up
Katsiaryna “Nokt Aeon” Mankevich – vocals, traditional flutes, lyrics
Jauhien Charkasau – guitars, bass, all music
Style: Post-metal with influences from black metal, doom, and traditional music
Links
www.facebook.com/dymnalotva
www.instagram.com/dymnalotvaband
