Belarus metal pioneers DYMNA LOTVA reveal the outstanding music video ‘The Boat of Despair’, which was filmed deep underground in a historic mine. The track features guest vocals by former MY DYING BRIDE frontman Aaron Stainthorpe (HIGH PARASITE), which means a dream come true for the band.
‘The Boat of Despair’ is the second advance single taken from the forthcoming new full-length Vyraj. The fourth album of the post-black metal band has been slated for release on August 7, 2026.
DYMNA LOTVA comment: “Sometimes dreams do come true”, vocalist Nokt muses. “For decades, I have dreamed of creating a song that is based on my favourite book, Laddzia Rospačy by Uladzimir Karatkevich. For so many years, I have dreamed of seeing Aaron Stainthorpe live on stage. Later I have dreamed of sharing a stage with Aaron, and then even of singing a song with him. And for some years, I have dreamed of singing inside a cave, in an old mine, on a boat flowing on an underground river. Here we are now, all those dreams have miraculously come true. I wish the same might happen to all of you, who listen to our song and watch our music video ‘The Boat of Despair’!”
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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.
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Aural Aggravation 