Ignea, the war in Ukraine doesn't stop the music

IGNEA is a Ukrainian melodic metal band that mixes heavy riffs with symphonic, electronic, folk elements, and story-telling creating a powerful OST-like experience. Staying true to the melodic essence of their music, IGNEA also adds touches of brutality by occasionally incorporating extreme vocals, breakdowns, and blast beats.

Highlights:

— 2 EPs, 2 full-length albums, 5 singles
— over 13 million views on YouTube, and over 80,000 monthly listeners on Spotify
— according to the national awards The Best Ukrainian Metal Act, The Realms of Fire and Death has been selected as the metal album of the year and IGNEA has been named the best Ukrainian metal band of 2020
— being fully DIY, IGNEA gathered an extensive following of fans from all continents of the world and performed in Europe within tours and festivals
— all releases are recorded and mixed by the top Ukrainian metal producer Max Morton

In June 2021, IGNEA signed a deal with Napalm Records and started working on the third album that will be out in the second half of 2022.
Before bringing the new full-length record to the world, the band treats its fans with the split EP BESTIA recorded together with their friends ERSEDU.

Musicwebzine – Hi there, first of all, tell us something about the band
Ignea – IGNEA is a melodic metal band from Ukraine. We mix a lot of metal subgenres, so it’s hard to define our sound. However, next to heavy riffs and blast beats, we always have a strong melodic part, performed through orchestral arrangements, synthesizers, and folk instruments. Also, there’s always a story behind each song.

Musicwebzine – Please do tell us something about the situation in Ukraine at the moment
Ignea – Since February 24th, there’s been a full-scale war in Ukraine started by Russia. The situation heavily depends on each region. This war is very dynamic, so only a few weeks ago, the Kyiv region has been drowning in blood and war crimes performed by Russians. At this point, the region is cleared from Russian troops but the territories are mined with more than 10,000 explosive objects. Mariupol has been in total blockade for more than a month now. People, there are dying without food and water and the city is constantly shelled by the Russians. The Eastern part of Ukraine is also under constant shelling. Everybody’s preparing for a massive battle for Donbas. I can continue on and on but I’d like to say that although it’s calmer in some parts and horrible in other parts of our country, there’s no safe place in Ukraine right now. Air raids are happening every day. And no one knows what comes tomorrow. If you want to get daily updates on the situation from our band (made since day 1 of the war), check out this post: https://www.patreon.com/posts/update-on-in-62978480.

Musicwebzine – Which is the main theme of your upcoming album?
Ignea – I cannot disclose it right now.

Musicwebzine – What about the cover and the title of your album?
Ignea – I cannot disclose it right now.

Musicwebzine – Which bands have influenced your sound?
Ignea – In terms of arrangements and the use of different folk and orchestral elements, the primary influence has always been Amorphis. Although we often have prevalent middle-eastern instruments or orchestras in the mix, the overall styling of arrangements was after Amorphis almost from the beginning. In terms of the sound itself, we never had any idea more precise than ‘modern metal sound.’ That is why we always produce our albums with Max Morton and we never say to him how we want it all to sound: modern metal mix is his realm, and he simply knows and feels how to build our sound better than us.

Musicwebzine – Do you think you can still live only on music?
Ignea – In our band, 2 band members (our keyboardist and I) live only on music for several years now because we manage most of the things in IGNEA, and the rest of the guys have day jobs. We’re blessed with huge support from our listeners from all over the world who are purchasing our merch and supporting us on Patreon. This is what helps us to move on. So, for now, we’re able to continue as we’ve done it before.

Musicwebzine – That’s all!! greeted our readers with a message
Ignea – Don’t forget that there’s a full-scale war happening in the middle of Europe. We’re fighting not only for Ukraine but for peace on the continent. If you’re able to help financially, please donate to our army, help refugees, and support the Ukrainian metal scene. If not, go to protests in your city, talk to your government to provide Ukraine with more weapons, or simply spend some minutes listening to music by Ukrainian metal bands. Any help is vastly appreciated.