Vøvk | Litera | Kontrabass

 

Release Date: October 3, 2025

Format: Digital

Genre: Progressive Rock/Post-Hardcore

Country: Ukraine

Kyiv’s Vøvk returns with their second full-length album, “Litera”, a concept-driven work that binds together emotion, symbolism, and the raw pulse of Ukraine’s current era. The trio has always balanced structure with emotional chaos, and this time they sharpen that contrast through a story told in cycles, drought, fire, flood, renewal, and back to drought again. It’s less an album of separate tracks and more an emotional landscape shaped by shifting seasons and inner weather.

From the first minutes, “Litera” opens like a ritual. The atmosphere is thick, driven by earthy percussion and layers of guitar that feel organic and unforced. The production by Roman Bondar (Lizard Audio, Kyiv) gives the songs a physicality, every bassline hits with the pulse of a living organism, every drumbeat like a heartbeat echoing in the soil. The sound is neither minimal nor overblown, just dense enough to hold its weight.

Vøvk’s songwriting walks a line between accessibility and experimentation. The band draws inspiration from sources like Mastodon, The Mars Volta, and Deafheaven but never mimics them. The songs rise and fall in unpredictable waves, sometimes glowing with melody, sometimes dark and jagged. The rhythm section holds everything together with a quiet precision, even when time signatures twist in unexpected ways. The guitar lines act less as leads and more as moving textures, guiding the listener through each transformation.

The presence of guest musicians brings depth rather than decoration. Johannes Persson (Cult Of Luna) appears on “Promin”, his deep voice adding gravity to the song’s portrayal of perseverance and love for one’s homeland. “Okean”, with Anton Slepakov, closes the album in an introspective tone, tying the story back to its beginning. The use of choir and spoken word parts adds warmth and humanity, making the album’s concept feel communal, not just personal.

This is not an easy-listening album, and its rhythm is that of inner struggle, sometimes repetitive, sometimes chaotic, always honest. What keeps “Litera” engaging is its sense of movement. The awareness that destruction and rebirth are intertwined. There are no grand conclusions, only cycles that keep turning, like the seasons or history itself.

For a band coming from a country living through war, “Litera” feels like a quiet act of endurance. It’s poetic without being pretentious, heavy without being oppressive. Vøvk has crafted an album that speaks less through words and more through textures and emotions. It doesn’t reach transcendence, but it remains deeply human, a mirror to the world’s instability and a reminder that renewal always begins in silence.

Score: 7.2

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Lucynine | Melena | Talheim Records

 

Release Date: 03.10.2025
Format: Digital, Physical
Genre: Post-Black Metal/Post-Hardcore/Avantgarde
Country: Italy

Lucynine was founded in 2013 by Italian multi-instrumentalist, singer, and producer Sergio Bertani as a personal studio project. The first release, the EP “Chronicles From Leri”, mixed trip hop, psychedelia, and death metal, gaining notable attention thanks to contributions from John Baggott (Massive Attack, Robert Plant) and Gigi Giugno (Braindamage). After a long silence, Lucynine returned in 2020 with the full-length “Amor Venenat”, released via Inverse Records. The album included theatrical elements and guest appearances from renowned Italian actors and dubbers such as Dario Penne, the Italian voice of Anthony Hopkins. That same year, a tribute EP to Italian punk band Titor followed. Five years later, Lucynine presents its second full-length, “Melena”, released through Talheim Records.

“Melena” is an uncompromising work. Across just over half an hour, Sergio Bertani channels raw despair through an intense sound that merges post-black metal with post-hardcore and avantgarde touches. Unlike the layered collaborations of “Amor Venenat”, this album is entirely his own vision: composed, performed, and produced in solitude.

The vocals remain intentionally buried under an aggressive wall of sound, as if struggling to emerge from suffocation. This choice amplifies the oppressive character of the album, where production choices mirror the psychological pressure at its core. The tracklist progresses through compact assaults and longer compositions. Songs like “Uomo In Mare” and “Narciso Non Muore” hit with direct urgency, while “Melena” and “Oltre La Soglia” expand the palette with more dynamic movements. The closing “Opera Al Nero”, lasting over fifteen minutes, is a monumental conclusion where all the tension, noise, and exhaustion reach an extreme, dragging the listener into a vortex of bleakness.

The album’s concept ties closely to its medical title. “Melena” refers to internal bleeding and decay, and that imagery translates directly into sound and atmosphere. The claustrophobic production, suffocated vocals, and crushing compression give the impression of something damaged from within, unable to heal.

“Melena” is not an easy listen, nor does it aim to be. It is deliberately harsh, a mirror of the personal anguish from which it was created. Rather than offering comfort, it drags the listener into darkness and demands endurance. For those seeking music that challenges, unsettles, and reflects pure human anguish, this album succeeds with haunting precision.

Score: 5.5

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