Photo credit: Nadja Greena
Belarus post-black/doom expats, Dymna Lotva, have shared their new concert film Zobens Un Lemess Open Air 2025. It captures their full show at this year’s edition of the Latvian festival. They will be on tour again soon, in support of their current album The Land under the Black Wings: Blood (Prophecy Productions records). Watch the new film below and read more from the band.
Buy The Land under the Black Wings: Blood here: https://spkr.store/collections/dymna-lotva
Dymna Lotva comment: “Our first show in Latvia was full of contrasts: rough weather, sound issues, and even injured band members”, enigmatic singer Katsiaryna “Nokt Aeon” Mankevich writes. “Yet the energy of the fans and the support of old friends made it unforgettable. Sharing the stage with Leslie Knife from Gods Tower was a true honour. We had recorded a song together back in 2020, but only this year we were finally able to perform it live with him. Despite all the challenges, we’re glad to share this video with you. Latvia, we’ll be back soon!”
Filming Credits:
Filmed by Gronn Onland
Edited by Jauhien Charkasau
Cover photo by Vasiĺ Varabiejčykaŭ
True to their word, Dymna Lotva will return to Latvia this October as part of their Baltic Sea Mini Tour 2025. Please see below for all currently confirmed live dates:
08 OCT 2025 Vilnius (LT) nArauti
09 OCT 2025 Riga (LV) Melnā Piektdiena
10 OCT 2025 Tallinn (EE) The Krypt
11 OCT 2025 Helsinki (FI) Tiivistämö
06 DEC 2025 Berlin (DE) De Mortem Et Diabolum XI
The Land under the Black Wings: Blood tracklisting:
01 Come and See (Ідзі І Глядзі)
02 Buried Alive (Пахаваны Жыўцом)
03 Death Kisses Your Eyes (Смерць Цалуе Ў Вочы)
04 Hell (Пекла)
05 Ashes (Папялішча)
06 The Pit (Яма)
07 Cruelty (Лютасць)
08 Night Witches (Nachthexen)
09 Till the End (Да Скону)
10 Dead Don’t Hurt (Мёртвым Не Баліць)
11 Unquenchable (Нязгаснае)
12 To Freedom (Да Волі)
13 Blood (Кроў)
More from Dymna Lotva:
Metal has always had a rebellious streak. And while it has lost some of its revolutionary energy – with the notable exception of black metal – in its Western European and American centres, metal very much remains a source of empowerment and an expression of dissent in most other parts of the word. Dymna Lotva have many reasons to carry the torch of rebellion. The duo had to flee their native Belarus due to political persecution and attempts by the Lukashenka dictatorship to censure and suppress their art.
On their third album, The Land under the Black Wings: Blood (original, not transcribed tile: Зямля Пад Чорнымі Крыламі: Кроў), Dymna Lotva continue to sing songs filled with grief and pain. The Belarusians have beautifully and powerfully enhanced their very personal style. With a solid base in black metal, but also taking many elements from doom as well as traditional music, the duo has moved beyond the post-black metal tag and created melancholic, haunting melodies that bear their unmistakable trademark and results in a unique emotional sound.
Dymna Lotva base their lyrics on true tales from Belarus, which is filled with accounts of sorrow gleaned from historical archives or folklore, while new horrors are committed in their country every day. The name of the band means “Swamp in Smoke” and 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, 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 to November 8, 2015. The spark that ignited their 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 The Land under the Black Wings: Swamp (Зямля пад чорнымі крыламі: Дрыгва) in the same year. The debut album also formed the first part of a conceptual trilogy based on the duo’s homeland. 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, Wormwood (Палын), which is not part of the planned trilogy, Dymna Lotva returned to the topic of Chernobyl in 2017, for which the duo also referred to the works of Svetlana Alexandrovna Alexievich.
In 2020, Dymna Lotva openly supported the protests against their country’s dictator Lukashenka. In 2021, following a politically motivated trial of singer Lesley Knife, who was the guest vocalist on the latest single “To Freedom” (Да Волі), all the band’s scheduled concerts were officially banned and they had to disband the live line-up. Vocalist Nokt Aeon was forced to leave the country to avoid arrest. The duo intended to reunite in Ukraine, but then Russia invaded the country. Two weeks after the outbreak of war, the singer finally escaped from the heavy fighting around the city of Irpin. Both musicians were later able to meet again in Poland.
For Dymna Lotva the release of The Land under the Black Wings: Blood, is also an act of defiance. Their music can be read in more than one way. By itself it is an extremely beautiful yet also a very painful piece of contemporary metal on the dark end of the spectrum with an audible Belarusian sound. Yet in a wider artistic context, Dymna Lotva unleash a furious and mournful cry for freedom and justice with The Land under the Black Wings: Blood.
Please note that due to safety concerns and ongoing political repression in Belarus not all names and locations involved in the production of this album can or will be disclosed.
Instruments recorded by Jauhien Charkasau at Hata Studio
Vocal recording by V01D at SoundStudio9
Mix & mastering by Alexei Stetsiuk
Layout and cover artwork editing by Olga Kann
Cover photo by Alina Mazovets
Current line-up:
Katsiaryna “Nokt Aeon” Mankevich – Vocals, traditional flutes, lyrics
Jauhien Charkasau – Guitars, bass, all music
Mikita Stankevich – Guitars, backing vocals
Wojciech “Bocian” Muchowicz – Drums
Recording line-up:
Katsiaryna “Nokt Aeon” Mankevich – Vocals, traditional flutes, lyrics
Jauhien Charkasau – Guitars, bass, all music
Guest musicians:
Forladt (Absence Of Life) – Backing vocals, music on “Ashes”
Déhà (Wolvennest, Silver Knife, Slow) – Drums
Lesley Knife (Gods Tower) – Guest vocals on “To Freedom”
Artur Matveenko (Dzivia) – saxophone on “To Freedom”
Fiodor Malikin – Saxophone on “Hell”
Ivan Kuznetsov – Piano
Nat Nazgul – Accordion
Yegor Baranov (Elysium, Cosmocats) – Cello
Ulyana Sborshchikova – Child clean vocals on “Hell”
Demyan Sborshchikov – Child extreme vocals on “Hell”
Anonymous Belarusian teenage girls choir on “Ashes”
Follow Dymna Lotva:
www.facebook.com/dymnalotva
www.instagram.com/dymnalotvaband