Ignea are a five-piece metal band from Kiev, Ukraine. They began under the moniker Parallax in 2013. After getting serious they discovered how many bands shared their namesake, making potential marketing impossible. “There was a moment when we got more serious and understood our music and the approach was changing. In terms of promotion it was a dead end,” vocalist/lyricist Helle Bogdanova says. “It was the perfect moment for a rebranding before gaining a fan base.”
Keyboardist Evgeny Zhytnyuk, Bassist Xander Kamyshin, guitarist Dmitriy Vinnichenko and drummer Ivan Kholmogorov round off the groups sound. Ignea can be pronounced two ways, Ig-nea for Americans and English speakers and Ig-na for their homeland dwellers. Either way it signifies flaming or burning in the feminine sense, a woman or something similar with the male version being Igneal.
Their sound can be described as heavy melodic metal with symphonic, oriental and Egyptian-like elements with clean vocals and growls. Their first EP Sputnik was more symphonic exploring the themes of life on Mars, space and the first satellite while their first full-length The Sign of Faith has more diversity per song.
Faith’s “Alga” is their most popular song, recorded with an orchestra. The low budget, DIY video shows the players on stage intercut with the band performing in a small, bedroom-like rehearsal space. “It has almost five million views and most people discover us through this video and think we are a symphonic metal band,” Bogdanova says. They had an acquaintance working with the orchestra and the collaboration was offered.
It was their first video, “We didn’t have directors, only cameramen. We now see many mistakes but this is what brought us a big fan base so we can’t complain,” she says.
“Alga” is a great song but there’s no symphony in the future, “We don’t have any symphonic stuff on the next album. We’re playing melodic metal. This is what our music is, melodic even if it has some brutal parts. We’re not playing death or black metal although there’s one track that’s black and death metal on the next album.”
“Alga” has received fan praise and scorn, with comments saying they had external help. “I’m earning and investing in my band, I have no sponsor or parental help.” The keyboard critics always ‘know’ how to do it better.
The song “Seytanu Akbar” is their political statement on terrorism bringing them both positive and negative attention. The song’s been out for awhile, they made their statement and don’t want to pursue politics any further or be perceived as a political band. “This is not what we want to carry with our music,” she says. “There are enough bands that deal with politics. We don’t regret releasing it, what is done is done and we wanted to do it at the time.”
There’s an often ignored video disclaimer on the live version, “Not everyone reads the disclaimer and accuses us without understanding what the music is about.”
There are two versions of the video, a live version and a more abstract, lyric-video-like edition. “We didn’t want it to look like Karaoke but have a bit of animation there.” They wanted something different, thought provoking and not straight forward ending up with Salvador Dali and Picasso-like imagery.
Another album standout and video “How I Hate the Night” plays like a lullaby. The music is written by Zhytnyuk and is, “Literally, a lullaby translated into music,” he says.
It’s the most Nightwish-sounding track on the album though Bogdanova says they get compared to Lacuna Coil often and her vocals sound like Christina Scabbia’s though she doesn’t hear it, also getting Arch Enemy comparisons when she growls.
“The mixture of clean vocals and hard vocals on the next record will be 50/50,” Zhytnyuk assures.”
“Petrichor” has a folk vibe, “We have a lot of eastern vibes on the last album but “Petrichor” is special because we recorded with Yossi Sassi [formally] of Orphaned Land. He played a unique instrument called a Bouzoukitara, an instrument he made himself.”
The animated “Queen Dies” video was the first song released on the new album. They recently released a new video “Disenchantment” on the upcoming The Realms of Fire and Death, which will be a concept album, they say, with more story-telling and symbolism out April 17. “Pretty soon everyone will know what it’s about, the concept and plot behind it. I enjoyed doing the album a lot. It’s imaginative and more interesting.” Each song tells a story with the album divided into multiple parts with groups of songs progressing the story. Themes of fire and death will be examined from different perspectives. The album will come with a novel companion piece featuring stories inspired by the lyrics, with art design by Masha Goruleva.
The Realms of Fire and Death was crowd funded. Though labels like Nuclear Blast Europe are attractive options, they know they need more experience. “They know about us through different channels and they’re not approaching us. I understand why, it’s too early. I guess there’s a possibility after the next album.”
They have two tours under their belt but want and need more stage time to sharpen everything. France’s Hellfest festival is on their long term bucket list, “For me and Eugene, it’s the top festival, we’ve been there as visitors. It’s Disneyland for metal heads. I hope in a couple years.”
Their first European tour was with a thrash and death lineup. “Every night the listeners came to us and said, normally we don’t listen to your type of music but we like you and actually sold more merch than the headliners on that tour.”
It might be different if she didn’t do extreme vocals. “It brings more brutality to the music and we picked the heaviest songs. We didn’t play “Alga” on that tour,” she jokes.
Crowd reaction varies among countries and regions, “Depending on the show, I’m trying to feel the crowd,” she says. “There’s something in Europe, the crowds are very different depending on the country. Bigger crowds stand in silence, doing nothing and you want to die on stage because you think they don’t like you. Then after, everyone is coming up saying how great you are. In Spain its madness, it can be compared to shows in America.”
Originally she thought something always had to be happening in the crowd, “Now I understand they’re standing and listening to the music. It has words that are more entertaining to listen to than headbang to.”
They still go to shows as fans, though she prefers being front of the house, not mid-crowd. “The sound is the best and I can actually enjoy the show. I go to experience other artists and what they’re doing on stage. It’s part educational process for me.”
Her job as a booker changed her perspective on Ignea’s value, “I was disappointed they didn’t invite us to large festivals, now I see it as we need to climb our way up. We’re playing larger stages but until Hellfest we need to have a few more festivals to play.”
Sweden and Scandinavia are harder markets to crack, “It’s very hard to impress them for some reason,” she admits. “Finland has been our top country in terms of listeners on Spotify. They beat Mexico and Brazil and you can imagine how many people there are in Finland. It’s even more complicated to play Sweden than Hellfest.”
They say as far as the U.S. goes San Antonio, Texas is their hotbed for fanfare. “Texas, for some reason has always upped the other states, but the following in the states is 40% of our fan base.”
The music scene in the U.S. for a band abroad is very different. “Getting Visa’s is a pain in the ass and we need a lot of money to tour there.” After making greater strides in Europe they’ll consider the U.S.
Metal’s still underground in the Ukraine though it’s a free country in terms of bands expressing themselves. “There’s no problem playing metal,” Zhytnyuk says.
They’ve visited various countries in Europe for a long time but have never gone long distance to Japan, Africa, Australia, or the U.S. Zhytnyuk says a direct flight from Kiev to New York is 10 hours give or take. “The geographical center of Europe is located in Ukraine. So, it’s very far away,” she adds.
As a marketing manager she understands the metrics of promoting bands. “I also like to analysis the response of others. Even when we’re idle, the fan base is still growing. It just needs a push.” She likes the cross perspective of the business side of music and being in a band.
With YouTube, Vivo and streaming services being the MTV of this generation, Bogdanova still personally responds to YouTube comments once a week, “We’re still at the point where it’s possible.” They’re open to and appreciate constructive criticism.
Zhytnyuk agrees in direct fan interaction, “In 2020, you need to be in connection with your fans. You need to deliver lots of content these days to be a float in media.” They’re very close to their fans on social media, keeping things as personal and approachable as possible.
Fans help with promotion, “As we travel to different countries we try to arrange meetings with our followers and people happily come,” Zhytnyuk says. “They recommend local blogs, zines or papers to advertise in. We wouldn’t know anything if we sat in the Ukraine.”
Future plans include live show recording with a possible live CD or online release. The Realms of Fire and Death will also be released on Vinyl which they’re very excited about.
“Stay true to yourself and support the artists you love. Lots of bands are going DIY. Support your local scene.”
