While Russia are still in a ‘conflict’ with Ukraine (the rest of the world call it ‘war’), the music will continue as usual. Moscow based symphonic hextreme metal band BLACKTHORN will release a new single “Nightshade Crypt” on Halloween. We deplore the fact that their excellent album “Witch Cult Ternion” has no successor yet, but we are happy with a single for now. Let’s ask soprano, clean singer, and screamer Aina and her antipode, growler, and choir singer Elvira the 5 questions.
Questions by: Henk van Nieuwenhoven
The new single is called “Nightshade Crypt” and the release date is October 31st. That means it has everything to do with Halloween?
ELVIRA: “We decided it’s the best way to celebrate the band’s B-day which is also October 31st.”
Who’s peeping through the two blue window panes on the cover art?
AINA “According to the lyrics, it’s “she who dwells down in this crypt far from prying eyes…”, or to be precise, it’s a witch. Everyone believes she is dead, but she’s not. She was merely sleeping, but now she’s ready to break loose and open the blue doors actually. They are decorated with some strange iron plants looking like a mix of palm leaves (a symbol of eternal life, often used in funeral art) and nightshade flowers (a poisonous witch plant).”
What can you tell us about the lyrics? Who wrote
them? Will there be a Russian version as well?
AINA: “They tell us a tragic but beautiful story about a haunted witch house. I wrote them mostly in English and Latin which seemed to be the perfect languages for this work. As for Russian versions, it’s not gonna happen this time, but we’re already playing a song with Russian lyrics. It will be released later.”
You’ve done quite a few covers, Rammstein’s “Sonne” was the last one. Do you already have eyes on a next one?
ELVIRA: “We have some ideas, but it’s not our priority right now. First we have to finish the new album. Also we are going to record a studio version of «Господин Зеркало» (Witcher 3 “Hearts Of Stone” OST cover).”
In my humble opinion, CONFLИCT’s “Transform Into A Human” and BLACKTHORN’s “Witch Cult Ternion” are the two best female fronted metal albums ever coming from Russian soil. When will yours have a sequel?
ELVIRA: “Thank you. We are at the mixing stage of our 4th album, and it’s a new chapter of our musical travel. With every album we discover new realities. So, the single “Nightshade Crypt” actually foreshadows the release of the new album.”
AINA: “…that will most likely happen in 2025 according to our label. Hope you’ll enjoy it!”