Post-Black Metal and Blackgaze from Ukraine. Scene overview

We’re revisiting the stories of 13 iconic Ukrainian bands that represent post-black metal on our scene.

Post-Black Metal is a subgenre of black metal that gained active development in the mid-2000s. A new wave of bands appeared that began to change the canons of classic raw black metal. They added post-rock elements, shoegaze, ambient texture, and atypical atmospheric and melodic qualities. This is how post-black metal was formed - a trend that quickly grew into an independent phenomenon.

If we consider the Ukrainian scene, then, of course, the most famous representatives of post-black metal in our country and the world are White Ward from Odesa, which we have already talked about in another article. However, there are many more representatives of this subgenre among our musicians, and in this research material, we will guide you through the history and geography of music projects that have managed to develop and bring something new to our black metal scene.

Old Silver Key

This side project-collaboration between Drudkh and Neige (Alcest, Amesoeurs) was formed in 2010. After Drudkh's album "A Handful of Stars" (in which Drudkh moved to a calmer, more melodic side of black metal, with a significant influence of post-rock), the band decided to continue experimenting with this sound further, as part of a new project - Old Silver Key.

The first instrumental demo was released the same year and contained two songs. The release was independently released in a limited edition on cassette.

The band's debut and only album "Tales of Wanderings" was released in 2011 via Season of Mist on CD and vinyl.

The release was also supported by an animated video for the song "Burnt Letters".

In 2012, the label announced that Andy Marshall (SAOR) had joined the project as a second vocalist and composer, and that work on the second album had begun. However, in the end, Andy never joined the band and, unfortunately, the new material never saw the light of day.

In 2023, Drudkh returned to the legacy of Old Silver Key and released the Herbarium/Old Silver Key split "Secrets Untold". The release features 4 instrumental demos of Old Silver Key recorded during a rehearsal in 2010. The split was released on CD via Darker Than Black, and later on vinyl via the Spanish label Abstract Emotions.

The second part of the split is the debut and only EP of Herbarium's project "Shepherd of Winds". This project was also created by the members of Drudkh in 2014, with Roman Sayenko on vocals (you can even hear clean vocals). As the name suggests, Herbarium was inspired by nature, and the musical component can be described as melodic post-black metal.

Subsequently, in 2017, the Herbarium project transformed into another one - Windswept, which pleases with releases to this day. The lineup remained the same, but the music and presentation became faster and more aggressive. 

Sauroctonos

Sauroctonos was formed in 2005 in Cherkasy and Odesa by Nick Kushnir and Yurii Ciel. The first recording was made in 2009, "All Turns To Ashes" - a pure black metal album, but it was never officially released. Later the band expanded their style, experimenting with sound and mood, and also added elements of post-metal, acoustic guitars and electronics to their music.

The first public album "Our Cold Days Are Still Here When The Lights Are Out" was released in 2012.

In 2013, a split with White Ward and SILENCE OF THE OLD MAN was released, on which Sauroctonos was represented by the composition "Nell".

After a long silence, in 2020, Sauroctonos pleased fans with the announcement of work beginning on a new release and added some details:

"The new album will last approximately 45 minutes and will gather under one roof the same creative team that worked on 'Our Cold Days Are Still Here When The Lights Are Out': guitarist and vocalist Nick Kushnir, drummer Yurii Ciel, as well as guest contributors responsible for synthesizer arrangements and final mix. This time the band offers a more aggressive and energetic sound with light echoes of post-punk. At the same time, the album will remain within the framework of post-black metal - a genre that the musicians feel closest to themselves."

So we eagerly await the continuation of Sauroctonos' musical journey.

GreyAblaze

The Kharkiv-based post-black metal project GreyAblaze was formed in 2013 by Astargh from Elderblood and Necrom, and also features drummer Odalv (Elderblood, KZOHH, Ulvegr) and guitarist Helg (KZOHH, Khors, Ulvegr). The band recorded its self-titled debut album in 2013.

"GreyAblaze is my project, in which my friends from the above mentioned bands help me. There was no idea for it either, there was a certain state of mind that influenced the mood of the material. Helg wrote the lyrics. Odalv recorded the drums," - the musician told Noizr.

"All the lyrics for the album were written by Helg (Khors, Ulvegr, KZOHH). There were no references or concepts in them, but they are filled with very expressive images that emphasized Greyablaze's music." - Astargh added in an interview with the AGAINST THE FRAGMENTAIRE blog.

Before the official album release, the band managed to present their program at a concert in their native Kharkiv. The debut release appeared only 3 years later, in 2016, thanks to the efforts of the Ukrainian label Ashen Dominion.

”I didn't want to give it to anyone indiscriminately, all the offers to produce the album were unsuitable. Ashen Dominion did everything I wanted, so they released the album." - this is how the project's author explained the delay in release.

The physical release was in the form of a six-panel digipak CD.The band was also announced as participants of the already iconic Kharkiv festival Nove Kolo in 2021, but the festival itself did not take place that year due to the pandemic.

In 2023, the band's Facebook page posted a video of a rehearsal for a new track and a message about preparations for a new recording, so we hope to hear new atmospheric material from GreyAblaze. 

Nuitville

Nuitville is a one-man blackgaze project from Mariupol, created by the artist and musician Tristan Nuit in 2012.

"Nuitville is a place where the Night comes to us..." - this is how the author explained the title in **an interview for Occult Black Metal Zine.

The performer dedicated his first (and so far the only) EP "When The Darkness Falls", released in 2019, to the Night as a living phenomenon, a cradle of peace and inspiration.

The EP contains 2 original compositions and a cover of the legendary French band Amesoeurs.

"The idea of creating the release and, in fact, the real start of work on it was in 2012, but the final versions of the songs were recorded in 2015-2018," - the musician told Neformat.

Tristan Nuit is also the author of the EP's cover artwork. It released on the Ukrainian label Ashen Dominion in a digital version, as well as on CD. Later, in 2020, it was also released on cassette by the Indonesian label HARSH PRODUCTIONS. 

Inner Suffering

The studio one-man band project Inner Suffering was created by SadVoice in 2014.

"The main inspirations for creativity are Heretoir, An Autumn For Crippled Children, Lifelover, Karg, Miserere Luminis, Griefloss, Downfall Of Gaia, and tons of things not related to black metal." - comments the musician on his Bandcamp page.

Initially, the project was conceived as depressive black metal (as the author was most inspired by the Swedish band Lifelover - you can read more in our interview), but quite quickly the musical direction of Inner Suffering changed more towards blackgaze and post-black metal with admixtures of other genres.

Currently, the project's extensive discography includes 29 EPs and 29 full-length albums, the last of which is called "Old Wounds III: Violent Emotions" and was released in 2023.

SadVoice also has other interesting and diverse projects: in the rivers bleak (post metal, inspired by Downfall Of Gaia and Fall Of Efrafa), Ancient Hostility (black metal), Absence of Joy (post rock/post punk), Apathetic Grief (dark ambient), Shadowed Silhouette (dark jazz/embient), The Dark Portal (dark ambient/drone) and Cycle of Self (ambient/drone).

N█O

N█O was founded in 2015 in Kyiv by musicians of other metal bands. Their debut album "Adrestia" was released in 2017 via Throats Productions (Mexico). Each composition interprets the post-black metal sound in its own way, offering different approaches to the genre, but all tracks are united by a sense of despair and hopeless anger at the world and humanity.

The band's debut performance took place on February 17, 2018 in Kyiv, as part of the Winter Solitude Evening event.

Subsequently, N█O gave another performance in the capital, and also took part in the Ynfest festival in Slovakia. After that, the musicians decided to focus on studio work and in the fall of 2019, with the help of Bloodred Distribution, released the EP "Isolates".

The EP contains two tracks written after the completion of their debut album. These tracks demonstrate another facet of the band's sound, diving even deeper into black and post-metal territories, leading the listener in an even more desperate and hopeless direction. 

The second full-length album is titled "Fallen" and was released in 2021. As the musicians note on their Bandcamp page,

"Fallen is a 43-minute journey through dark and desolate soundscapes. The musicians' goal was to create a sonically diverse, yet uncompromisingly depressing and destructive experience. To the already familiar foundation of black and post-metal, they added elements from progressive, doom and even groove metal.

The lyrics of the album's six tracks plunge even deeper into feelings of disappointment, despair, and self-loathing."

Currently, the project's activities are on hold, as some of the members are involved in the mysterious project They Came From Visions, which we've told you about earlier.

Three Eyes of the Void

Three Eyes of the Void is a post-black metal band founded as a studio solo project of Ukrainian musician Dmytro Kvashnin.

The band's debut EP "The Moment of Storm" (2017) was recorded with Oleksandr Ksyarum (drums) and released via Diabolus Productions. The material was produced by Oleh "Olgerd" Rubanov, the musician of the Ukrainian band Kroda, also known for his collaboration with 1914, for whom he mixed and produced several releases.

After the release of his debut EP, Dmytro began working on a full-length release, but later stopped the recording session and left the album. Due to the inability to form a live lineup, the band faded into the shadows for several years.

The situation changed in 2021 when Dmytro visited Poland. In Gdansk, he met Arkadiusz Niziolek and Marcin Urban, former members of the Polish underground legend Sacrilegium. Later, Jakub Milszewski, the bassist of Perpetual, joined the band. It was with this lineup that Three Eyes of the Void returned to work on their debut album.

At the beginning of 2023, the band presented its first single after a long pause - "Against the One", inspired by the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, against the backdrop of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war. The band started giving live shows and signed a contract with Folter Records.

In 2023, the band also released a full-length album "The Atheist" - more than 40 minutes of atmospheric black metal that explores the theme of "the death of God and mortality" - a well-known philosophical concept of Friedrich Nietzsche. The lyrics focus on the inner conflict of a person between belief in God and the desire for enlightenment, with the denial of the idea of a conscious creator. The lyrics reflect the helplessness and confusion of a person who, having realized the absence of God, begins to perceive himself as another artifact of entropy.

According to the band's press release:

"In "The Atheist", the band repeatedly goes beyond black metal, integrating the space of progressive sound and the viscous heaviness and gloom of post-metal into the music. All of this is enveloped in a dark, melancholic and bitter atmosphere that only enhances the feeling of despair and hopelessness of human existence.

Three Eyes of the Void embarks on an existential journey to prove that reconciliation with one's weaknesses may be the only way out for those who are looking for answers to the questions - who am I and why am I?"

The album also features musicians from the already known Ukrainian bands N█O and White Ward. Currently, the band continues to actively perform and participate in European festivals.

Along Memories

Along Memories is a Ukrainian atmospheric post-black metal/blackgaze project founded by Stanislav Tereshchenko in Dnipro in 2019.
Among the bands that influenced his work, the author mentions the Swedes Lifelover and Hypothermia. The music on the releases is dedicated to various melancholic aspects of life - loneliness, melancholy, and nostalgia for lost times.

For example, as Stanislav commented on the concept of the album "Inne":

"It's a nature atmosphere with a touch of memories of times that can't be returned. It was 2015-2017. Those were special times for me. Each track is associated with different moments and events of those times."

Аnd the EP "Insomnia":

"With this release, we wanted to convey the atmosphere when a person is left alone with his or her negative thoughts and painful memories and the atmosphere of the night, because at night the world is completely different," Stanislav told our media in a comment.

The project has released several full-length albums, EPs, and several splits. Along Memories' latest release is a split with the famous American artist Sadness called "Springnight moment". 

pušča

The pušča (”forest”) formation was founded in Lviv in 2019. On February 16 of that year, the band gave their first performance in their hometown and immediately attracted attention with atmospheric music, performance, and French-language lyrics, which are unusual for our scene. The members also remained anonymous to focus listeners and viewers on the music and atmosphere.

After their successful debut, the band continued to give concerts in Lviv, and later in other cities, such as Khmelnytsky and Odesa.
The first official and long-awaited recording, the single "rêve éternel," was released in the summer of 2020.

"This is another attempt to write for different situations, for different influences of dreams, words of a traveler (passerby), focusing on the emotionality of the narrative, trying to cross the equator of the event, closing gestalts and pouring what I experienced into the diary experience of a fictional experience to get the "flesh" of this vibe. It's about the shit that happens and how you become a gourmet over time," - this is how Seira (vocals) described the concept of the track.

A few months later, in the fall, pušča pleased their fans with their second single "Grandir", which was released as part of a split with the Khmelnytsky streaming band René Maheu. The song was also later filmed for a music video directed and edited by Stepan Burban. 

In the summer of 2021, pušča released the English-language double single "headlights / I left my home", which pleasantly surprised listeners with an unexpectedly softened sound and more clean vocals.

This year also turned out to be very busy for the band - they managed to give many concerts, including their first performance in the capital and appearances at the Faine Misto, Back To Youth, PHANTASM FEST and Kazka Fest festivals.

In mid-February 2022, the band presented a new release - the French-language EP "éphémère", which included the first single "rêve éternel", two unreleased songs, as well as a cover of the song "Svarthamar" by Icelandic composer Ben'a Petur (which is also the soundtrack to the Icelandic film Metalhead (Málmhaus) (2013)). 

The day after the full-scale invasion began, pušča released a charity double single "war is hell", all proceeds from which went to the Come Back Alive Foundation.

The latest work of this underground phenomenon is the Ukrainian-language song "Lullaby", which released in August 2022.

After 2022, pušča stopped releasing new material and giving live performances. However, there was no official announcement of the band's disbandment, so fans do not give up hope that the band will resume its activities in the future. 

Mortui Vultus

This post black metal/blackgaze band was founded in 2022 in Odesa. The musicians interpret the name "Mortui Vultus" as "dead look".

Initially, the project was conceived as a Depressive Black Metal band, but the new members gradually expanded the genre palette.
After a little shake-up with the lineup, the band presented their material to the audience at the first concert in their native Odesa. The audience warmly welcomed the band, so the first recordings were not long in coming and the following year the debut single "Existential flux" was released. 

The second single was "Broken Bed", which was recorded by Fedir (Hellenic Blue, Superflat and Juntama). The band also began to actively perform and visit more and more Ukrainian cities, fueling interest in the release of their first full-length album. And so, in January 2025, it finally saw the light of day and was named "Distant Echoes”. 

"This album is entirely and completely connected to the war. We wrote and recorded it to the sound of air raids and explosions, and this album was influenced by various events, including the deaths of our friends in the war. It's about existentialism. It's a whirlwind of internal emotions, when from the outside you seem to be calm, as if you have already accepted a reality that is simply impossible to accept" - the musicians told Neformat.

Mortui Vultus presented the album live as part of a tour that covered Vinnytsia, Dnipro, Poltava, Kyiv, Khmelnytskyi, Lviv, and Ivano-Frankivsk.
This year, the band also performed for the second time at the Dark Stage of the Faine Misto festival. 

Sumakh

The Chernihiv-based post/atmospheric black metal band Sumakh was founded in the fall of 2022. Initially, the lineup consisted of guitarist Tymophiy, vocalist Andriy, and drummer Kyrylo. Later, they were joined by bassist Olexandr and second guitarist Yevhen.

The band's first official release was "Live@SoulPub" (2024), a recording of a performance at the Soul Pub in Chernihiv, where most of their repertoire was performed. 

The very next year, the guys released the single "Ruins" and the double single "Acceptance & Last cry", fueling interest in their debut full-length album. It is titled "Brink of Existence" and was released in June this year.

"The album was created during a period of searching for ourselves and our own sound. The first songs we rehearsed with were later rejected. We left only those tracks that stood the test of time and live performances. We started recording when we already had a stable and full lineup - when everyone could contribute their vision to the overall creativity of the band.

Mykhailo Andronati, the guitarist of Labirinthus Stellarum (about whom we previously talked in this material), helped us create the sound. His contribution has become an important part of the "Brink of Existence" sound (thanks to his meticulous work, we can hear exactly the sound that our full-length release has).

But our searches and experiments are not over yet. We are just at the beginning of our journey and believe that the next stage of our work will show us from new sides - both musically and conceptually. The lyrics are mostly depressive and gloomy. This is due to both the outbreak of a full-scale war and personal experiences, crises, and the search for one's place in the world. All of this is reflected in the lyrics - they are about fatigue, loss of meaning, and internal struggle. But we don't want to focus only on the dark. Now we are gradually changing our focus - the new material will have a completely different concept," - the musicians comment.

The band actively performs live, so don't miss their concert in your city.

Auratom

Behind the solo atmospheric post black metal project Auratom is an anonymous professional musician and producer from Kyiv, who has been practicing this craft for over 15 years. The project's first EP "Stream of Eternity" was released in 2022.

The debut album "Kamenari" was released this year. Here's how the musician told Neformat about the album's concept:

"If the first EP 'Stream of Eternity' (2022) was a kind of mediator between worlds, a mantra, to be honest, a journey back and forth, then 'Kamenari' is a different kind of album. The album cover features stone people who are the center of the story. This refers to the poetry of Ivan Franko, who has a poem of the same name. Based on it, I wrote seven compositions about strong-minded people."

The performer recorded all the instrumental parts himself at his own studio, and he also created the cover art for the album.

"These compositions are about inner freedom, and about freedom of choice and existence. About people who struggle, sometimes with nothing but hope. About people who have become unfree, like stones without emotions and feelings, but have not lost hope of seeing the light and the sky... behind the stone walls where they find themselves. The walls will fall. Inside each of them is a heart. And there is a heart inside each of us."

In August, Auratom presented its new EP "Novaera", which premiered on the YouTube channel Black Metal Promotion.

MACHUKHA

The next band, although formed in Berlin (Germany), has bright Ukrainian roots. You can read more about this in our interview with vocalist Natalia Androsova.

The project was founded by Ukrainians - vocalist Natalia and guitarist Ilya, together with musicians they met in Germany.
MACHUKHA started performing live at the end of 2023 and is still an active live band. Their music combines elements of post-black metal, blackened hardcore, and punk. Singing exclusively in Ukrainian, Natalia uses her voice as an outlet for real longing.MACHUKHA invites the listener to acknowledge their pain, to grieve, to accept acceptance, and ultimately to come out stronger.

The diverse backgrounds of the band members contribute to the creative process, which aims to express the shared experience of supporting humanity in a harsh world. 

MACHUKHA debut album "Mochari" released in 2024 via the famous Belgian label Consouling Sounds and attracted the attention of dark music listeners across Europe.

During the work on the release, the musicians worked with Jan Oberg from Hidden Planet Studio (Downfall of Gaia, The Ocean) and Jack Shirley from The Atomic Garden Studios (Deafheaven, Amenra, Wiegedood).

In support of the album, the band also released atmospheric music videos, which together form a continuous story of this idea.

For this short film, Natalia designed modernized traditional Ukrainian costumes and together with Blatin (guitar) they developed a script. The band actively participates in local festivals and also managed to play their first tour in the UK, together with the American band Agriculture. 

Sobacha Ploscha

The Sobacha Ploscha project is quite fresh and emerged only a few months ago.

The author is an unknown Ukrainian musician with previous experience playing in other bands, who creates and records all the material himself at home.

The first recordings of the EP "Stezka" are very intriguing, as they combine post-black metal and prog-rock and sound quite interesting and unusual for our scene.

Currently, only three tracks are available for listening, but the author plans to add to this EP as more material accumulates.

 

By the way, after reading our article, we also recommend that you read this material about the formation of blackgaze in Europe and the United States.

The information in this article is taken from open sources and the website metal-archives. Special thanks to the musicians who helped create the material.