METALLIAN - Die Entweihung

Осквернение - 2008 - Satanarsa
Hypnotic Dreams - 2008 - Smell The Stench
The Hallucinations - 2010 - Brise-Cul
5 Circles Of Loneliness - 2012 - Cvlminis
At The Bottom - 2012 - This Winter Will Last Forever
The Cage - 2013 - Chupacabra
Neverending Terrorism - 2015 - Zombie Records Israhell Division
The Worst Is Yet To Come - 2018 - More Hate
Kings & Pawns - 2021 - Wings Of Destruction
Strict Regime Country - 2022 - Witches Brew

Members

Vocals

HERR ENTWEIHERR [DENIS TERESCHENKO]

Guitar

HERR ENTWEIHERR [DENIS TERESCHENKO]

Bass

HERR ENTWEIHERR [DENIS TERESCHENKO]

Drum

Keyboard

HERR ENTWEIHERR [DENIS TERESCHENKO]

History & Biography

Led by a man born in Russia, raised in Belarus and migrated to Israel in 2004, 'the desecration' was born in May 2007. Herr Entweiherr, who later would begin using his civil name, oriented the solo act to black metal, then Burzum and then to more melodic realms with Middle Eastern melodies. The musician often uses guest musicians and has been vocal about the political situation in Belarus where the Russian puppet and despot rules the land maiming and torturing the citizens.

Die Entweihung and The Last Nail, which contained the track Satan's Girlfriend (Avril Lavigne), were early 2007 demos. The Canadian singer was married to Sum 41 singer Deryck Whibley at this time. The man was in the Israeli military for 2008 and 2009, but soldiered on with his music. The lyrics were Russian again at this stage something that would revert to English later. One Shot In April was a very limited cassette single in 2014. It was dedicated to Nirvana's leader Kurt Cobain. Despair Division: A Tribute To Joy Division was a full-length that came in the same year. Still in that productive year came The Last Shelter EP.

Run by Denis, Zombie Records Israhell Division was a subdivision of the Russian Zombie Records.

Reviews

DIE ENTWEIHUNG - NEVERENDING TERRORISM - ZOMBIE RECORDS ISRAHELL DIVISION
The Israel-based solo act is about diversity. The man, named Denis Tereschenko, is in Israel, was born in Belarus, has a German monicker and an English album and majority English song titles. The album title, at the very least, tells one that the man has a few things on his mind if the album’s cover was not clear enough. That artwork does not discriminate either. In short though it was difficult to imagine what the music would be like, but it certainly is varied. What did not dawn on me three or four spins of this CD in was that the album is from 2015. Either the illustrious editor held on to it for eight years before handing it to me or the postal service has become as reliable as a Tesla.
Overarchingly this CD’s compositions are played simply. There are catchy parts, brutal parts, slow parts, loads of instrumental parts and everything else. This being a solo effort the overly synthetic drum machine is all we get. The extended intro feeds into a melodic bit that is underground. The gruff vocals have emotion behind them. They switch to clean vocals five minutes in and, because the experiment is unsuccessful, are not heard of again. Presumably, this and several medlies are what Die Entweihung means by Middle Eastern melodies. That out of his system quickly, the rest of the album is full of simple structures and rudimentary soloing, but the band is at its best when it goes full throttle with intensity. Such as at the beginning of 9 11 - 24 7, a song that struts out the non-metal instrumentation right after sadly. Yet, it is the same song that reverts to brutality like a less technical Death and Pestilence. Yes, indeed, varied. As much as the vocals are absent often this song is dominated by the singing. Longlife Suffering is an instrumental that, kid you not, is like Scorpions and its Holiday. This one is followed by God’s Green Name with its instrumental beginning and whispers.It is slow and doomy. Smartphone Man goes heavy again, but is inhibited by the annoying keyboards. The chaotic vocals are adrift from the music.
Soft parts, heavy parts, intensity, relaxing segments, a message or two and lengthy lyrics. Die Entweihung circa 2015. - Anna Tergel

DIE ENTWEIHUNG - STRICT REGIME COUNTRY - WITCHES BREW
As of 2023, Strict Regime Country is the latest album and solo vehicle of Herr Entweiherr and a better effort than his 2015 record, which was given the review whirl by my stereo recently too.
It was not difficult to figure out that the man is political and has strong opinions on that album. Not that it was strictly needed, but this time he makes it even more clear by spelling it out in the disc’s booklet. This album’s lyrics aim at the Belarussian president who, in spite of his title, is a dictator and a Russian puppet too. Right-wing despots everywhere hate to give up power and this man is one of the worst transgressors around.
Musically, this record has a sharper guitar sound, yet the overall style is less extreme. The songs are still simple as far as structures and instrumentation go, but things are perhaps a bit more layered however. The drum machine too is still obvious, but again a bit less artificial sounding although the ‘cymbal’ sound suffers badly. Overall, for those who have heard the band previously, Strict Regime Country is hardly commercial music, yet the extremeness is being displaced.
Some Kind Of Independence is an instrumental, but at four and a half minutes it is hardly an intro. I have observed that solo acts drift often into instrumentals for obvious reasons and Die Entweihung is not an exception. As mentioned, the title for the track adds to that overall opinionated and political feeling, which is cool. What does the man think about the crimes of his new homeland though? One Of Us (not a Kreator cover version and neither is the song Yesterday from later in the CD) is a surprise. It is the band on its musical journey, but the extreme vocals come in and sound like Carcass in their raspiness. Well, that is a surprise. Taking another peek at the credits the vocals are handled by and handed to some guy called Serpent from Turkey. Powerful voice. Not bad. Not bad at all. On top of that there are banshee female vocals courtesy of another guest here. Mayhem Of The Doomed may be the best song here. It has a good structure and a better bridge. The vocals are furiously rendered and the song has pace to it. Their Own Tragic 9-11 surprisingly is an instrumental. The title screams for lyrics. White Red White Genocide refers to the old Belarussian flag. The female vocals return and add a layer. As a fan of metal I don’t like them, but for Die Entweihung they do add a needed level atop the simple music. Not sure if that is a cello or violin on Yesterday, but ouch. The title track is again indicative that the band is mellowing. There are female vocals, acoustic guitars and a tonal and stylistic change. Even without the duet the start of this track is quite rock and pop. The melody and the vocals are similarly pop and, what is this, a saxophone and flute even if for a moment? Nooooooo!
That is the summary of the album. It is better than the older album and certainly richer, but less extreme and less metal sadly. My vote still is that this is a good place to start when looking into the band. Begin here and go backwards. - Anna Tergel

Interviews

Denis a.k.a. Herr Entweiherr is Die Entweihung is Denis a.k.a Herr Entweiherr. The man contacted Metallian in order to have his music reviewed within the pages with the latest album being Strict Regime Country of 2022. Subsequently, Ali “The Metallian'' invited the man to a conversation, which the musician was happy to take on. Fortunately, for the readers, Denis was happy to delve into detail. The conversation was recorded by Metallian Towers’ serfs and transcribed subsequently - 24.06.2023

METALLIAN: Denis, Die Entweihung has been delivering music to the scene for well over a decade. Yet, the act remains nothing but an underground one. Could you give our readers the long version of the band's history?
DENIS: Ali, thank-you for the opportunity to be introduced to the readers of Metallian. Yes, really, Die Entweihung is still a deeply underground act, as are many other projects and bands around the world. Mainstream or ‘famous underground’ don't have space for all the bands, you know... Well, the long version (smiles)... usually people are asking about the short one, but let's do it long. Die Entweihung started in 2007, as a one-man project. It was the period when I was completely obsessed by raw depressive black metal stuff, some true black, et cetera. So the early demos and albums were created mostly within this style. During a couple of years I recorded and released, on different small labels, two demos, Die Entweihung and The Last Nail, both in 2007, plus the first album Desecration in 2008. A couple of months before my military recruitment, I recorded another album, Hypnotic Dreams, which would be probably the most hated one for you as it has many Burzum Filosofem elements including a lot of ambient keyboards. It was also released in 2008. It may seem strange that so much material was recorded in such a short time, but in fact, at that time I devoted all my free time, and there was plenty of it back then, to playing the guitar and writing music and lyrics. Of course, now those records seem naive and wildly lo-fi because I had neither the experience nor the skills to record and mix music. But there was a great desire. I have to say that neither then, nor even now, I understand bands that work on the same material for years remaking and rewriting each note, each sound 666 times, trying to achieve some kind of super quality for their music.
During my military service, I was able to go home only on weekends so the activity related to writing music noticeably decreased, but nevertheless in 2010 the album The Hallucinations was released and in 2011 came the album At The Bottom, with artwork by German project Todesstoss’ mastermind Martin Lang who is absolutely a genius, man. For some time there was an opportunity for me to use a laptop and music programs at our base so a certain amount of purely electronic material was impromptu invented, which eventually came out as the album, 5 Circles Of Loneliness. It probably can be labelled as something close to dungeon synth or cosmic ambient in style. After leaving the military service in 2011, I had more time to work on new music. From experimental work I moved more towards a more structured style… stylistically my music began to move further away from black metal towards heavy, doom and thrash metal, but production was still within the framework of black metal, no longer lo-fi, but nevertheless, still within the standards of black metal. So in 2013 another album, The Cage, was released. Then another experimental project happened, a tribute to the English post-punk band Joy Division. I got the idea to record covers of their songs, but in such a way that it seemed like every, or almost every, song was performed by another group. The material was eventually released in 2014 under the title of Despair Division - Tribute To Joy Division Performed By Die Entweihung. The next album Neverending Terrorism was released in 2015. With this album, a new direction was finally formed, with hard 'n' heavy as the musical basis and the lyrics became more social and close to reality. It contained notes about what is happening in the world, not only in the context of wars, but also Internet and telephone addiction, et cetera. Then I began to sign everywhere with my real name and on the next album The Worst Is Yet To Come of 2018 the logo also changed so I wanted to update the concept of the project as much as possible. This album is notable for the strong influence of Middle Eastern melodies. I began to actively introduce the bouzouki instrument into the music. The logical continuation became the album Kings & Pawns of 2021 where for the first time I have guests on the album. The newest album Strict Regime Country was released in late 2022, again with guests and, for me, it's the most completed work to date, but I think we may talk about it in more detail later. Not sure that I can provide any little known facts, most of what I told is not really a secret.

METALLIAN: The detail is appreciated, Denis. I used to write back and forth with Euronymous of Mayhem and Kristian of Old Funeral and later Bruzum who both turned out to be juvenile hormone-ridden teens, phoney and bona fide losers.Did you ever receive a reaction from Joy Division for the cover versions?
DENIS: No, never, but it is quite logical. Firstly, over the years this band has acquired the status of a real cult and there were, perhaps, no less tributes to them than tributes to Bathory or Burzum. Secondly, when the publishing label and I cleared the rights to release the tribute on cassette in 2014, we had to sweat a lot, because as it turned out, the rights to the Joy Division catalogue belong to one of the majors, like Sony or Warner Music, I don’t remember exactly, and the musicians themselves have long been out of this business.

METALLIAN: Returning to Die Entweihung, in a related question, could you discuss your motivations. What energises you?
DENIS: In fact, the answer is simple: music has been my passion since childhood and it doesn't matter in what form. I love to listen, I love to play; I love to compose. For about ten years I also wrote for two printed fanzines or magazines. If I was doing music from the position of ‘if I wouldn't have fans, I'll give up,’ I would have given up on it at the very beginning when I was 18 or 19 years old. Therefore, I can’t not make music. It’s a kind of motor for my life. If we talk about inspiration, I am mainly inspired by the music that I listen to at a certain moment in time, so listening to one or the other of my albums you can quite hear some references from different styles, bands or elements of the sound of a particular band. In the beginning I was inspired by raw black metal and other dark things like Pink Floyd's The Wall. I listen a lot to some prog rock bands now and, for example, I don't listen to black metal at all except for certain favourite albums that have stayed with me through the years. The influence of Middle Eastern melodies came mainly from my obsession with certain Orphaned Land albums. I could cite more examples, but I think the point is clear.

METALLIAN: What were the names of the magazines you wrote for?
DENIS: For about ten years I wrote for a Russian fanzine, which was originally called Rock Prospeсt and later renamed to Hellz Zine. Its boss is a real metal enthusiast, dude under the pseudonym Tiran, from the thrash metal band of the same name. Also, during a downtime of several years, away from the aforementioned fanzine, the opportunity came up to write reviews and do interviews for the Ukrainian magazine Atmosfear. Now Atmosfear has been put on hold for obvious reasons, although to be honest, even before the war, I just helped with translations and other stuff more than I wrote something myself. Hellz Zine is now more of a web page in social media, but sometimes some material is printed as a Hellz Letter and sent as a bonus to anyone who orders some metal stuff from the fanzine’s boss. Beside the fanzine and the band Tiran also owns Wings Of Destruction label and distro.

METALLIAN: Staying with your track record, why would the band be originally from Belarus, have a German name, be based in Israel and have titles and lyrics in English?
DENIS: Well, I love multiculturalism (laughs). Okay, seriously, the band is originally from Israel, but I am originally from Belarus. Different sites present the information not really exactly as it is so let's do it here. I was born in Russia, but when I was one year old my family moved to Belarus and that's where I lived until 2004 when we moved to Israel. And the project was created in 2007, three years after my move.
It’s even easier with the name. When I was looking for a name for the project, something related to ‘Desecration’ was spinning in my head. For me, black metal then, and still, was associated with the rejection of established rules and I initially decided that within my project, I will do what I want and it does not matter if it is "right" for the listeners or ‘sympathisers.’ It was something like ‘desecration of the existing rules and standards.’ As a result, having gone through all the English variants that mean ‘desecration,’ I could not stop at a single one because already even then in 2007 there were bands with all these names around the world. I believe that now there are many more of them! I still wanted something more original. As a result, I decided to turn to the German language. I studied it in a Belarusian school for eight years plus one of my favourite black metal bands was a duo from Russia called Der Gerwelt. The name is not really right in terms of German grammar, but at that time I didn't know about that. So I decided it would be cool to pay tribute to my ‘past’ life and one of my favourite bands. Well, the lyrics and titles… in the early years I wrote both in Russian and English. I write only in English now. These are the only languages that I speak at a sufficient level to normally express my thoughts in poetic form.

METALLIAN: Indeed, Denis. Bands have no personality any longer and simply pick a warmed over name that has been used multiple times. It is a function of a lack of personality and overabundance of bands. Taking a step back, why are we speaking? Metallian Towers inhabitants are fans of heavy metal. Die Entweihung incorporates Middle Eastern melodies, keyboards, violin, et cetera as you just referenced.
DENIS: I understand what you're getting at, but my point-of-view has the right to exist, as well as yours. My point is that heavy metal, and heavy music in general, is not something that is closed to everything that is not included in the standard instrumentation i.e. guitar, bass and drums. From the earliest years of this music, bands have been experimenting with the use of keyboards and other instruments - everyone knows who I'm talking about - and no one has told them that ‘they're doing something wrong because it's not heavy metal anymore.’ Specifically, instruments like the saxophone or flute are more of a prog rock influence for me. Think about King Crimson and Van Der Graaf Generator. So as for me, all these instruments are an addition and a development for metal music and in no way claiming to make this music more pop or somehow vulgar. But you can call my band just rock 'n' roll and have accidentally landed on the pages of the site (laughs heartily).

METALLIAN: There is a demarcation between heavy rock, hard rock and metal, and even progressive rock which you brought up. That is why they have different titles for different styles. There is a difference between opinion and definitions. For example, I may claim my bicycle is a car, but without an engine and a cab it is not a car just because someone likes to think he owns a car. Nonetheless, Denis, one of the hallmarks of the Die Entweihung is overt political advocacy. This is cool for a number of reasons, which is something we applaud. Could you elaborate however?
DENIS: Apparently, you made such a conclusion based on the theme of my new album and a couple of lyrics from the album Neverending Terrorism. I have never been a person who was interested in politics in any way. For me, everything related to politics is dirty and, just like any religion, I believe that it is primarily aimed at stuffing one's own pockets with money and nothing else. The fate of people is the last concern for politicians and religious figures. Those lyrics, where something political is discussed, is just a part of what I sing about. As I said earlier, the subject of the lyrics of the latest albums is my vision of what is happening in the world, be it war, terrorism, religious fanaticism or zombification of people by modern gadgets that will soon destroy everything human in us. So, I can hardly call myself some kind of propagandist or something. My only propaganda is ‘Live as you want and let live for others’ and freedom is the highest value for a person.

METALLIAN: With that said, and on the flip side, one of the worst aspects of this planet is hypocrisy. That is, people who talk, but do not adhere to the same principles they espouse. People talking about art and how money is evil, but fighting over money. Americans talking about democracy and funding their friends in Egypt or wherever. Religious authorities preaching modesty, but wearing lavish robes and living in grand structures. The examples are endless. And you sit in Israel which occupies and suppresses the Palestinians. Comment?
DENIS: Yes, you are right, what can be added here? Hypocrisy is part of human nature. A person always does what is beneficial to him and often the concept of ‘one’s own principles’ is nothing more than another side of the benefit to a particular person. I don't know what to really comment about the "I sit in Israel which occupies and suppresses the Palestinians"... Yes, I sit. Specifically, in my case, I have never been a fan of Israel or Judaism. At the time when we decided to move to Israel from Belarus, I had already been in Israel twice and perfectly understood all the disadvantages of this place. A year before the move, I began to have serious eye problems, as a result of which I completely lost sight in one eye. Two operations in Belarus did not help and, in fact, made it even worse. There was an opportunity to move to Israel and try to cure my eyesight. At that time the myth of the ‘miracle medicine of Israel’ was too strong. That's why we went. The miracle did not happen. They did not save my eyesight, but there was no point in going back either. There were no prospects for a normal life in Belarus. As time has shown, we would have left anyway because every year Belarus is turning into an increasingly greater hell. Now for me, Israel is neither a homeland nor a home, rather it is a forced measure or a way out. I am practically not interested in politics and social problems within the country and the problems between Arabs and Jews are other people's problems for me if you know what I mean. Therefore, I can not form any specific opinion about the conflict between Arabs and Jews because there are too many inconsistencies and incomprehensible moments in the whole story - especially many of them are based on the stories from Bible or Koran. Based on what both sides say, this place should belong to both Jews and Arabs. And yes, returning to your question... I think if Israel was really such an aggressor as Mr. Waters, and other figures, make it out to be, for example, then the Palestinians would not have the opportunity to work here, Israel would not supply and would not accept goods from and to Palestine and the Arabs living in Israel would have been sent outside long ago.

METALLIAN: Firstly, the Bible and Koran are stories of great length and masterpieces of fiction along the lines of The Lord Of The Rings. Mythical entertainment that billions have taken to heart and others use for personal benefit including for personal enrichment, which you alluded to. The Palestinians are being used as Americans use the migrant Latinos, but with the difference being that the Palestinians are under military occupation. They are cheap labour that remain either non-citizens or second class at best. Every colonial ruler uses cheap labour. Just yesterday Israeli cabinet Minister Of National Security, Itamar Bin-Gvir got behind a microphone and openly called for Palestinians to be killed by the “thousands.” Waters, and many others like him, is correct and a credit to this world. Moreso because he has nothing to gain from his stance. Despite what you said regarding politics, the latest album is called Strict Regime Country. This CD is 'dedicated' to Belarus and its dictator/puppet Lukashenko. Is it fair to call him the Ayatollah of Belarus? Would you tell our readers more about the situation?
DENIS: Well, we can call him Hitler or Stalin or Gaddafi or put any other dictator or leader's name who alone decides the fate of others although I am not sure that he could be called the Ayatollah. I think it's kinda different direction. Am I wrong here?.

METALLIAN: Like a good Ayatollah he maims, abducts, shoots and kills his own citizens with the sole purpose of retaining power. He is also increasingly a puppet of the Russians although I do assume both the Ayatollahs and Lukashenko are wily and self-serving in this respect too.
DENIS: Like all countries of the former USSR, Belarus received some kind of independence in the early ‘90s, which, in my opinion, began to end shortly after Alexander Lukashenko came to power in 1994. He so zealously powdered the brains of the ordinary population, he was saying shit like, "I am a simple person,” "one of us," “just like you…” or ‘I will lead the country to the right place,’ which in fact, as it turned out, was back to the USSR. Having won his first - perhaps the only more or less honest - election, this man very quickly began to reshape Belarus in his own way. Starting with the next election, it became clear that he will not give power to anyone just like that. And so it happened. Each subsequent election became practically a one-man theatre, all sane candidates were either imprisoned or forced to flee the country. Any form of protest began to be severely suppressed. And if the ‘90s, and partly the 2000s, passed relatively quietly in the country it was not for nothing that Lukashenko was called “father,” tough but fair. Although even then his dictatorial manners were evident. Then every year the situation, especially the economic one, began to deteriorate greatly. I remember how my friends told me that after the crisis in 2008, the dollar and Euro in Belarus tripled. People who already lived poorly simply began to live below the poverty line. I travelled to Belarus three times during the 2010s and I personally saw how the situation worsened every time.
By the way, an important detail, on the eve of the next elections in 2006, there were some big oppositional rock concerts happening. All the bands that performed there fell under an unspoken ban literally a couple of days after. They were forbidden to perform in their homeland and their music was withdrawn from radio and TV. A few years later, this ban was lifted, but later, approximately in the second half of the 2010s, I can get confused with time-lines, a new ban was introduced not only on Belarusian artists, but also on many who simply somehow spoke in an unfriendly fashion in relation to the head of state or his political system. I will not mention how harshly all subsequent protests of people during the two next elections in the 2010s were suppressed. Let's move on to those events that significantly influenced the current state in Belarus. In August 2020, the next elections were to be held, and at first everything went according to the standard scenario. Opposition candidates, one by one, were sent to prison. But suddenly, when the wife of one of these candidates applied for participation in the elections, she was admitted, most likely, just to make fun of her. After all, where is the almighty Lukashenko and where is some woman, a translator of foreign languages? And this, as it turned out, was the main miscalculation of the current government. Soon people, and many before that quietly hated the authorities and did not go to vote because they knew that the result would still be the same, began to support the new female candidate. A new opposition structure was formed, which was joined by the wives of imprisoned candidates. Even with obstacles, meetings of the new opposition began to take place, which gathered huge crowds of ordinary people who were tired of Lukashenko and were ready to follow anyone just to change the established 25-year-old regime. But on election day, everything went exactly according to the scenario that Lukashenko needed. Despite the huge turnout of the population and most of the votes for the opposition the results were falsified in favour of Lukashenko. As always, more than 80% of the votes were for him. This provoked a strong wave of protests and led to thousands of people being sent to a pre-trial detention centre in the first three days, from where many came out, as if after a war. In the next few months, people across the country protested in many cities, a huge number of people went through the pre-trial detention centre, some received real prison terms, some got off with fines, some were killed, some simply disappeared. With the start of the protests, the opposition movement in Belarus came to naught, some were imprisoned, some were forced to urgently flee the country and, as a result, by the end of 2020, the protest movement came to a halt without a clear plan and the support of the army or security forces. The possibility of some real change just did not come to fruition. As a result, for the last year and a half, Lukashenko’s dogs began to catch many participants of those protests one by one or in groups. All the social networks of Belarus began to be actively monitored. It became common to get a prison sentence for a ‘wrong’ like or comment on YouTube. One of my friends once left a couple of comments in a closed social network chat, and this was a couple of years ago, a few months later he left for Poland, and when, after about half a year, he returned to Belarus for a few days on business, he was promptly detained. He is serving his one-and-a-half year sentence just for commenting now. All shops and websites that sold Belarusian national paraphernalia were closed, be it books, music or clothes and their owners, of course, were designated as terrorists and sent to prison. In general, today Belarus is a real ‘Strict Regime Country’, in which at any moment they can come and take you away and your children will end up in an orphanage. And it’s a pity, in fact, that recently Belarus has been increasingly flashed in world news as an accomplice of Russia and the Putin regime in the war against Ukraine, but about the fact that in Belarus itself there are now more than one and a half thousand political prisoners and hundreds of thousands of people live in forced migration due to the impossibility of being at home - now not a word. In a couple of years, there will be another election in Belarus and I think that this time Lukashenko will not allow what happened in 2020. The slightest protest action will be severely suppressed immediately. Although, of course, the situation in Russia will play a great role in the whole history because now Lukashenko has actually turned into a puppet of Putin who seems to be the only one who still sponsors the regime in Belarus and if the regime in Russia falls, the future of Belarus is seen as extremely incomprehensible and, unfortunately, nothing good, it seems to me, will be there in the coming years. Perhaps somewhere I outlined what is happening is not entirely clear and somewhat chaotic., I am sure those interested can read on the Internet and the picture will become clear completely.

METALLIAN: Despite claiming to be apolitical, the above synopsis is appreciated. It is important to educate and raise awareness. Art is a tool that should not be confined to entertainment, but also geared to awareness and justice. With that said, let us return to entertainment. The new album features two guests. Who are they? Why are they there and how did you and they connect?
DENIS: Even on the previous album, my close friend from Prague, Alena who is the singer for Nocturnal Pestilence, took part in a couple of songs and on the new album there is much more of her… her voice can be heard on about half of the album. I have long nurtured the idea of involving female vocals in my music and, in the future, I hope female vocals will become dominant. I have always recorded extreme vocals myself, but this time I decided to experiment and try to get a vocalist from outside and see what happens. It turned out, in my opinion, very cool. The growling and screaming parts were recorded by a session musician from Turkey, Bilge "Serpent," a very nice guy, a big fan of Ninja Turtles (laughs). Bilge understands the meaning and concept of my album well, because in Turkey, where he lives, there is enough of the same dictatorial shit - maybe not in such quantity, but the essence is the same in general. Alena lives in a normal and democratic country, but for her the freedom and civil rights of people are also not an empty sound. She gladly contributed to the material. Also, the guitar solo on the song Mayhem Of The Doomed was recorded by a guitarist from the Czech metalcore band Noisebleed. The second guitar solo in the song Yesterday was recorded by my friend from Moscow, Marianna of gothic metal band Vesssna. She's one of the few people living in Russia with whom I still communicate.

METALLIAN: Specifically, what does the track Their Own Tragic 9-11 reference?
DENIS: On August 9th 2020, elections were held, and on the same day, as I said, mass protests began. The first three days turned out to be, perhaps, the most aggressive, in a sense, a turning point. when Belarus, from a patient nation chewing shit for years, finally realised that it was necessary to fight and somehow change what was happening all around. Actually, these very three days were from August 9 to 11. The instrumental Their Own Tragic 9-11 symbolises these three days. Perhaps it was worth adding this composition with lyrics, but for me, music often speaks more clearly than a vocalised song.

METALLIAN: Thanks for the conversation. Before we adjourn, it is unanimous world-wide. Metallian is the only website that matters. Why do you think so too?
DENIS: Hm, what about Wikipedia, Metal-Archives and Discogs? Anyway, your site has a strong ‘trve’ old-school position, without any flirting with the public and trying to expand the audience through social networks, ‘likes’ and YouTube going your own unbending path and this is very cool! My respect to the whole site team!

Die Entweihung’s Strict Regime Country is available through Witches Brew. The band has a webpage here.

If you enjoyed this, read Astarium

DIE ENTWEIHUNG