Dämmerung interview

 Hail Dämmerung! Son of the Mourning Star has been a long time coming. You began working on it around 2020–2021, and then the full-scale invasion stopped everything when only the mix remained. That's a brutal way for an album to get stuck. When you finally returned to it in 2026, did you find yourselves dealing with the record you had left behind, or had the years in between changed your relationship with the music?

Greetings! Our relationship with music is one of the few things that has stayed unchanged through all these years, despite a long break of 16 years. When we sat down with the old recordings again, it wasn’t like meeting old friends — more like returning to ourselves, to something that had to be said, but wasn’t.

Life didn’t change the music. It changed us, but the music stayed what it was: an outlet that depends on neither borders nor time.

I wonder what it was like to hear those recordings again after such a long break. Were you immediately happy with what you'd done back then, or did you discover things that you would have approached differently if you'd recorded the album today?

In 2026 opening the old projects, we saw the “skeleton” we had stopped on. Many melodies and ideas were re-recorded in 2026. Some things were, of course, revisited, while others remained exactly as they were originally conceived. In any case, everything that happened to us over these years of course influenced the melodies and the arrangements

Dämmerung started in Kherson in 2001, which means you've been around for a quarter of a century now. The band has survived lineup changes, long periods of inactivity and the loss of its rehearsal space. Looking back, do you see one continuous history, or does each return feel like starting a different band under the same name?

Maybe there was a slight feeling that each time we had to start from scratch, but that’s the essence of creativity. That’s what makes creativity to be creativity: just as any artist begins a painting on a blank canvas, the same happens in music.

In any case, it’s very interesting for us, for ourselves, to listen to our own recordings, from the oldest to the newest, and simply trace those changes, those paths of decisions we made when recording one piece of material or another. It brings lots of flashbacks. In any case, the Dammerung’s history is one, but the canvases are always different.

That story about a religious sect burning down your rehearsal space is quite something. It also meant that your early plans to play live never happened. What exactly happened there? Did the people responsible have a problem with the band specifically, or was the rehearsal space caught up in something larger?

Those crazy idiots from a christian sect were trying to worship their imaginary god, but apparently our music got in the way. In the end, the deranged cultists decided the best course of action was to set fire to the rehearsal room. The funny part of it is that it was located inside a school. So those morons could have burned the entire school down?!

Anyway, the Inquisition still failed haha.

Some things just do not burn in any fire =)

You were among the first black metal bands from Kherson, and Follow Your Own Shadow was reportedly the first black metal album released by a band from the city. Did you feel part of a local scene back then, or were you mostly doing your own thing without much support around you? I'm interested in what underground metal in Kherson actually looked like in those early years.

We definitely felt part of the underground metal scene in Kherson. Those were very interesting times — a lot of projects were in the air. Probably each member of Dämmerung at that time somehow participated in some other project. For example, Vathar played in a band called Kurgan — they played pagan black metal and had many live shows in Kherson and even other regions. It was just great. We all boiled together in one real musical, creative pot, sharing ideas, hopes and dreams with each other. Those were great times — we were young, looked at life through a young prism, had a lot of energy. And we really do miss those times.

Those underground black metal shows come to mind now — uncompromising. It was cool and very fierce. It really warms the heart that there’s still a Kherson band, Gjallarhorn, releasing records too. A huge thank you to them for that — they’re doing great. Unfortunately, many projects no longer exist. The guys split up, scattered, but the musicians stayed. They still release singles and albums, they have their own solo projects — including Hetman, the solo project of Demonium’s vocalist. But the main thing is we still keep in touch after all this time. It’s simply nice to write a message, get a message back, asking each other: how are you, how’s the family, how’s the creative work. We still support each other — we had a very tight, cohesive scene.

Black Arrows of Hatred came out through EastSide in Poland, with a later Mexican edition through Witchcraft Records. That's the sort of underground connection that used to make following obscure bands exciting: an album could travel much further than the band itself. How did those releases come about? Did you have direct contact with people abroad, or did the label connections happen through the usual underground network of demos, letters and recommendations?

Finding a label in the life of any underground band — especially one playing black metal — is a whole quest. We didn’t have, and still don’t have, any connections at labels, so we searched in magazines, searched through acquaintances who might have released something somewhere. We did the classic mail-out, looked for labels that might be interested in us, and labels we might be interesting to. That’s how we ended up on Witchcraft Records and EastSide Records. It was, in essence, our first serious international release. Witchcraft Records and EastSide Records are honest people, and it was a pleasure dealing with them.

Then came Dark Poetry in 2010, followed by another pause in 2011. What happened at that point? Was there a particular reason you stopped, or had Dämmerung simply reached a point where continuing no longer made sense?

Yes, indeed, after the release of Dark Poetry in 2011 we had a rather long pause. The pause was caused by the fact that members of Dämmerung had family issues, and unfortunately our drummer Grom left us — well, he didn’t really leave, he simply stopped feeling creative. You know how it goes — not my thing anymore or I can’t spend more time on it. We decided to temporarily freeze Dämmerung.

Also, the nature of our work made it practically impossible to gather together often. We didn’t want to record or write just anything.

Creativity just wasn’t coming through because of all these events. Vathar, nevertheless, kept recording drafts, which laid the foundation for the album that will be released in November of this year.

And then in 2014, military actions began in eastern Ukraine. That also had a significant impact on everything being put on hold. Those were very hard times, both financially and in terms of time.

When Vathar and Saurg brought the band back in 2018, did you immediately know that Dämmerung would return to making full-length albums, or was the idea initially just to get together and see what happened? The split with Gjallarhorn and Demonium the following year suggests that the local connections were still there.

Yes, in 2018 we finally got going — struck through, so to speak. There was already a clear vision of what we wanted to see, what we wanted to do, and how it should sound. By that time we’d finally gathered a lot of ideas, anger, and rage to finally start turning all those ideas and experiences directly into a recording.

Even though only two of us remained — Saurg and Vathar — I think that time, strange as it may sound, played into our hands and brought us closer together. We became more united; I’d even say we became like one family. That’s why we decided to resume work on the project.

The new album has six tracks, with titles like “Ares Rising”, “Burn With Me In Hell” and “I Am Falling Into The Darkness”. Those titles suggest a pretty direct approach, while “Zu al-Fakhar” stands apart from the others. What is behind that title, and does the track deal with a different subject from the rest of the album?

This song might seem special because of its atypical Eastern theme. But imagine the peoples of the medieval East, across whose lands hordes of CHRISTIAN fanatics and adventurers periodically swept — some drunk on the smell of blood, others on a thirst for profit. On top of that, all those European crusader hordes hid behind the name of a god they supposedly served — that’s just, damn it, pure absurdity… but as they say, he who comes with the sword shall perish by the sword. Zu al-Fakhar continues the theme of revenge on which I Am Falling Into The Darkness ends. This legendary sword is a symbol of invincibility in any battle, against any enemy. So Zu al-Fakhar is a symbol of the weapon by which the enemy will be destroyed.

“Son of the Mourning Star” is a striking title. The Morning Star can carry very different meanings depending on the religious or mythological context, and I don't want to assume which one you're using. What does the title mean to you? Is there a central idea connecting all six tracks, or should the album be approached as a collection of separate pieces?

The central figure of the album is Lucifer and His Revenge. The songs on the album The Son of the Morning Star are, without a doubt, arranged in a logical order. The purpose of that arrangement is to create a line showing a person’s death, the death of everything human he has, and the descent of his soul straight into hell. Then resurrection of that soul on the wings of rage, hatred, and bloodshed — a bloody sacrifice — again from hell. The album begins with the song Ares Rising. This song opens the album, and it symbolizes the return to earth of the spirit of war. This spirit of war has had many names throughout human history. Some called him Mars, some called him Ares, and some called him Azazel — that very angel from the two hundred watchers who gave, placed into the heads and hands of humanity knowledge of what weapons are, of how one can most effectively kill oneself and everything around. Then, after Ares Rising, comes the next song, Burn With Me in Hell. This song symbolizes pure death — death of the flesh, of everything human, of everything righteous. The song was written based on Vathar’s real experience on the front line, when Vathar’s comrades burned alive in a tank. That very event served as the impulse for writing this text and this music. Then comes the song Sulphur. Sulphur is the purest hell, the purest description of the payment the soul must make upon reaching the other side. Complete, complete dissolution of that soul in absolute chaos, in the absolute kingdom of ash and sulfur.

After Sulphur comes the song I’m Falling Into the Darkness. This is the main and central idea. This song reflects the central idea of the entire album. The fall of the most beautiful angel, who brought light and knowledge to people, into the deepest abyss. And in that abyss, he remembers who he truly is. And on the wings of unconditional rage, he returns again in flesh and blood, thanks to the sacrifice that was made. After this song comes Zu al-Fakhar, which symbolizes that very sacrifice through which the spirit of rage regains flesh and blood. It continues the theme of the revenge, that was told in the previous song - I Am Falling Into The Darkness.

The album closes with the song We Touch the Stars With Our Palms. This song is the logical conclusion of the album, but the whole song is one big question: who are we, people, in this world? It’s a question about the fact that we alone are the masters of our lives. We have no gods left, we have no one left who will die for our sins. We have only the right to life, the right to knowledge, and the right to our mistakes — to accepting our mistakes. And we have the most important thing: the right to our responsibility for any actions we commit ourselves. Do as you wilt.

You've chosen “Sulphur” as the first single. Why that one? Is it representative of the whole album, or does it show just one side of what Dämmerung sounds like in 2026? Sometimes the most obvious single isn't necessarily the best introduction to a record, especially after such a long wait.

We chose Sulphur as the single not by chance, since we consider this song to be the gate to the main idea of the entire album. It carries the most burning, the most furious, and the angriest quintessence of the whole idea of this album. It’s simply the gate into this album.

Musically, this song — more than any other — draws directly from the purest direction of black metal itself: the first wave. We wanted to bring back to life that primal rage the first wave carried, just as Lucifer returns to life. Whether we succeeded or not — that’s for the listeners to judge.

Vathar handles all instruments, arrangements and backing vocals, while Saurg takes the lead vocals. With a lineup this small, the musical direction must depend heavily on the understanding between the two of you. How does the songwriting actually work? Does Vathar bring you finished compositions, or do the vocals and arrangements develop together?

Songwriting depends very much on the song itself and on the idea behind it — how it came into being. Most often it’s a text written by either Saurg or Vathar. We read that text together, no doubt, and charge ourselves with the energy of that thought. And already while reading that text, Vathar becomes imbued with the idea of it — its weight, its anger, its power — and from that feeling the music is born, framing the text with music exactly as a jeweler sets a blood-red ruby into its mount.

And of course, even though Vathar composes all the music and arrangements himself, working on each song is still the fruit of our joint effort. There’s no such thing as music on one side and lyrics on the other, slapped together and forced to work. No. It’s the fruit of our shared creativity. Vathar regularly shares his musical feelings with Saurg, and we try to feel every note together.

That’s the strength and the unity of Dämmerung.

The same goes for the lyrics themselves. Saurg shares his feelings and ideas in the texts, and we discuss those texts together. And the final form of rage is born, which is then framed by music.

Johan Martin at Punch Sector Studios in Sweden mixed and mastered the album this year. Since the recordings were already there, how much freedom did you give him to shape the final sound? Did you want to preserve the character of the original sessions, or was there anything you felt needed to be changed after all those years?

We got great pleasure from working with Johan Martin at Punch Sector Studios in Sweden. You see, on every album we’ve pursued the goal of making our sound fit the concept best and match the drive, match the energy coming from the songs themselves. Johan’s experience was, without a doubt, very useful to us, because in his work he treated the choice of sound — guitars, drums, arrangements — with great care. I’d characterize working with Johan as this: we had a vision of what we wanted to hear on the album. And Johan, using his professionalism, talent and experience from Fascination Street Studios, managed to phenomenally guess the mood, the drive, and the purity. The record turned out high quality, but at the same time the guitar sound has that primal roar we needed when recording this album. It was a very fruitful collaboration. I can’t think of a single other sound engineer off the top of my head who would have realized the message of the entire album and our idea in sound so correctly.

There is a big difference between an album being old and an album sounding old. Were you tempted to update the production to match the way black metal is recorded today, or was it more important to keep the sound faithful to the period when the music was written? And did the years between recording and release make that decision easier or more difficult?

In short, the goal was to make the old material sound powerful and modern while keeping the ethics of the style. We never tried to fit any niche when it comes to sound. For us, atmosphere comes first — and the true atmosphere of black metal can be conveyed by no one other than those bands connected to the first wave of black metal. We’re not saying that what new black metal bands are doing now in terms of sound and delivery is wrong. Everyone has their own path, and perhaps it’s a logical development of the style. But we see our sound — and the sound of black metal now, in the modern world — exactly as we made it.

I noticed that the artwork comes from Nuno Zuki at Belial NekroArts in Portugal, so the visual side of the release also involves somebody outside Ukraine. What sort of image did you want for Son of the Mourning Star? Did you give the artist a clear concept to work from, or did you prefer to see what he came up with after hearing about the album?

The entire conceptual line of the album demanded proper graphic design. Saurg, having a background as an artist, had a clear vision and concept for the artwork. We placed that concept in the hands of Nuno Zuki from Belial NekroArts, because Nuno, more than anyone else, knows and understands this style — the canvases that come from under his hands, from his brush. That is, without a doubt, the highest art, with precisely that energy and message we were pursuing. By the way, Nuno Zuki also plays in a black metal band in Portugal. We felt that he, more than anyone else, could properly convey on canvas what we wanted to say in our songs. He did an outstanding work.

Dämmerung has existed through several very different periods of Ukrainian life. I won't pretend that the war is just another chapter in a band's biography, especially when it has directly interrupted your work. Has it changed the way you think about making music at all, or do you prefer to keep the band separate from what is happening outside it?

We cannot separate ourselves in any way from what was happening and is happening in the country. The war affected us very strongly. It simultaneously burned us to the ground and gave impulse to our spirit — not to be broken and to keep moving forward, despite everything. The war influenced the material and the concept of the album very strongly. Without a doubt, the amount of blood, violence, and killing that Vathar saw on the front line influenced the music and the material of the entire album as a whole. It left traces that no studio polish could ever smooth over.

And what about the future? With the fourth album finally ready for release, does Dämmerung feel like a band that has returned for good, or do you prefer not to make promises about what comes next? After so many years of stops and starts, I imagine you have good reasons not to plan too far ahead.

We feel that we said what had long hung in the air for us — what had to be said. At this stage, it’s not the end. Work on new material is already underway. We’ll see what comes of it. We still have more to say, and as long as we’re alive, Dämmerung will not stop.

Thanks for answering these questions, and respect for bringing Son of the Mourning Star to the finish line. Here's hoping the album reaches people who have followed Dämmerung since the early days, as well as those discovering the band for the first time.

Thank you! KEEP THE BLACK FLAME BURNING!

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