1914’s latest album feels less like a collection of songs and more like being dropped into the mud and smoke of World War I itself. It’s heavy and punishing, but also surprisingly emotional, mixing crushing riffs with bleak atmosphere and moments of mournful reflection. We had the chance to speak with Dmytro and learn about the band’s history, guest participations in Viribus Unitis, and a bit of his music influences.
M.I. - It’s been a while since “Where Fear and Weapons Meet” was released in 2021. What have you been doing in the past years?
We released the album in November and in a couple of months war broke out. We’re still in Ukraine, our guitar player has volunteered to be in the army, and we also volunteered to be in the frontline with medicine, armored stuff and everything that is required.
Anything that we could afford to send, it’s always welcome by the Ukrainian army. That’s how we live here, during all these years. Unfortunately, I buried a lot of my friends, there’s a huge amount of tombstones in our cemetery right now. Just in my hometown it’s around 7000 people buried. This is how have spent the few years.
M.I. - I cannot imagine what is the terror like.
I hope you never have a chance to.
M.I. - Why particularly war themes?
I will tell you what I always share with the magazines and metal interviewers. I’m a war archaeologist, and for the last 20 years I’ve been digging up information about war heroes and soldiers in Ukraine, in the Carpathian Mountains, and so on.
I always try to find documents, dog tags and build family trees. I’m also a huge fan and collector of WW1. Sure, if we talk about war, it’s not about the bad side of it, no that. I’m huge history fan of the battles, the soldiers’ fate, the remnants and even weaponry which I own. I’m deeply involved in this theme, because it’s my passion to dig something and learn about it.
I’m not a metalhead, I’m not a singer or a musician. I’m just a history nerd. That’s how I react about 1914, and that’s how I started this band.
M.I. - The band lineup is set up by military ranks. Are these real ranks, or no?
If we talk about the regiments, then yes. They are real rank regiments. If we talk about the new album, they concern Ukrainian regiments.
You can check on the vinyl or CD, there are actual regiments. Our names are, in a way, some Germanic stuff combined with some Slavic names. For instance, my name’s Dmytro, in Slavic, but the Greek it’s Mytro, commonly or known as Dimitri. The same goes with the rest of the band members.
M.I. - It seems you are big fans of Prodigy. Why the music Invaders Must Die, and the collaboration Barney Hines/ Ship Her Son?
First of all, yes. I’m a huge Prodigy fan. They’re one of my biggest influences, and I can say that I own all their records.
I’m not a fan of metal music; I prefer electronic and noise music. If we talk about Barney Hines’ band it’s a collaboration between Ukrainian industrial music and we try to make it, because Napalm Records was very happy with this song. They didn’t want to release it, but we thought it would be a homage to our Ukrainian soldiers to dedicate this song to them.
A lot of soldiers send us a lot of prayers and recommendations, and that’s why we made this song. At the anniversary of the war, we sent them this song for them.
M.I. - Let’s talk about the album Viribus Unitis. Once again, the war theme highly present, and this time dedicated to the Habsburg monarchy – Franz Joseph I.First of all, this album is not entirely about Franz Joseph I. The entire album is built around the soldier’s fate in our hometown, Lviv.
It’s about facing the war, the early days when the Russians invaded our hometown, then a Ukrainian soldier was obliged to retreat to the Carpathian Mountains. Then, he was sent to the Italian front, kept in captivity and then escaped from captivity. Afterwards, went to Vienna back in 1919. On the next war, the Ukrainian-Polish war, Polish troops invaded my hometown, and the soldier went back to his homeland, defeated due to new invaders. Then, he passed away on the day of the invasion.
M.I. - An album with a few guest musicians such as ex-My Dying Bride’s Aaron Stainthorpe. How was the recording process with him?
All simple, just a typical collaboration. We just prepared a demo version, and then sent to Aaron. He recorded his voice, back in the UK and sent it back to us.
We completed the album with Fascination Street Studios, made of course some mixture and mastering. Nowadays, with cloud files and Wi-Fi it’s easy to send files. It was an honor to have him in the album; he has a unique voice and the song fitted perfectly.
M.I. - The artwork cover resembles Death’s “The Sound of Perseverance” a little bit. Who is the paladin in the mountain, accompanied by Death?
I know the album, but I’m not a Death fan. It’s not a paladin, but an archangel with a sword, followed by the grim reaper.
These two figures stand in front of you. If you have a look at the archangel, it could imply something about heaven and the grim reaper something about death. However, they’re standing together, in front of you, somewhere between heaven and hell you have this trench, and you will die in this trench.
It is somewhat a figure that concerns partners in crime, opposed forces between heaven and hell, and ultimately you will die.
M.I. - We are all aware of the political tension happening currently in the East, especially coming from Ukraine. As a musician, but also as a human being, would you like to share any message with our readers?
I hope you guys never have to witness what we are witnessing nowadays. I wish you all the best, enjoy life as it is, and keep supporting us from the trenches.
For Portuguese version, click here
Listen to 1914, on Spotify
Questions by André Neves
