ENCOMIUM #11/2025: Grave Circles

If your dark soul craves a cold and misanthropic blend of black metal, then you should definitely check out the Ukrainian band Grave Circles. Their recently released second album takes listeners on an exciting musical journey. With this in mind, I asked Dødes kor (vocals/drums) a few questions, and he revealed some very interesting facts not only about the "World Within the World" album, but also about the band's upcoming third album, among other things. You'd better read this train of thought, otherwise the veil of darkness will descend upon you forever...

Hails Dødes kor! First of all, congratulations on the release of your second album "World Within the World". What is the feedback on it so far? What should we know about the label, Schattenkult Produktionen, which released it?

Hails! It's been 5 months since the album was released, and the feedback has been mostly positive. However, there's a part of the audience that was hoping for a continuation of "Tome II", with cleaner sound/production and more complicated material. But the idea this time was precisely to make a raw, rotten, and dirty album without compromise, and I believe we nailed that — the cover art emphasizes it perfectly. It was a deliberate step away from mainstream and from being tied to any particular scene.

As for Schattenkult Produktionen — I discovered the label through releases by Do Skonu and Shadows Ground. Great communication, rapid manufacture and help with design — these are the strong points of Schattenkult Produktionen. It was truly a pleasure to work with them.

Tell us a little bit about the concept of "World Within the World", I mean both musically and lyrically. What inspired you this time?

The cover of "World Within the World" depicts the severed head of a deer, infested with larvae. A fly injects several larvae into the deer's nose, which gradually grow, devouring the soft tissues around the tongue, eventually starving the animal to death. This serves as a metaphor: just as the larvae slowly kill the animal, so do the ideologies and religions injected by society destroy the individual. This concept runs like a red thread through all eight tracks of the album.

We never really overthought what or how we should play. Everything just flows from our passion for the genres we love, and that inspiration goes beyond just music. It's a matter of feeling and creating. There's no formula for this process, but the connection between music and thought is crucial to the alchemy.

To convey something meaningful to people, you need an unordinary experience. But not just any experience — it needs to be something beyond what the average person encounters. It could be the experience of someone who's witnessed the horrors of war firsthand, someone who's traveled to the most remote corners of the world, or someone who's walked a spiritually transformative path, pains of loss & solitude.

I also draw my inspiration from books, art, underground films, and my own personal experiences. In the past it was with the help of substances that can offer a glimpse into other worlds. Music from other genres also inspires my thoughts, Circle of Ouroborus, The Angelic Process and Danish ambient/drone project Sol serving as great examples.

In the last months a lot has happened to the membership, Yuri (guitarist and founder of Grave Circles) died on the battlefield shortly after the release of the new album, and at the end of May LTVN was announced as the new drummer. Please talk about all this and how the band's membership looks now.

Yuri and I founded the band in 2016, and his loss is a huge one for us. He was my friend, and it's still hard to comprehend that he's gone. I decided to finish the album that the three of us, Me, Veksha, and Yuri, were working on, and to release it. I'm unable to play drums myself now, so I turned to LTVN, whom I consider one of the best drummers in Ukraine.

As I noticed, you have already started working on "Tome III". What can we expect there in terms of music and lyrics? How many songs will it contain?

In fact, work on "Tome III" began a year ago, plus we rediscovered some unrealized ideas dating back to 2016. "World Within the World" was supposed to be released a couple of years ago, but issues with finding the right sound and a suitable label pushed the release far back. One label even promised us a vinyl release and then simply disappeared. It turned out later that the reason was Peste Noire, even though the guy himself liked the music.

As for "Tome III" — it will be a return to the beginning, to "Tome I". The circle is closing, and it will be a cold, dissonant, and depressive album. Kosty is no longer with us physically, but we still go through the same pain we always have. Hatred, faith, madness, and drugs form the lyrical core of this 7-track album. Most likely, it will be the final nail in the coffin, as there is a feeling that everything has already been said and done.

I'm sure it's hard to exist as a band during the war, but I see that you are still actively rehearsing. By the way, where and how often do you rehearse? Will you be playing live in the near future? If so, where are you planning to perform?

We haven't rehearsed together in the current lineup even once. We work with the rhythm section remotely, since we all live in different locations. Usually I try to send them finished demo recordings to avoid a bunch of changes later on.

There's a chance that Grave Circles will perform live in Europe with a different lineup, depending on the offers we receive.

All members are also involved in other bands/projects such as Goatflesh, Celestial Silence, Rotten Moon, just to name a few. What news can you share with us about these hordes?

Goatflesh is awaiting the release of two excellent splits, and there's a possibility that a compilation of all the splits (including the one with Bestial Vomit) with bonus tracks will be released. That's about it for now, as we haven't rehearsed in a long time and live in different countries. But this beast is pretty resilient — time will tell.

Celestial Silence and Rotten Moon are projects where I help friends by recording drums. There's also a plan to release the black/thrash project Barrow Mound, which Kosty and I created around 2018. To be honest, I haven't played drums in a year now, and it's hard to say whether I'll return to the kit again...

How do you see the black metal scene in Ukraine nowadays? Do you keep in touch with other bands or are you more isolated? Do you have any favorite black metal bands/releases within the scene?

We've always stood apart from the Ukrainian black metal scene and still don't consider ourselves part of it. We don't keep in touch with it. Musically, I can personally highlight Lutomysl during the "Catharsis" and "De Profundis" periods, and some releases by the now-defunct Do Skonu — that's about it. Veksha spoke positively about Dub Buk and Ossadogva.

Yura (Kosty) loved Do Skonu, Drudkh, and especially Astrofaes. Before his death, he often listened to the song "Я принесу с собою гром!" by Astrofaes. A quote from that song is still displayed on his social media.

Besides composing and playing in bands, what do you do for a living? Does everyone have a day job that they go to five times a week or, as is now common, do most members prefer to work from home?

Veksha and Kate work in IT, LTVN is involved in metal casting. I can't disclose the specifics of my job, but it's a fairly ordinary working-class profession.

Besides the CDs that are already available, colored gatefold vinyl and cassettes will be released soon. A white vinyl edition compiling the "Tome I" and "Pestilence and Death" EPs is also coming out. As for t-shirts — most are already sold out, but the remaining ones are available on our Bandcamp.

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions. Now please conclude this interview with some extra news from the Grave Circles camp, and of course send your darkest greetings to our readers.