About

IGNEA is a Ukrainian melodic metal band that mixes heavy riffs with symphonic, electronic, folk elements, and story-telling creating a powerful OST-like experience. Staying true to the melodic essence of their music, IGNEA also adds touches of brutality by occasionally incorporating extreme vocals, breakdowns, and blast beats. 

IGNEA was started under the name Parallax in 2013, with the debut EP titled Sputnik dedicated to the themes of space, life on Mars, and the first artificial satellite. In 2014, the band prepared a follow-up single titled Petrichor, featuring an ex-Orphaned Land guitarist Yossi Sassi who recorded his unique instrument bouzoukitara and a guitar solo.

In 2015, the band opened a new chapter and rebranded to IGNEA, releasing a new work called Alga, named after a war call of Crimean Tatar people who are defending their land. Alga is the first-ever original song from a Ukrainian band, recorded with a full symphonic orchestra. Over the year, the video gathered over a million views on YouTube. 

In 2017, the band released its first full-length album called The Sign of Faith, having a heavier sound, both clean and extreme vocals, and authentic middle-eastern melodies. Its first song, Şeytanu Akbar, was accompanied by an animated anti-terrorism video in a surrealistic style. Despite the provocative title of the song, the band’s intention is to carry the idea of peace. 

Over 2017, IGNEA has been promoting the new album through solo shows and festivals in Ukraine within ‘The Tour of Faith’. Early 2018, IGNEA has released an official live experience video for Şeytanu Akbar recorded at national The Best Ukrainian Metal Act awards, where the band has entered the top 3 best metal bands in the country.

In April 2018, the band has released an animated video for its OST-like song How I Hate the Night, the lyrics to which belong to the paranoid android Marvin from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The video contains lots of references to the original movie. 

For IGNEA, the years 2018 and 2019 were dedicated to touring and writing the new material. In May 2018, IGNEA has toured in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, together with the Nordic death metal legends Illdisposed, as well as performed selected shows in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and festivals in France, Lithuania, and Ukraine.

September 2018, IGNEA released a new single Queen Dies with an art video and hopped on a 3-week tour across 9 countries within the Female Metal Voices Tour 2018 headlined by Butcher Babies and Kobra and the Lotus. In summer 2019, IGNEA had a small leg of headline shows in Spain and performed at the main stage of the Vagos Metal Festival in Portugal.

IGNEA’s second full-length album The Realms of Fire and Death was released on April 17, 2020. It was fully funded by the band's patrons. It is a concept album with strong story-telling, metaphors, symbols, and is accompanied by a book of short tales incorporating the lyrics of each song. It is divided into three major parts, each consisting of 3 songs, plus a bonus track — an English version of the Ukrainian Чорне Полум’я (Chorne Polumia). Songs of each part are outlining a certain separate story, bringing the themes of fire and death from various perspectives. The band also released two official music videos video for the song Disenchantment and Jinnslammer. 

According to the national awards The Best Ukrainian Metal Act, The Realms of Fire and Death has been selected as the metal album of the year and IGNEA has been named the best Ukrainian metal band of 2020.

In June 2021, IGNEA signed a deal with Napalm Records and started working on the third album that was planned for 2022. The album release has been postponed to 2023 because of the Russia-Ukraine full-scale war.

Before bringing the new full-length record to the world, in October 2021, the band treated its fans with BESTIA, a concept EP about the human nature of Slavic mythological creatures and the world’s duality. In Ukrainian, BESTIA (Ukr. «бестія») means both a savage beast and a mischievous person. This is a split record that consists of songs by two Ukrainian bands — IGNEA and ERSEDU — and is a result of their 10-year friendship. 

IGNEA’s third full-length album Dreams of Lands Unseen is out through Napalm Records on April 28th, 2023. 

In 2023, IGNEA has released official videos for the songs Nomad's Luck, Dunes, and Incurable Disease. 

The 10-track concept album reflects the life of Ukrainian photographer and documentarian Sofia Yablonska, known for traveling to very distant corners of the world while documenting the lives of tribes and natives, which was especially dangerous and uncommon for a woman of her time. Sonically, IGNEA creates a captivating masterpiece which resembles, thanks in part to diverse genre-influences, an epic soundtrack-like experience.

Despite the full-scale war, the band managed to release a full-length album, play multiple charity shows in Ukraine, and embark on a EU/UK tour with the legendary Fear Factory, playing 43 shows within 2 months.

IGNEA also proudly serves as cultural ambassadors for Ukraine, diligently raising awareness about the country's ongoing situation among their international fanbase. Their recent performance at ESNS, Europe's biggest showcase festival, further solidifies their status, alongside appearances at Wacken, Summer Breeze, Bloodstock, Leyendas del Rock, and selected club shows this summer as they lent their support to the esteemed Cradle of Filth and Epica. 

Nine songs by IGNEA have been featured in the highly anticipated video game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl. This collaboration brings the Ukrainian band’s powerful and atmospheric music to the immersive post-apocalyptic world of the game, enhancing its dark and gritty ambiance.

IGNEA are:

Helle Bohdanova — vocals;

Yevhenii Zhytniuk — keyboards;

Oleksandr Kamyshin — bass;

Ivan Kholmohorov — drums;

Dmytro Vinnichenko — guitars.