Darkestrah s'apprête à sortir son septième album intitulé Nomad courant 2023 sur le label français Osmose Productions avec lequel le groupe avait déjà collaboré pour le EP Khagan en 2011, l'album Mahan en 2013 et l'abum Taran en 2016. Ce groupe de pagan black metal qui se présente comme du "Epic Shamanic Black Metal" cumule plusieurs particularités.
Actif depuis 1999, Darkestrah vient tout d'abord du Kirghizistan, un pays asiatique de l'ex-URSS, frontalier de la Chine, que ses membres fondateurs ont finalement quitté pour s'installer à Leipzig en Allemagne, mais toujours imprégnés par le paganisme de leur terre natale. Une collaboration productive avec le label allemand No Colours s'était alors enclenchée en 2005 avec le EP Way to Paganism, suivi des albums Embrace of Memory en 2005 et Epos en 2006.
De ses débuts en 1999 à 2015, l'ensemble des voix étaient assurées par Kriegtalith, une chanteuse khirgise. Après une parenthèse avec un chanteur allemand sur l'album Turan en 2016, Darkestrah a renoué avec cette caractéristique de chant black metal féminin avec l'intégration de Charuk.
Depuis 2020, une partie du line-up est iranien, avec Charuk qui assure donc le chant et Magus qui assure différents instruments folk d'origine perse, tous deux étant auparavant actifs dans des groupes black metal de Téhéran avant leur départ pour l'Allemagne. Les différents membres exilés ont ainsi en commun de venir de pays musulmans et il n'est pas surprenant qu'une collaboration se soit mise en place avec le label Shaytan Productions, spécialisé dans le black metal en provenance des pays musulmans, dès 2016 avec un split avec Al Namrood, groupe d'Arabie Saoudite, la réédition de leurs quatre premiers albums, et surtout le EP Chong Aryk, fin 2021, qui officialise ainsi ce nouveau line-up d'exilés internationaux (un russe complète ce line-up particulier).
Le groupe de pagan metal urkrainien KRODA a été attaqué par un commando d'extrême-gauche, lors de la préparation de son concert à Varsovie en Pologne, manifestement intolérant vis à vis du paganisme et de l'attrait pour les racines culturelles, se contentant d'amalgames simplistes et absurdes ("avec nous ou contre nous") et de la volonté d'instrumentaliser les musiques undergrounds. Cet événement fait un triste echo à l'attaque dont le groupe neo-folk Camerata Mediolanense avait été victime en Suisse également avant un concert.
Voici le communiqué diffusé par KRODA le 30 juin:
"Witch-hunt and holy inquisition?!
As everyone should already know, in the beginning of European mini-tour, KRODA band was attacked by a bunch of jackals before the gig in Warsaw, Poland. We were changing our clothes dressing in concert uniform and just took away our stuff from mini-bus in the street near club. At this time, rain of glass bottles fell upon us... Right then, attackers used pepper-sprays and tried to beat us by telescopic cudgels. They were in red and black masks and shouted «AFA!», so we’ve made a conclusion about what subculture they belong to.
Before this event, we were not too interested in this movement, but after things that happened, we studied their websites deeper. We have found there a lot of mentions about our band defined as NSBM. It would be good to make a brief digression to the history of music (not for antifa, but for listeners of Pagan Metal, and Metal music in general).
It seems antifa don’t know what is NSBM, if they use this stereotype towards our band. NSBM are bands like DER STURMER or THOR'S HAMMER, for example; i.e. formations where basic themes are political and social aspects, aesthetics of Third Reich etc. But KRODA (even purely stylistics-wise) is Pagan Metal. In difference from NSBM, in Pagan Metal (just look at the name, it’s obvious) there’s no political component. Lyrical side of Pagan Metal is Antiquity, Traditionalism, Ancestral Roots Pride (those able to read – just look at KRODA texts published on our official site). And still we want to say that our group is OUT of modern politics.
During the last time, Metal scene is infiltrated by left-side punks with their poor, perverted understanding of metal and its aesthetics. Their knowledge about facts and concepts of metal genres are narrow, but despite their profanity, those people (practically aliens to metal subculture) are trying to dictate their ultimatum conditions to Metal bands; trying to sort the bands (according to their "punk" concepts) and separate them into "correct" and "incorrect". And the bands, defined by those conceptually/politically/musically incompetent marginals as “non-correct”, are exposed to physical and psychological attacks of "anti-fascists". In general, those antifa “people” don’t listen to Metal music at all, but they already wish to dictate what music we have to play, what we must sing, what gigs we can go to, and which concerts are not to be visited. They command to zines, distributors and labels – who must be boycotted, and who are to be promoted. They know nothing about the concept of our creativity, but their sick ideas make them desperately try to prevent our gigs, try to beat fans of Pagan Metal at random; aspire to harm musicians in every possible way, to trouble us, damage our stuff, cars, instruments, our Metal clubs and concert equipment. They act like a riot rampage gang, while their official propaganda is anti-violence. They struggle for something like equality, but in fact, someone is «more equal» for them. Everywhere, they declare their aspiration to preserve another cultures, but at the same time they promote destruction of own European culture in every possible way. Those people stepped too far and lost the feeling of reality. They are just lazy fuckers who want nothing to do, so they seek the enemies everywhere, suspicious to any runic inscription on T-shirts, disks etc. They are going to continue their insolent dictate and force us all to accept their idiotic "conditions" and "demands". The only thing they understand is brutal force. Until Pagan Metal fans, bands and gigs promoters/organizers are tolerate this leftist riot, it will just grow, though even here and now this is almost a red terror.
Everyone who obediently agrees with cancels and impossibility of fave bands gigs, everyone who estimate the "conditions" dictated by aggressive bunch of shameless red hooligans, everyone who directly or indirectly submits to the "regime” those strangers try to impose to the whole Pagan Metal scene – they all just unwillingly support the further escalation of this brutal tyranny and oppression of our interests.
Today, some punk scum dictate you what music you have to listen, what concerts to visit, what clothes is “allowed to wear” and what is “prohibited”, what bands we can act with and who are “wrong” - tomorrow they will ask you for report what you eat, what books do you read, what do you think about, what words did you say, with whom do you make love, where do you live and how much money you earn. We are the only ones to take back our right to listen the music we want, to go to the gigs we wish to visit.
If you want to be yourself and act following your heart – so it’s time to say "stop" to antifa riot in Pagan Metal.
It’s time to be self-organized and strike back in reply to any act of insolent leftists. Let it be tradition and a rule among your friends to come at gigs together, in well-organized SOBER groups. Watch the concert hall. By yourself, kick antifa spies away from halls and clubs, kick away every boor trying to confuse you when you listening to music. If those people don’t respect our rights, our fave bands and our Ancestral Faith – so it’s their own guilt, and we don’t wanna tolerate their intervention anymore. In the street you must always have all the self-defense stuff allowed in your country. If someone try to attack - you have a right to self-defense, to use all the possible means to protect yourself and your relatives. Having some times received a strong straight repulse from numerous Pagan Metal fans, red ass bastards will think thrice – is it good idea to make us trouble next time. Let them protect gay-parades and rastafarian marches. If that brainless goblins consider scientific terms "Aryan" and "Race" associated with "fascism", if traditional European Runes and Sunwheels are "nazism" – so let them not even try to discuss the themes of Black and Pagan Metal at all.
Summing up: We call all the listeners, musicians, labels, zines connected with Pagan and Black Metal to answer every antifa boycott of our music and bands with counter boycott. Don’t let them manipulate you! Don’t let them to destroy Pagan Metal subculture and our European traditional culture. Strike them back on psychological and bureaucratic level, as well as by physical action. Gangs of that scum must be recognized as criminal and determined as «outlaw» as they already done it with you for a long time. Guilty will be punished.
Glory to Our Gods! "
