Just recently signed with Napalm Records, Russian Nordic folk and ambient project NYTT LAND offer a dark, otherworldly experience with their new seventh studio album, Ritual, out August 6 via Napalm Records.
This eight-song rarity tell tales of gods and heroes, born centuries ago and preserved in traditions, expressed in a unique sonic experience that can best be described by the duo itself as shamanic dark folk. On Ritual, NYTT LAND effortlessly pulls listeners into a world of ancient percussive instrumentation and vocal tradition. Thematically, their work echoes many stories from Norse mythology and historic texts such as the Poetic Edda.
To enter the Ritual, NYTT LAND has unveiled their captivating musical forces through the record’s title track today. Haunting percussive instrumentation and unique, meditative vocal chants display their shamanic dark folk in its full splendor. The song comes along with a hypnotizing music video that emphasizes the unique atmosphere of this sonic adventure with a mesmerizing journey through the dark and brooding woods of Siberia.
NYTT LAND states:
“All our songs are, first of all, our personal experience, how we perceive reality around us. Ritual is the release of inner, primal energy through music, words, dances and images. This is what the world and the universe was born into. And we want to share our part of this energy with you.”
NYTT LAND about the video:
“The destinies of people and gods spin like threads. They are intertwining with each other in patterns and each of them is unique. The women who spin them are silent and in the hands of each of them is the thread of someone’s life. To some they give good luck in battle and victory in war, and to others death. And only they decide which thread to twist further, creating the main drawing of the great canvas of life, and which one will break off with a thin nap.”
NYTT LAND’s ancient shamanic culture is palpable on songs like “U-Gra” – based on the legend of the Siberian native tribe known as Khanty. It tells the story of the guardian spirits of the tribe’s homeland as somber ritual chants at the start of the song ask the spirits to be kind to their people and help them retain their lands. An atmospheric, meditative journey accompanied by an enthralling percussive section accents the unmatched, unique throat singing layers of NYTT LAND vocalists Natasha “Baba Yaga” Pakhalenko and Anatoly “Shaman” Pakhalenko. “Svartravn” seamlessly continues this vibe while introducing melancholic string sections, telling the story of a warrior dying on the battlefield with a crow circling him, awaiting his coup de grace. The dying warrior tells the crow about his worthy life and the deeds that he performed, and that he is not afraid of death, asking the raven to take the news of his death to his family. Underlying themes on Ritual become apparent in NYTT LAND’s artistic entity, pulled together by mysterious, haunting visuals while still welcoming the listener into their spiritual world. Songs like “Dead Man’s Dance” and “Blood Of The North” showcase the Nordic folk-driven roots of NYTT LAND, while the duo takes the genre to new levels on “The Fires of Ragnarok”.
Ritual is a previously uncharted display of intense, dark folk music inspired by NYTT LAND’s unique, authentic and ancient Siberian culture. If bands like Wardruna, Heilung or Runahild ensnare your senses, then you must prepare for this Ritual!
NYTT LAND on the record:
“Our new album is a big story, a long way – from the harsh, snowy fjords of ancient Scandinavia – to the endless expanses of the great Siberian taiga. Having chosen life in a small Siberian village, we are inspired by nature, its eternal, primordial life force. And this inspiration finds expression in our music.”
Ritual Tracklisting:
1. Ritual
2. The Fires of Ragnarok
3. The Birth of a Shaman
4. Dead Man’s Dance
5. U-Gra
6. Gróttasöngr
7. Svartravn
8. Blood of the North
