IGNEA-The Realms of Fire and Death Review

6 September – Dublin

”IGNEA A BAND WHO IS ON FIRE SINCE THEIR LATEST RELEASE OF Realms of Fire and Death”

IGNEA is a band that most of us heard in some way, as it has been on fire since the outbreak.

When the pandemic started they released a video for the song ”Disenchantment” which had a distinctive sound  due to a Middle Eastern touch and all artwork that leaves you intrigued; as it is all drawn by hand.

But it’s not just a video that comes with astonishing artwork and a nice melody, if you pay attention the video itself has a story to tell and a deeper meaning.

It is about humans who were first grateful for the fire, but eventually started to kill each other out of jealousy and desire for power.

And the combination of all these things, makes the band so on fire, as the video is still carved in your mind after watching it.

”IGNEA MADE THE BEST OUT OF THE PANDEMIC BY STANDING CLOSER TO FANS THAN EVEN BEFORE”

Not only the video ”Disenchantment” made the band so on fire, it is especially the fact that the band has released a new album called ”Realms of Fire and Death” which is available to order from April. This very album was created with the help of the patrons and crediting each one of them.

But not only this made the album so unique, it was the dedication and passion of Helle and the band as well.

They have been sharing exclusive content and patrons, keeping fans up to date on social media, releasing the album, updating Youtube with some interesting footage, doing live chats, and shipping the albums themselves and signing whenever requested.

Instead of becoming silent during the pandemic they bonded and created a meaningful relationship with their fans.

”OFF THE STAGE IT IS THE VIDEOGRAPHY THAT GIVES IGNEA A SOUL”

For those who missed ”Disenchantment” and ”Realms of Fire and Death”, probably heard of the band’s next milestone the video Jinnslammer, which has gathered in one-month 334k views.

For me personally, this was the moment I started to feel an extraordinarily strong desire to buy the ”Realms of Fire and Death” album.

The very reason was that this song showed how Helle has evolved during the years and what her voice is capable of.

In Jinnslammer she makes neat shifts from grunts to clean vocals, which is not an easy thing to do, but Helle put it in her own words as: ”it’s easy to do the change from clean vocals to growl, because it’s like a tumbler inside my voice, but the hardest is to make the growl sustainable for a long time”.

Another thing that really stood out was the videography, as Maria and Ivan have such a gift to bring IGNEA to live, make it more touchable when they are not on stage and the funny thing is, when I interviewed at D Metal Galaxy Helle is that  the videography was shot one year and half ago and that the video turned out differently in a positive way when they shot it.

When ”Realms of Fire and Death” arrives on your doorstep you are completely immersed into the album as it is not just an album, it’s a concept album with strong story-telling, metaphors, symbols.

And for those who go the extra mile, there is a book which short tales incorporating the lyrics of each song. The very artwork of the album indicates it has a story to tell, it has the usual colors that every metal band uses; black.

But for some reason I get a feeling the album is coming from afar or maybe I am just stuck with the Middle Eastern feeling, Helle herself admitted this is drawing a lot attention as not a lot of bands in Europe use this kind of sound in contrast to other genres like Scandinavian metal that is not only played by bands from Scandinavia but as well in various countries for example Spain.

”IGNEA HASN’T REACHED THEIR FULL POTENTIAL YET”

Anyway, if we put the cd into the player, we hear different kind of sounds  ”Realms of Fire and Death” as Helle herself puts it: ”It’s always hard to say what we play, because we mix a lot of genres but let’s the closes its melodic death metal but with some you know Middle Eastern, some symphonic elements, so all songs are different.” 

I personally love this approach as the album is very dynamic and you want to hear all songs on the album as everyone is different in some way. The only drawback I have is that not all songs seem very connected to each other and it’s better to have to book by the hand to understand the idea of the tales.

Do not get me wrong, I love the idea as it is fresh, unique and tales are very intriguing, but you just need the book and  go layer by layer to get the full picture. As it is the first book I am really excited about what the future may hold as IGNEA has made huge steps forward music wise and I believe they will do it for storytelling as well.

The ”Realms of Fire and Death” has two brilliant songs:  El Tokuni and Чорне Полум’я (Chorne Polumia) that I wanted to discuss before rounding up.

The song El Tokuni is a very brave one as it is sung in Faroers, a language that Helle herself does not master. Therefore, she had to listen to the original song to be able to sing it as this language is not recognized by Google Translate. This makes the song so worthwhile to listen.

Чорне Полум’я is the first time that IGNEA has done a song in Ukrainian. In my opinion the melody serves the language very well and they certainly should do it more often.

In short, IGNEA has been on fire since the pandemic by creating two astonishing videos Disenchantment and Jinnslammer and putting on top of that a brilliant album called ”Realms of Fire and Death” which showed how much the band has evolved since their latest album.”Realms of Fire and Death” is certainly a must buy. It is the best album that the band has done so far, but it is also done with great care, passion, dedication and talent.

”IGNEA IS A BAND WHOSE FIRE SHALL STILL BURN FOR THE COMING YEARS”
MAIr