IGNEA

Never underestimate the effort it takes to convert musical ideas to actual, tangible recordings. Although plenty of bands have it relatively easy when it comes to the pursuit of success, a much larger number have to dive through multiple rings of fire on the way to achieving any kind of recognition at all. Ukraine's IGNEA are arguably at the extreme end of that equation. "Monumental" is the band's fourth album, and it has been created under the most challenging of circumstances, as Russian bombs have rained down on their home city of Kyiv. Making a living from making music is seldom the easy option, and IGNEA have every reason to abandon their dreams. Fortunately, "Monumental" lives up to its title and is, in itself, a proud and purposeful middle finger to those who would seek to take away Ukraine's right to self-determination.

Pitched somewhere between glossy symphonic metal and something grittier and more ruthlessly contemporary, IGNEA's first three albums were awash with promise and potency. "Monumental" is where all that potential coalesces around a refined, upgraded version of that initial sound, with vocalist Helle Bohdanova firmly at the heart of things. Where previous efforts only hinted at a laudable progressive streak, these new songs go for broke, weaving enchanting keyboard ingenuity into IGNEA's thunderous, still-glossy barrage. The opening "Darkness" is a revelatory and triumphant starting point as a result. A bittersweet vocal melody glides serenely across ebullient power chords, as twinkling keys and a dreamy haze of artful ambience combine to drag it all skyward. Both faintly retro and stridently futuristic, it's an immersive antidote to all those symphonic metal albums that merely toy with the imaginative. IGNEA are audibly lost in a special, creative moment, and "Monumental" is tantamount to a dazzling, new manifesto.

The remaining songs sustain the magic. "Dreams of Lands Unseen" shares its title with IGNEA's third album but showcases the band's great leap forward with exuberance. From Bohdanova's feral growls to the intoxicating, upward spiral of synth solos and theremin-style melodic wizardry, it is an all-encompassing, bravura exercise in more-is-more-is-more. It also has a supremely catchy and uplifting chorus, which is no small feat considering how much else is going on simultaneously. "Presence of the Past" is less bombastic, but no less overwhelming: with furious blastbeats, tar-thick synthesizer smog, and big metal power chords that bubble up like volcanic surges, it is an elegant but brutal show of strength and individuality. The same could be said for "What Buildings Dream of", which shines a disorienting light on some urban phantasmagoria, with inhuman electronics that throb and squelch, and another bewitching, all-out squall of guitars, keyboards and drums, topped with Bohdanova's mesmerizing vocals. Even further away from the expected, "Prefab" is an infernally catchy collaboration with COMBICHRIST, and a monstrous, robotic sidestep into electro-metal that suits the Ukrainians perfectly.

Thereafter, IGNEA drift majestically away into the beyond. "I Am in Hell" is a sublime, synth-led torch song that would have suited any darkly poignant moment in David Lynch's filmography. "Between No Longer and Not Yet" is a bruised and exotic sprawl, wherein Bohdanova's abominable roar pulls IGNEA into death metal territory, but with the enigmatic, shimmering trappings of so-called Oriental metal woven into its multicolored fabric. In contrast, "Harmony Manufactured" is a straight-ahead, extreme metal ripper, albeit with the same ingenious blurring of genre lines, and a powerful and dramatic duet with HIRAES's legendary frontwoman Britta Görtz. By the time gentle outro "Nadir" sweeps the shrapnel away, "Monumental" has established itself as an unequivocal triumph and a bold, creative victory, snatched from the turbulent terrors of wartime dysfunction. Few albums released this year express such defiance and nobility.