Hangover in Minsk was born out of discord.
After the Dark Easter Metal Meeting 2024, the members of Dymna Lotva (Nokt Aeon on vocals, Jauhien Charkasau on guitar/bass, Mikita Stankevich on guitar, and Wojciech “Bocian” Muchowicz on drums) couldn’t agree on the playlist and joked about an alcohol-fueled party between Munich and Warsaw. Their idea was born, and a year later, they unveiled Party is Over, their debut album.
Jane Kru and Andrii “Decider” Sogvar (FireHead, Requiem) are also credited on backing vocals.
The album gently begins with Farewell, the first composition with a melancholic introduction that gradually transforms into a mysterious ode, finally welcoming Nokt‘s clean vocals, before it in turn transforms into a howl of despair accompanied by intoxicating saturation. Silence descends before moving on to Drunk and Beautiful, where we are immediately drawn into a numbing torpor followed by waves of melodious darkness that regularly strike our minds, reinforced by the vocalist’s interventions, sometimes reassuring, sometimes threatening, but she willingly gives way to a refined solo before returning to haunt us until Fuck You, My Love, the next track. The band is accompanied by Déhà (Acathexis, Drache, Imber Luminis, Maladie, Slow, Wolvennest, Yhdarl…), who reinforces the vocal section, joining his own lament to a tortured rhythm to form a heart-wrenching duet with the young woman who plunges us into a deep, contagious gloom that slowly progresses in our minds between heavy tones and blasts until Devil in Me Wants to Dance. The rhythm is initially quite soothing, then suddenly bursts into flames, sweeping us away in its striking waltz, alternating between tranquility and more virulent parts that reflect the duality of the musicians, prey to this almost permanent conflict that rages throughout the song. The Cow Was Stolen From The Bar (again) takes its place with more catchy, almost playful tones in the drums and certain harmonics that fly between the roars and its various choruses or announcements before becoming more plaintive again, then giving way to Morning Mourning, where the introduction allows us a moment of respite. Although it resists for a long time, even welcoming clear vocals, it eventually disappears in favor of painful saturation and piercing screams, but it returns to support the solo before dissolving to let the musicians go wild one last time before passing the torch to Till Soberness Do Us Part. We are given a brief moment to catch our breath, but the violence seizes us once again, sometimes relayed by more hazy but equally suffocating parts that punctuate our progress, ending with Party is Over, the last composition where the musicians are accompanied by Kim Carlsson (Hypothermia, Ritualmord, ex-Lifelover) for a final drink with a touch of dissonance and more Rock-oriented accents that give substance to the depression that accompanies the vocalist duo in this existential and alcoholic quest for spiritual abandonment.
Although one might think that the band’s origins were nothing more than a tour joke, Hangover in Minsk weaves a unique and heartbreaking universe where the musicians’ dark touch is clearly recognizable. I don’t know if Party is Over will have a successor, but one thing is certain: it will spin like the dregs of a stale bottle.
95/100