Ukrainian modern metal band IGNEA have announced their highly anticipated new studio album, Monumental, set for release on October 23 via Napalm Records. The nine-track effort follows 2023’s Dreams of Lands Unseen and finds the Kyiv quartet exploring the many faces of nostalgia through a blend of crushing metal, industrial textures, and cinematic atmosphere.
Written during the ongoing war in Ukraine, Monumental is the band’s second full-length created under the shadow of the conflict. Much of the recording took place during the harsh winter of 2025-2026 amid freezing temperatures and extended power outages in Kyiv. Vocalist Helle Bohdanova penned all of the album’s lyrics, while keyboardist Yevhenii Zhytniuk composed the music with additional contributions from Bohdanova. Grammy Award-nominated producer Jacob Hansen handled mixing and mastering.
According to Bohdanova, the album examines nostalgia as both a comfort and a burden.
“Back in the 17th century, nostalgia was considered a deadly disease—and in many ways, it still is,” she explains. “It’s a universal feeling experienced by every human being, pulling us toward a past that felt gentler than it truly was. Much of this album was inspired by modernist architecture—concrete giants built to signal progress and a brighter future, now slowly decaying. They’ve become monuments to unrealized dreams, where the future that was once imagined never arrived.”
Musically, Monumental combines technical metal riffs, industrial soundscapes, orchestral flourishes, and soaring choruses to reflect the emotional highs and lows of memory. The opening track, “Darkness,” establishes the album’s reflective tone with melancholic passages, live choir arrangements, and blast beats, while “Dreams of Lands Unseen” revisits the optimism of the Cold War space race through marching rhythms, shimmering keyboards, and theremin melodies.
Other highlights include “Presence of the Past,” a meditation on urban decay and changing cityscapes, and “Prefab,” an industrial metal anthem featuring Andy LaPlegua of Combichrist. The album’s second guest appearance comes on “Harmony Manufactured,” where Bohdanova teams up with Britta Görtz of HIRAES for a mechanically precise yet emotionally charged performance.
The band also ventures into unexpected territory with “What Buildings Dream of,” an emotional metal ballad inspired by monumental architecture, the retro-futuristic interlude “I Am in Hell,” and the dark jazz-infused doom of “Between No Longer and Not Yet.” Closing track “Nadir” delivers a reflective orchestral finale that leaves listeners with a lingering sense of hope and melancholy.
Visually and conceptually, Monumental draws heavily from retrofuturism, modernist architecture, and industrial design, serving as both a tribute to the past and a meditation on futures that never came to pass.
Monumental Track Listing:
- Darkness
- Dreams of Lands Unseen
- Presence of the Past
- Prefab (feat. Combichrist)
- What Buildings Dream of
- I Am in Hell
- Between No Longer and Not Yet
- Harmony Manufactured (feat. HIRAES)
- Nadir
Monumental will be available on limited-edition splatter vinyl, solid silver vinyl, CD, exclusive merchandise bundles, and digital formats.
Monumental arrives October 23 via Napalm Records. Pre-orders are available now
IGNEA lineup:
- Helle Bohdanova — Vocals
- Yevhenii Zhytniuk — Keyboards
- Dmytro Vinnichenko — Guitars
- Oleksandr Kamyshyn — Bass