Ukrainian modern metal band IGNEA have released “Darkness,” the second single from their upcoming album, Monumental, due October 23 via Napalm Records.
Filmed in Kyiv, the accompanying music video ties directly into the album’s central theme of nostalgia, capturing the city’s modernist architecture, subway stations and streets while reflecting on memories of a past that can never truly be recovered. Part of the video was filmed at the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, connecting the album’s fascination with urban spaces to generations who once imagined and helped build the city’s future.
“Darkness” moves between eerie, melancholic passages and expansive choruses before reaching a climax featuring a live choir against blast beats. The contrasts mirror the emotional push and pull of nostalgia: comfort found in memories alongside the realization that those moments are gone.
The circumstances surrounding the video added considerably more weight to its imagery. IGNEA filmed in Kyiv amid missile and drone attacks, with the band working after one of the largest attacks on the Ukrainian capital and later filming while air-raid sirens and drones could be heard overhead.
Vocalist Helle Bohdanova explains:
“‘Darkness’ is about the rides we take into nostalgia when the present gets too heavy — and how bittersweet it is to realize you can never actually go back.”
She describes the song as a nostalgic ode to the band’s hometown, revisiting buildings, streets and places connected to childhood, relationships and people they have lost. With some of those same places now threatened or destroyed by war, the memories have taken on an increasingly painful meaning.
Monumental is IGNEA’s second full-length album written during the full-scale war in Ukraine. Much of the recording took place during the winter of 2025–2026 amid freezing temperatures and prolonged power outages in Kyiv.
Following 2023’s Dreams of Lands Unseen, the nine-track record examines different manifestations of nostalgia, ranging from Cold War-era dreams of space exploration and technological progress to decaying modernist architecture and personal and collective memory.
Bohdanova wrote all of the album’s lyrics, while keyboardist Yevhenii Zhytniuk composed the music with additional contributions from Bohdanova. Grammy-nominated producer Jacob Hansen handled mixing and mastering.
Musically, Monumental combines technical metal riffs, industrial elements, atmospheric sections, melodic passages and large-scale choruses. Its visual identity draws heavily from retrofuturism, monumental architecture and industrial design, creating a record centered on lost memories and futures that were imagined but never realized.
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 arrives October 23 via Napalm Records on CD, digital and multiple vinyl editions. Pre-order
IGNEA will spend November and December supporting Evergrey on the Architects Of A New Weave European Tour 2026, alongside Stellar Circuits. The extensive run begins November 11 in Lund, Sweden, and concludes December 12 in Maastricht, Netherlands.