Interview with Dødes kor (vocals & drums)

https://gravecircles.bandcamp.com/album/world-within-the-world

Grave Circles is a black metal horde from Vinnytsia region of Ukraine. Recently the quartet released their new album, World Within the World. I have arranged this interview with band’s founding member, and vocalist & drummer, Dødes kor for a month ago, but suddenly the band received heartbreaking news that band’s co-founder and guitarist, Kosty lost his life on Ukraine’s battlefield. During our email correspondence we decided to carry-on with the interview, despite of the current circumstances. So here comes an in-depth introduction to this brave black metal constellation.

MR: Can you tell us about the very beginning of your career? When and where was Grave Circles formed? What was the idea behind the formation of this band?

Dødes kor: I met Kosty a year after I formed Goatflesh.In 2013, he moved to Vinnytsia, where we ended up recording our first tape. During the recording of our second demo, Pilgrimage to the Icon of Sin, Kosty suggested we try something a bit different – a style inspired by bands like Plaga, DSO, and Ascension. This is how the song “De Laude Flagellorum” came to be. From there, we wrote Predominance and Thy Light Returneth, along with the three tracks from our first EP. In fact, “De Laude Flagellorum” already feels like the beginning of Grave Circles. We practiced the new material as a duo. I played drums, and Kosty handled the guitars. The name was changed to Grave Circles, and Tome I was recorded.

We never really overthought what or how we should play. Everything just flows from our passion for the genres we love, and that inspiration goes beyond just music. It’s a matter of feeling and creating. There’s no formula for this process, but the connection between music and thought is crucial to the alchemy.

To convey something meaningful to people, you need real experience. But not just any experience – it needs to be something beyond what the average person encounters. It could be the experience of someone who’s witnessed the horrors of war firsthand, someone who’s traveled to the most remote corners of the world, or someone who’s walked a spiritually transformative path.

Since I haven’t lived through any of those specific experiences, I draw my inspiration from books, art, underground films, and my own personal experiences. And sometimes, substances can offer a glimpse into other worlds. Music from other genres also inspires my thoughts, with post-punk and bands like the Danish ambient/drone project SOL serving as great examples.

MR: Thank you for this lengthy introduction to your band. What bands and artists have influenced Grave Circles then?

Dødes kor: Myself and Kosty were possessed by works of DSO, Ascension and especially Katharsis. I also remember that The Devil’s Blood and Darkthrone were some of Kosty’s favorite bands.

MR: Do you believe black metal music and culture has a larger role regarding the broader context of society?

Dødes kor: Black metal, culture, and society are incompatible elements. Black metal is the path of the loner, the path of someone who deliberately chooses a direction opposite to the crowd. Nonconformity, critical thinking, counterculture, it can be described in different ways. The majority is always wrong, as Edgar Allan Poe once said, and this is especially evident nowadays, when any ideology or media-regurgitated idea turns people into a herd of sheep. Modern black metal is no exception. Having become part of mass culture, it has lost its magic, turning into a plastic attribute of a new era, one that resembles a circus, where everyone is gathered either for all that is good or against all that is bad, and vice versa.

MR: Are you pleased with the reception of World Within the World so far? Any feedback from media and (extreme) metal fans?

Dødes kor: Yes, it’s always interesting to read comments and reviews, especially the controversial ones, but I honestly have no idea where to find them besides YouTube. People often expect something special from a band, but albums don’t always meet those expectations and I think that’s perfectly fine. That said, the feedback has generally been positive.

MR: What’s the lyrical content on World Within the World? What were you inspired by when composing this new opus?

Dødes kor: It’s difficult to isolate a single lyrical theme and stick to it consistently. It’s even more challenging to reduce it to a few buzzwords. It’s far more valuable for listeners to read the lyrics and interpret them in their own way, allowing them to form their own images based on what they hear. That’s what makes it much more interesting. I checked Metal Archives, and someone summed it up as: Satanism, Death, Human Decay – how can you possibly reduce lyrics to just three words? It’s rather amusing.

I believe it’s essential to have personally lived through the topics one sings about, both mentally and, at times, physically.

MR: Probably too early to ask, but do you have any personal favorites from World Within the World? Which song resonates with you personally the most and why?

Dødes kor: It’s hard to say, but probably “One More Drop” and “Yielding To The Embrace Of The Ground.” The latter captures a state of mental collapse, a terrifying descent into madness during a bad trip. It felt like a near-death experience, but one that allowed me to glimpse beyond to the other side.

MR: How long did it take to record World Within the World? Utilized any new recording techniques when recording this one, compared to its 2019 predecessor, Tome II?

Dødes kor: The album was completed in 2023 and was initially set for release in the spring of 2024. However, we were dissatisfied with the sound, so we decided to take matters into our own hands with the mixing and mastering. It took us a full year to gain the necessary experience, experimenting with multiple versions until we achieved the desired result.

MR: Are you satisfied with the way it turned out in the end or would you already like to change one thing or another on it if you would have the possibilities?

Dødes kor: Overall, I’m satisfied with the work as a whole. The final result truly captures the intended vision, perhaps even surpassing previous recordings. That was the goal: to break away from modern standards and create a sonic portal that leads into solitary, hateful wanderings, a gaze into decay and solitude.

MR: It’s been released by Schattenkult Produktionen. What can you tell us about this label? How did you get in touch with them?

Dødes kor: Grave Circles rarely release albums, so when I started looking for a label for the new release (five years after Tome II) it felt like starting a completely new band. We’ve never cared about social media platforms, and that likely worked against us; we don’t have a large following or much visible support, something I’ve come to understand is now essential for labels. I still despise this modern rule of the music industry.

I sent out a number of emails and even received some positive responses from reputable black metal labels. However, none of them were ultimately interested in releasing the album for various reasons. Some cited the current crisis and poor sales for newer bands, while others said their schedules were already full for 2025 and beyond.

Schattenkult Produktionen had previously released albums from two Ukrainian bands, Do Skonu and Shadow Ground, so we reached out and quickly arranged the release of World Within the World. The label’s strengths include great design ideas, fast production, and their decision to exclude digital sales from their page, all of which set Schattenkult Produktionen apart. It was definitely a pleasure working with them.

MR: The booklet for World Within the World looks both scary and incredible. What can you tell us more about it, and who was responsible for that part?

Dødes kor: The cover of World Within the World depicts the severed head of a deer, infested with larvae. A fly injects several larvae into the deer’s nose, which gradually grow, devouring the soft tissues around the tongue, eventually starving the animal to death. This serves as a metaphor: just as the larvae slowly kill the animal, so do the ideologies and religions injected by society destroy the individual. This concept runs like a red thread through all eight tracks of the album. The illustrations inside the booklet were created by the talented artist Gurge Feodor, influenced by the music of the new album. In both, I see humanoid figures undergoing metamorphoses, attempting to break free from their sculpted forms and surrender to catharsis.

MR: How does your creative process work? I mean, what’s the creative process like when four of you guys make a new song?

Dødes kor: Kosty was the firestarter, and I was the architect. He typically brought the guitar ideas, while I focused on the structure, arrangements, and building the overall composition. Our second guitarist, Veksha, contributed to about half of the album. Once a song was ready, we’d send it to Kate to lay down the bass line. I typically had a clear vision of the final outcome for each song, which made our collaboration run smoothly. However, there were times when Kosty wrote entire compositions, and I only contributed the vocals and drums. Songs like “Transfixing Inward the Human Essence,” “In Eternal Agonies” & “Pestilence and Death” were created entirely by him.

World Within the World was mostly crafted during rehearsals, which is why it has fewer tempo changes, simpler riffs, and more straightforward structures compared to Tome II. This gives it a sound that’s perhaps closer to traditional black metal.

The main riffs for songs like “Antithesis” and “Yielding to the Embrace of the Ground” were written by Kosty, for instance, while he was on home arrest after being released from prison. Living in the countryside, surrounded by fields, made it easy for him to focus.

Both Tome II and the foundation for the unreleased Tome III were entirely produced in DAW Reaper. We got high, drank, and did lines, all while living in an empty apartment. It was just a concrete floor, some windows, a PC, and a pipe with a bucket instead of a sink. I remember not even having a bed at the time, just a small carpet. That’s why Tome II is far from an easy-listening record (Laughing). It comes from a universe I don’t want to revisit. But still, it had to be done.

MR: What are some other hobbies and passions you guys have, regardless of music?

Dødes kor: Work takes up most of my time, so hobbies are pretty limited. I mostly spend my free time on work and making music, but when I get a break, I like playing Dead by Daylight, cooking, and reading. I used to be into sports, but I’ve lost the motivation lately. Veksha and Kate are both IT specialists. Kate also knits and records for other bands at her home studio. Veksha is a bit of a mystery. I’m not sure what he’s up to exactly, but I know he’s been honing his sound engineering skills and experimenting with retrowave electronics. Kosty served as infantry and a drone operator from 2023 to 2025.

MR: I read that you’re from Vinnytsia Oblast?! Is it far away from the front and how much are you affected by the current situation in your country?

Dødes kor: Fortunately, Vinnytsia Oblast is far from the frontlines, so it’s relatively safe here. Kosty was the only one of us who participated in the war. People can adapt to almost anything, so we continue to live as we did before.

MR: When did your interest in black metal start to grow and what is it that fascinates you so much about it? What have you been listening prior to that?

Dødes kor: I first got into black metal through the DSBM side. For a long time, I was into Funeral Doom and would dig through underground blogspots to find new music. Some bands mixed Funeral Doom with black metal, like Nortt, Dictator, Abysmal Sorrow, Arcana Coelestia/Urna, The Austrasian Goat, and Elysian Blaze. I never really connected with the sound of more popular bands like Dark Funeral, Immortal, or Dimmu Borgir, which led me to explore black metal from a different angle, more misanthropic and hateful. Kosty was into unholy acts like Svartidaudi, Deathspell Omega, Funeral Mist, and Antaeus, and we were both obsessed with the works of Clandestine Blaze and Katharsis.

With Grave Circles, everything just happened naturally. It’s more like a universal language for us to express our thoughts and ideas. It’s funny because a lot of the ideas come to us in a flash, and later we can’t even figure out how they came together. It felt like we were just the channels, transmitting something unexplainable, something that isn’t from this world.

MR: Now, would you tell us what’s the next step for Grave Circles now? Live performances in support of World Within the World? Any new projects in the pipeline that you can share with us?

Dødes kor: First and foremost, I want to finish the Tome III album. After Kosty’s passing, it’s become even more important because the album mostly consists of work we did together a long time ago but never released. Some of the songs are even older than our first full-length. I’ve almost finished five demo tracks, and the material is leaning more toward the style of our first EP.

Live shows aren’t an option right now, though, since our shitty government has closed the borders due to the war. Men aged 17-60 can’t leave the country. Before all this, we decided not to focus on live performances and instead concentrate on recording albums. Rehearsing the same songs over and over for one performance a year in Kyiv didn’t make sense to us, especially since there was no real audience for our music in Ukraine, even before the war.
I’ve stopped playing drums for now, but a couple of projects with Antti (Circle of Ouroborus) will soon see the light of day. There’s Rotten Moon, Celestial Silence, and another project I can’t reveal just yet. Goatflesh will release two new splits and a compilation soon, and we’ve also begun working on a new full-length, exploring some truly unique and unconventional musical ideas.

A week ago, I started creating drum patterns for a band from France. Maybe one day I’ll return to the drum set to record it.

MR: How can fans, new and old alike, best support you?

Dødes kor: It’s hard to say. These days, if someone listens to the band and gets what we’re trying to express, that’s already support in my eyes. Of course, fans can buy merch or CDs to help cover album costs, but I see that more as optional.

MR: I guess we have reached the end of this interview… If you would like to add something that we forgot to mention, feel free to do so now.

Dødes kor: Thank you. I believe it’s best to let the music speak for itself. People come and go, but music is eternal.