We had a chat with Helle Bohdanova of Ukrainian metal band IGNEA to discuss their second album, Monumental, out this October, which was recorded during Kyiv’s wartime blackouts. Helle talks about making music during the war, the emotional state the record explores, and her advice for women in the music industry.

Reuel

Hello Helle! I’m very excited to be talking with you. How are you doing?

Helle Bohdanova

Hi! Thank you for having me. Honestly, I’m barely functioning after another night of drone and missile attacks in Kyiv. But there’s no time to complain, and I’m really excited to talk about our new record.

Reuel

This is awful! I hope this aggression against Ukraine will end soon.
Your new album Monumental will be released next October. How are you feeling right now as you prepare to share this chapter with your fans?

Helle Bohdanova

Extremely excited and terrified at the same time. We’ve spent so long on this album, and now it’s almost out of our hands. It’s very diverse, and every song plays its own role and shows the theme from a different angle, so it’s a lot to put out there.
What I hope for most is that people will listen to it from beginning to end. It’s a journey through different sides of nostalgia, and the songs make the most sense together. If listeners take the time to dive into the theme and go through the ups and downs with us, that would mean the world to me.

Reuel

Robert Hayden said, ‘All art is pain suffered and outlived.’ Considering everything you went through while making this album in Kyiv, do you see Monumental as a reflection of that pain, or a way of overcoming it?

Helle Bohdanova

It’s the fifth year of the full-scale war in Ukraine, and we’ve never romanticized it and don’t want to. I understand the idea behind the quote, but it’s hard for me when people suggest that we should turn our pain and suffering into art. Those who see the real war and its horrors don’t want to relive them through music. That’s our perspective, at least.
It’s also hard to be creative when you have to fight for your survival every day. Blackouts, air raid alerts and constant uncertainty take a lot of energy, and that’s energy we’d rather put into music. I’m sure that when the war ends, we’ll be much more productive and have far more room to create.
Of course, the war shaped how the album was made. We recorded most of it in the winter of 2025-2026, in extreme cold and during long power outages in Kyiv. But I wouldn’t call Monumental a reflection of that pain. It’s about nostalgia, lost futures, forgotten architecture and the beauty that’s still hidden in places people have stopped noticing.

Reuel

Between retrofuturism, urban decay, and nostalgia, Monumental explores some really unique concepts. What kind of emotional state do you hope those themes evoke in the listener?

Helle Bohdanova

All in all, this album is sort of a dreamscape.
I’d like listeners to feel something bittersweet, the kind of gentle sadness that nostalgia brings. In Greek, nostalgia combines homecoming and pain, and I wanted the album to hold both. It can bring back beautiful memories, but they’re darkened by the awareness that those moments won’t happen again. That tension between memory and the present, loss and hope, is what I’m trying to capture.
But I don’t want people to walk away feeling only melancholy. Nostalgia is something every human experiences, so I hope the album feels like a ride with ups and downs, including some anthemic, uplifting moments. The building on our cover is a good picture of it. Its circular shape feels closed and strict, but it leaves the sky open, so you can still look toward a brighter future.
Ideally, people also come away seeing forgotten places differently. While working on this album, I discovered so many beautiful buildings, architects and monumental artists, and it made me appreciate things I used to overlook. If listeners start noticing the mosaics and modernist buildings in their own cities, I’ll be very happy.

Reuel

There are a lot of different musical styles on this record. What was the most fun, or most surprising, track for you to work on musically?

Helle Bohdanova

Prefab was probably the most fun to work on. It’s an industrial metal track, and it pulls the record furthest from what people may expect from us. Having Andy LaPlegua of Combichrist on it made it even more exciting, because he brings a completely different and yet, missing energy. The song is about prefabricated housing, uniform spaces where only the tenants change, so the harder, colder, more mechanical sound suits the theme.

Reuel

If all the tracks on Monumental came to life and became real people, which one of these songs would be your best friend?

Helle Bohdanova

I’d say What Buildings Dream Of. It’s the song that started the whole album. Yevhenii wrote the first demo, and it sent me searching for the concept that became Monumental, so in a way it’s the friend who introduced me to everyone else.
It would be the friend you can have a deeply philosophical conversation with, the kind that starts with a quiet talk late at night and somehow ends up on the meaning of space, memory and time. But it wouldn’t be all deep thoughts. It would also be the one who pulls you into an adventure, like exploring an abandoned modernist building at sunrise. It can be thoughtful and adventurous, and I like that mix in a friend.

Reuel

With the album coming out in October, are there any plans for live shows or a tour soon?

Helle Bohdanova

Yes. This November, we’re hopping on an EU/UK tour as special guests to Evergrey. I’m extremely excited about bringing this album on stage.

Reuel

That’s great! We have readers from all around the world, including women who still face barriers, and even persecution, in the music industry. What message would you like to share with those who dream of pursuing a music career?

Helle Bohdanova

As a Ukrainian who faces challenges every single day, I’d say: find the strength you have inside you and pursue your career if that’s what you truly want. It’s a tough business and a tough world, and I won’t pretend otherwise. But we’re lucky to be alive, and we’re lucky to have other brave women who paved the way into this industry before us. They made it possible for us to be here, and you can be the one who makes it easier for the next generation.

Reuel

Thank you for your time, Helle! Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Helle Bohdanova

Thank you so much for having me! I invite everyone to pre-order our upcoming album Monumental and/or pre-save it on Spotify and other streaming platforms of your choice. We’ve also put a lot of effort and resources into the music videos for Monumental, and they complement the album, so please check them out too.
And please keep supporting Ukraine and Ukrainian artists. It means more than you can imagine. All in all, I hope to see you on the road somewhere!