Pavel Zelinka | 02.02.2023 17:17

A performance of the long-established one-man project Lamia Vox together with The Devil And The Universe awaits us in Prague already on Saturday in club Underdogs'. Before the concert, we didn't hesitate to ask Alina, who is behind the project, some questions to learn more about the background of her ritual endeavor.

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YOU ARE AN EXCEPTIONAL PHENOMENON IN THE DARK MUSIC SCENE. ALSO BECAUSE YOU'RE A FEMALE PERFORMER. HOW DO YOU PERCEIVE THE POSITION OF WOMEN IN THE DARK INDUSTRIAL SCENE?

The position has changed over the last decades, I must say. I am hard to impress, and these days there are more and more female performers which deliver the art on a certain creative level which really is bold, free and fresh. Ten years ago I would not be able to say that. If there is something we should thank these Liberal times for, it definitely would be a spirit of artistic freedom and the equal rights to be heard and get an attention, which women have acquired since the sexual revolution which took place in Western culture in the 1960s. If you are not quite familiar with how it was before, I would recommend watching an amazing movie “Sisters on Transistors”, you will see and understand the difference.

ARE YOU IN CONTACT WITH OTHER FEMALE MUSICIANS? BESTIAL MOUTH, HIMUKALT OR BEWITCHED AS DARK COME TO MY MIND...

No, I am not in contact with them exactly, but I am in contact with others, just the same as with male musicians, and they are many. Interesting enough, I have never done any collaborations with the female musicians in the whole entire history of my musical project.

WHAT WAS YOUR PATH TO DARK RITUAL MUSIC? WHAT IMPULSES LED YOU TO THIS TERRITORY AND WHAT IMPULSES TURNED YOU FROM A FAN INTO AN ACTIVE PROTAGONIST?

In a nutshell, my dark and ritual lifestyle. I just started to compose the same things I was surrounded by in my everyday life. I don’t remember a “fan” stage in my life though, quite in anything. I prefer doing not admiring.

HOW SIGNIFICANTLY DID THE RUSSIAN SCENE SHAPE YOU AT THE TIME, WHEN YOU LIVED IN SAINT PETERSBURG AND HOW DIFFERENT WAS IN YOUR POINT OF VIEW FROM SCENE IN EUROPE, HOW YOU REFLECTS IT IN EUROPE TODAY?

I think the question confuses me a bit. I have always thought that we are creating or shaping the certain scene, not the scene shapes us. Or at least this is how it supposed to be in my humble opinion. So no, the Russian scene did not shape me, neither did I shape the Russian scene though, moving out from the country almost right away after I started to perform. We do not share much of adventures together, me and the Russian scene. I am thankful for the solid start, though.

JUST A FEW MORE WEEKS AND YOUR SECOND ALBUM “SIGILLUM DIABOLI” WILL BE TEN YEARS OLD SINCE ITS RELEASE. WHAT PATH DID YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH BEFORE THE ALBUM WAS RELEASED ON THE PRESTIGIOUS CYCLIC LAW LABEL? WHAT DOES THIS ALBUM MEAN TO YOU AFTER A DECADE?

Wow, time flies and only I get younger and younger. Joking. Or not, actually, I am not. Since this album I tend to be less and less “strict” and “serious” and that gives me an amazing feeling of creative freedom, which in fact the people very much appreciate. I won’t leave them without a fresh recording for so long anymore. Sorry my dearest admirers for I have sinned.

Regarding the path did I had to go through before the album was released on the prestigious Cyclic Law label, there was no special heavy and hard path. If I am not mistaken (or I might forget stuff after ten years) he saw me live at Wave Gothic Treffen festival and he said he liked what he saw, so when the material was ready I just asked him if releasing this material would be of any interest.

Good album, I still like it, overwhelmed with passion and faith and very dramatic. Nowadays I would be not generically able to compose something like this.

IN 2020, YOU RELEASED THE DISTINCTIVE ALBUM “ALLES IST UFER. EWIG RUFT DAS MEER”. YOU USED A LOT OF RHYTHMIC INSTRUMENTS IN IT. I ALSO FEEL LIKE YOU EMPHASIZED YOUR VOICE MORE. ARE THERE ANY OTHER MOMENTS THAT YOU WOULD CALL IMPORTANT OR NEW REGARDING TO THE NEW RECORD?

Yeah, this is exactly what I was talking about above. This album is an example of creative freedom I had and I was really free to deliver the main idea and in the shape only I was about to decide upon.

I must say that the rhythm is my personal kink. I am a mature techno-kid with a looooong record and a brutal stamina (my brothers and sisters in arms know what I am talking about, haha), so for me to compose this way was the most natural thing to do. I will do more, in the future.

Important is the message of this album, in general. It was in its own way my ode to the current Fin de siècle epoch as I see these obscure and interesting times which are unfolding around us. Tomorrow, the old sense of many things will be gone for good. The world won’t be ever the same again, and we have changed. For the first time I decided to incorporate the lyrics to the layout design so that you understand for sure what exactly senses and values we have lost in this brave new world.

JUST AS YOUR MUSICAL FACE IS CHANGING, DO YOU FEEL THAT THE THEMES YOU DEAL WITH IN YOUR MUSIC ARE ALSO CHANGING? WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST THOUGHT IMPULSES THAT ARE CURRENTLY INSPIRING YOU?

And again, I partly answered this one in the question above. Yes, I gave those themes highly precious to me the last rite with my last album and moved on, with a slight bitter aftertaste of the loss. You will know about the current impulses when the time comes, I am not into giving the spoilers.

LAST YEAR YOU PERFORMED IN SWEDEN AT A SPECIAL FESTIVAL DEDICATED TO THE COLD MEAT INDUSTRY LABEL. HOW DID/DOES THE CREATION OF THE PROJECTS PRESENTED HERE INSPIRE YOU.

Cold Meat Industry is a historical epoch and which opened an unprecedented field for the enormous amount of creative endeavours out there. As the underground musician exploring it, I owe a lot to this had to happen.

WHAT DO CONCERTS MEAN TO YOU? DO YOU CONSIDER THEM AS A NECESSARY EVIL OR ARE THOSE MOMENTS THAT YOU REALLY LOOK FORWARD TO?

A necessary evil for sure. But this is about to change soon. You will see.

WHAT ARE YOU UP TO AND WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON?

I am starting very promising collaboration which might sound a bit too harsh for many, simultaneously working on my new material and one surprise :)