By Dig Dirkler…..Buy us a Coffee on Ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/capitalchaostv
What happens when human flaws stop being abstract ideas and become demons with names, identities, stories, and sound? For Lithuanian metal band BLACK SPIKES, the answer is Ydos — a conceptual journey through human vices that blends progressive metal, electronics, orchestral textures, rap, mythology, and cinematic storytelling.
Rather than creating a traditionally autobiographical record, the band built a new universe where ancient-feeling mythology meets deeply human emotions. Yet, as vocalist Agni explains, the distance between fantasy and reality is not as great as it might seem. The characters may be mythical, but many of the emotions behind them come from real experiences.
From the unexpected origins of “Apatija” and the emotional prison of revenge in “REVANA” to Lithuanian witch trials, mystical coincidences, experimental production, AI, and the practical nightmare of hauling a drum kit up venue stairs, BLACK SPIKES reveal how Ydos grew into something both fantastical and intensely personal.
Ydos is built around personified human vices rather than individual life experiences. What inspired you to explore human flaws through mythology and storytelling instead of writing a more autobiographical album?
Agni: We decided from the beginning that this album would be a conceptual journey — a fairytale that each of us could connect with in our own way. Although we’re creating a new universe of demons representing different human vices, many of the stories are actually rooted in personal experiences and in our own interactions with these vices.
So even though the album isn’t directly autobiographical, there is still a lot of ourselves in it. We wanted to create something that could feel mythical and universal, while at the same time being emotionally personal and relatable.
Each vice on Ydos has its own name, identity, and story. Which character was the most difficult to create, and did any of them surprise you by taking on a meaning you hadn’t originally intended?
Agni: Yes, there is one song on the album called “Apatija.” Its lyrics are written in a very traditional Lithuanian folk style, with imagery and repetition that are common in old Lithuanian folk songs.
I actually wrote the lyrics while experimenting with different genres and trying to combine the feeling of these old, almost archetypal folk texts with the modern electronic sounds composed by Yaga and Mažvis. The song tells a simple but quite heavy story: a mother is left behind, planting roses and mourning her son, who has gone far away and never returned. In the end, she remains alone, and the roses almost consume her.
What’s interesting is that when I wrote the text, I wasn’t specifically thinking about the vice of apathy. That connection came later, as we were developing the characters and the stories of the album. Looking back, it actually made a lot of sense — the endless waiting, grief, and emotional numbness in the story gradually became a kind of apathy. So I think this was one of those moments when the character and its meaning emerged naturally from the music, rather than being deliberately designed from the beginning.
This is your first concept album, and you’ve said the idea guided the entire songwriting process. Did working within a strict narrative give you more creative freedom, or did it create limitations you had to overcome?
Maz and Yaga: I can’t say that restrictions or an attachment to conceptuality existed from the very beginning. We already had some music written when Agni and Sime came up with a concept. Since the lyrics and the instrumental come from different people, we had to find ways afterwards to carve out space for the vocals or add some support to create a cohesive story. In some cases, a particular vice just naturally found its home because of the mood and soundscapes of an instrumental piece.
Your music blends progressive metal, electronics, orchestral elements, rap, and cinematic storytelling without losing its heaviness. How do you keep those influences balanced so the songs still feel like BLACK SPIKES rather than a collection of different genres?
Yaga: Music taste, musical background, and trusting your ears. We are not afraid to experiment with the combination of elements, but we always try to strive for those variants of songs or their parts that we really like, and which, in our understanding, are similar to compositions. And yes, I don’t rule out situations when we don’t know what we’re doing. It so happens that those of us who write music have a certain emphasis, and this has its own originality.
Your music explores demons, mythology, and dark philosophical themes. Do any of you believe in paranormal or extraterrestrial life, and have you ever experienced something you genuinely couldn’t explain?
Yaga: I think each of us has some kind of connection to the mystical. However, I haven’t really explored the others’ attitudes toward mysticism. Perhaps the person among us who is closest to the mystical is Sime. Personally, I like observing everything that happens around me, including the things that may be difficult to explain along my path. What makes me believe in something mystical are the signs and coincidences that seem to lead to success.
“REVANA” presents revenge as something that keeps people trapped rather than bringing closure. Has your own understanding of revenge changed while writing and performing this song?
Agni: This song was difficult to write in that sense because I’m not really the type of person who seeks revenge. So I had to dig quite deep and imagine how I would feel and how I might act if I were consumed by the desire for revenge. I think all of us have had people in our lives who didn’t deserve our presence, and without whom our lives might have been much happier. But revenge can’t change what happened, can it? It only keeps you trapped in the same painful feeling where the anger was created in the first place. You keep coming back to it, reliving it, giving it your energy.
While writing and performing “REVANA,” I think my understanding of revenge became even clearer. For me, revenge is not really about the other person anymore — it’s about whether you choose to remain connected to something that hurt you. I’ve always chosen to forget and move on. Not because what happened didn’t matter, but because I don’t want to carry it with me.
The “REVANA” video draws inspiration from the 17th-century witch trials in Lithuania. Why was it important for you to connect that historical injustice with the album’s broader themes of human vice?
Agni: For me, the connection came quite naturally because the story of the witch trials shows how human vices can grow beyond the individual and become something collective. Fear, suspicion, anger, and the desire to punish someone can create a situation where people stop questioning their own actions because they believe they are doing the right thing.
Witch trials are a very powerful example of this. People were accused, judged, and punished, often based on fear, superstition, or the need to find someone to blame. And I think that connects strongly with “REVANA,” because revenge also begins with the feeling that someone deserves to be punished.
What interested me was this contradiction: when you feel that you have a reason to hurt someone back, it can almost feel justified. But once you become consumed by that feeling, you can lose yourself in it. So the historical story became a way to make the theme of revenge bigger — not just a personal conflict between two people, but something that can affect entire communities and generations.
I also wanted to remind people that these things are not only part of some distant past. The emotions behind them — fear, anger, judgment, the desire to blame and punish — are still very human and very present today.
AI is becoming increasingly involved in music production, songwriting, artwork, and even promotion. Where do you see AI fitting into the future of modern metal, and where do you think artists should draw the line?
Yaga: Probably for creating some great strategies to promote the products and music. And from music writing sight, I see it working as a great creator for ideas, sounds, rhythmic patterns, samples or vibe, but nothing more. I would not trust it for creating a full song because of losing the originality and interest of the process.
Which piece of gear—whether it’s a guitar, amp, effects pedal, synth, plugin, or even a microphone—has become absolutely essential to creating the BLACK SPIKES sound on Ydos?
Yaga: For the demos, we were mostly using our guitars, the Neural DSP Soldano plugin, GGD One Kit Wonder Metal plugin. For electronic elements, it was a Serum plugin and a lot of samples on my MacBook. For the DAW, it was Logic Pro and Reaper.
Since “REVANA” revisits the history of witch trials: if you could learn one completely harmless witchcraft spell for everyday life, what would it do—and who in the band would probably misuse it first?
Tita: I’d want a spell that instantly teleports my entire kit onto the stage, set up, tuned, and ready to go! Carrying hardware up venue stairs is the least punk thing in existence.
Who misuses it first? Probably me, to be honest. I’m the chaotic one. I spent our tour running out first to rip drum solos and play local meme songs to hype the crowd. Give me magic, and I’d definitely use it mid-solo to make my drumsticks shoot pyrotechnics or confetti, or levitate myself above the crowd.
But Yaga would abuse it in the laziest way possible. His favourite trick at load-in is pulling a literal vanishing act. He calls it being ‘mysterious’, but we all know he’s just hiding. If he got that spell, he’d use it to teleport straight to the couch backstage before the van is even parked, leaving us to lug all the stands and cymbals up by ourselves. Love the guy, but his ghost routine is an art form:D
BLACK SPIKES ARE:
Agni — Vocals
Yaga — Guitar, Electronic elements
Mazvis — Guitar
Sime — Bass Guitar
Titas — Drums
With Ydos, BLACK SPIKES have created more than a collection of songs about darkness. They have built a mythology where human weakness becomes character, history becomes metaphor, and personal emotion can hide inside a fantastical world of demons and vices.
What makes the concept particularly compelling is that the band doesn’t treat mythology as an escape from reality. Instead, it becomes another way of looking directly at it. “Apatija” transforms grief and emotional numbness into a character; “REVANA” turns revenge into a psychological prison; and the story of Lithuania’s witch trials reveals how fear and the desire to punish can grow from individual emotions into collective violence.
Musically, the band takes the same fearless approach. Metal, electronics, orchestral textures, rap, folk influences, and cinematic elements are allowed to collide, with instinct and experimentation acting as the common thread. Ultimately, Ydos seems to ask a deceptively simple question: what happens when we give our worst human impulses a face, a name, and a voice?
BLACK SPIKES’ answer is a dark fairytale — but one that may feel uncomfortably familiar.
Categories: Interviews
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