Interviews About Albums: Vyr Muk - Crosses Above the Ruins/ Хрести Над Руїнами (2026)

In this new interview, we sat down with the Ukrainian Blackened Death Metal project Vyr Muk to ask questions about their album, "Crosses Above the Ruins/ Хрести Над Руїнами".

1. What can you say about this new EP/CD?

The new EP explores the emptiness left behind when violence becomes part of everyday existence. The songs move through themes of emotional death, isolation, inner emptiness, hatred, grief, and the struggle to preserve one's humanity in a world shaped by war and destruction.

Musically, Crosses Above the Ruins combines the aggression and brutality of death metal with the bleak atmosphere, dissonance, and darkness of black metal. The result is a hostile and oppressive soundscape reflecting both external violence and the psychological wounds it leaves behind.

2. What is the meaning of the EP/CD name?

Crosses Above the Ruins symbolizes death and destruction. The crosses represent the dead — soldiers and civilians who have lost their lives because of war. The ruins in this case are not merely buildings, they represent everything that war has taken away.

3. Which one is the composer of the CD/EP?

I am the composed of the EP and LTVN helped me to improve the drums parts on all songs, so, all the drum parts in these tracks were written by him.

4. If you had to pick one song, which one would you pick?

I would choose the last song from the EP — "Millstone of History." I really like its musical composition and the inherent brutality it possesses. The lyrics touch upon the cyclical nature of history: it repeats itself over and over—people go through the path of technological progress, yet remain the same as they were thousands of years ago.

5. Is there a special message in this EP/CD?If there is what it is?

At the heart of the EP lies a dark reflection on a world where terror, dictatorship, violence, and the law of force continue to determine the fate of millions. History appears not as a lesson humanity has learned from, but as a circle endlessly repeating itself. Empires rise and fall, borders are redrawn through blood, the powerful crush the weak, and generations inherit the consequences of conflicts they did not create.

One of the EP's central images is the metaphor of cancer. An aggressive state is portrayed as a malignant force that does not remain confined within its own borders. It spreads, consumes, destroys, and attempts to transform everything around it according to its own will. Like a disease left untreated, its expansion brings suffering far beyond its original source.

The EP also speaks of resistance, revenge, and retribution. When homes are destroyed, lives are taken, and freedom is attacked, resistance becomes a refusal to disappear. Revenge is presented not simply as an impulse of hatred, but as the dark consequence of violence inflicted upon others.

6. Are there some lyrics that you'd love to share?

All lyrics on the EP is made in Ukrainian, I would share the translation one song, of course the rhyme will be lost but reader will be able to catch the sense.

Ash in a circle, blood in a circle—

The clanking of metal shackles is heard.

The words have changed, but the meaning remains the same:

The strong devour the weak, for no reason at all.

Into the darkness, into the dust—

A cycle of oppression that breeds fear.

We are the echoes of bygone eras,

The grinding of gears that has not yet ceased.

Ash in a circle, blood in a circle—

The clanking of metal shackles is heard.

The words have changed, but the meaning remains the same:

The strong devour the weak, for no reason at all.

History is a verdict with no room for remorse—

A closed circle devoid of compassion.

Dust to dust, again and again—

A cycle of decay, war, and blood.

7. Which inspirations have been important for this album ? Like musically or friends, family, someone you'd love to thank specially?

The inspiration remains the same as for all previous releases, war in my home country and people facing its consequences on everyday basis.

8. Something to add?

Nothing to add, thank you for having me for this interview.

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