Almost four years after the acclaimed Vsesvit, Ukrainian one-man atmospheric black metal band Severoth is back with a new studio album. Multi-instrumentalist Illia Rafalskyi took some time to gather his thoughts and introduce his latest work as follows.

“Originally, By the Way of Light was intended as the spiritual successor for Vsesvit. I started working right after Vsesvit was finished, I wanted to create something powerful, energetic but yet light and bright. Something which will inspire people to be better versions of themselves. And to remember that there is always hope.

Music was mostly composed and recorded at my home studio in Dnipro, Ukraine. Actively crafted from 2021 up until 23th february of 2022. And intended to be released somewhere in 2022. But on the 24th of February my family and I woke up at 4 am from the sounds of distant explosions… That is when the Russian invasive full-scale war against Ukraine started. And our lives changed forever…

For a full year since then I haven’t created a single note for this album and my mind was far from music, with exception of the second song, “Sons Of Steel Will”, for which I wrote lyrics in September 2022, inspired by the events of that period.

Later in 2023, after more than a year of ongoing war we moved to a safer place and I was able to finish the album. So, I’ve spent around half a year working and re-working the material. In the summer 2023 drums and missing vocals were recorded. Music and lyrics I wrote myself. Lyrics are in Ukrainian, but translations in English are featured in the booklet. The cover art and all inner illustrations were done by my wife Julia (UD).

I’m glad I have had the opportunity to finally finish this album and share it with the world.”