Shortly after the release of their artsy music video for the hard hitting song “Anna spí” and their brand new album “Anna“, Slovak dark, crusty, experimental post metal band NIČITEL are back to our pages with a special commentary about the story behind the new release and its lyrical concepts, touching on women’s struggles in the modern world and us being victims of a patriarchal society.
For the amazing video above, the band collaborated with the talented stage dance group Black Ladies and the excellent filmmaker Peter Čaja.
The album Anna will be released on 12″ vinyl through Slovak labels Totalitarianism Still Continues, Ingot, Jablká ďaleko Od Stromu and Skaven Records, Czech label Véva Records and Kazachstanian label Red Truth Records. 300 pieces will be available later this year. Today, you can grab the record through streaming services, including Bandcamp and Spotify.
Words by Tomas from NIČITEL’:
I want to be part of the solution, but I am also part of the problem – the story behind Nicitel’s new album Anna
The songs for the album Anna began to be created in early 2018. In autumn 2017, we released a 10” split with our friends from the band Zozoo and thought about what to do next in our music. We were sure that we wanted to work on the next album. We said we’d set up a fixed mode – we’d try to compose three songs every year, and within three years we could have the material for a new album ready.
The process of composing went at this snail’s pace. The idea that we would be hyperactive, as with the second album Matka (Mother), on which there were 12 songs and which we composed in a year, was unrealistic. The first reason was that with every new material, the songs are a little harder for us to compose. One does not want to repeat himself and therefor the process of creation takes longer. Another reason was that all of the band members are now married and fathers. It is necessary to set a healthy balance between family life, work and music. And thirdly, frankly, there was no reason to rush it anywhere. We are not doing this for the money and therefor there is no pressure.
We started composing the first track for the album Anna with our former singer Vlado. He participated in both the first and second album of our band Nicitel. Because of other life priorities, however, Vlado decided to leave the band. That’s why we finished the album with the new singer Ondrey Zintaer. I consider his contribution to the band to be essential.
It’s been more than 2 years since Ondrey became a member of our band Nicitel, and besides gaining strong and soul-crunching vocals for our band, Martin (drummer) and I found a great friend. It is this mutual friendship and interplay that I think fundamentally influences our performance on the album Anna and, overall, our live shows.
As with the first two albums, we set ourselves a fixed album concept from the beginning. The album was supposed to focus on a broader theme – woman and society. It was an area I wanted to devote space to as part of our band work, and the other band members agreed.
There is probably no need to comment a lot on the songs themselves. I think they all speak strong enough for themselves. At least that’s how we tried to compose them. Musically and lyrically, they reveal the painful downs of what a woman goes through in today’s society.
Yes, it is a male view and yes, although I want to be part of the solution, I am also part of the problem. That’s why, in my daily life, I try to decipher the sick patterns within myself that I acquired by growing up in a society, where a majority-recognized sick position of a man and a woman is already set up. These patterns are also present in me since I grew up and lived in this society since I was born.
Working on this album has given me the opportunity to learn more about this matter and, secondly, awake in a way. However, this was not a moment from which my male view on these relationships suddenly changed and afterwards I always behaved as I wished. Rather, a longer-term process of educating myself began, at the beginning of which there was an admission that I, too, had a warped mirror inside me in some form.
Tomas, Nicitel
