Ukrainian black metal trio WINDSWEPT have unveiled their latest single “The Potion,” a harrowing descent into witchcraft, hysteria, and human cruelty — drawn straight from the historical witch trials that plagued 18th-century Western Ukraine. The track is lifted from their forthcoming full-length, The Devil’s Vertep, due to be released December 12th via Season of Mist.
💀 Pre-order / Pre-save The Devil’s Vertep: orcd.co/windsweptthedevilsvertep
A Sonic Confession Born of Fear and Fire
“The Potion” serves as a pivotal chapter within The Devil’s Vertep — recounting the tragic confession of Oryshka Lychmanykha, a woman accused of brewing a poisonous elixir under the influence of witches from Berdychiv. This is not fantasy or folklore — it’s history reborn through distortion and fury.
Through jagged tremolo riffs, convulsive drumming, and tortured vocals that echo forced confessions, WINDSWEPT transform archival accounts from The Black Book of Kremenets Castle (1747–1777) into pure, unrelenting black metal expression. The result is a track that teeters between ritual repetition and explosive chaos — a sonic exorcism of guilt, paranoia, and damnation.
The Devil’s Vertep – History Reimagined Through Black Metal
Across six grim compositions, The Devil’s Vertep unfolds like a medieval tragedy in sound — tracing the cruel arc of accusation, torture, confession, and execution. Each song is a chapter pulled from the shadows of Ukraine’s witch trials:
- Infanticide
- Investigation
- Torture & Confession
- The Potion
- Nest of the Witches
- Verdicts
🕯️ – Recorded, mixed, and mastered at Viter Music.
The album’s stark visual aesthetic, crafted by Obsidian Bone, captures the ritualistic horror and cold dread that permeates every track.
Windswept – The Flame Behind the Frost
Formed in 2016 by Roman Sayenko (of DRUDKH fame) with two long-time collaborators, WINDSWEPT was born as a vessel for spontaneity and instinct — black metal in its most primal, unfiltered form. Their sessions were tracked in days rather than months, capturing raw vitality and an urgency that feels almost alive.
The band’s earlier works — The Great Cold Steppe (2017), Visionaire (2018), and The Onlooker (2019, Season of Mist: Underground Activists) — cemented WINDSWEPT as masters of desolate, uncompromising soundscapes. But The Devil’s Vertep marks a new evolution: an album where historical trauma, folklore, and black metal converge into one haunting narrative.
What began decades ago as fragments of an abandoned 1996 concept project titled KOZLONOGYI (Goat-Footed) has now been resurrected. Sayenko revisits those ideas nearly thirty years later, merging them with fresh creative fire to deliver a record steeped in both nostalgia and necromancy.
Windswept’s Return: Black Metal as Historical Reckoning
In The Devil’s Vertep, WINDSWEPT do more than retell history — they confront it. The album transforms centuries-old testimonies into living, breathing art — a grim reminder of what happens when fear is sanctified and reason burns.
Through their collaboration with Season of Mist, WINDSWEPT’s vision reaches beyond borders, offering not just an album but a document of remembrance — an unflinching look at human darkness refracted through black metal’s frostbitten lens.
WINDSWEPT – Line-up
- R. — Vocals & Guitars
- T. — Bass
- V. — Drums
🎧 The Devil’s Vertep arrives soon via Season of Mist.
📜 Listen to “The Potion” now and witness the next chapter in Windswept’s relentless evolution.
