Onatra - For Your Soul
For Your Soul / За Твою Душу
CD Info
2012
Self Released / Ukrainian
3 Tracks
Ukrainian & English Lyrics
We often get contacts for music from a variety of sources. The most common is from a label, and they can be a pain in the ass, I sometimes ignore them. Others come directly from a band, or from a member of a band. Those I generally pay attention to. I may not actually write a review, a lot are just beginning and not all that good, although I will give them a serious listen just to make sure. Others are every bit as good as any of the label stuff. And, in some cases, they’re better. A lot of this stuff comes from Eastern Europe, and I’ve covered my share of Russians and others from the former Soviet Union. Well, Onatra is from Ukraine. From a small city in the west called Lviv, not all that far from the Polish border, which is surely a good sign, given the outstanding music from that country. But the Ukrainians are pretty good too, I don’t always get a lot of cooperation from bands in that country, but, when I get an Eastern European band that wants to work on something, I jump at the chance. And, Onatra, although a very young band is as good as 90% of the big names out there already IMO; I can listen to their material all day. The three track EP we’re focusing on here, and, assuming your Ukrainian is as limited as mine, that title translates to For Your Soul, will be part of this review, we’ll also talk about some additional material, all of it available here. I spent a fair amount of time interacting with the band, at least part of it. Drummer Marta Medler is the English expert of the bunch so most of my interactions went through her. And, she is a thoroughly enjoyable lady, this review will include components of those conversations, it’s going to be a hybrid, review / interview. Something of a first for the Zine but it’s not a sin to try something new, at least in most instances. I can recall a few chemicals in my youth that give lie to that assumption, but that’s another story.
This is symphonic metal, the band started out with a keyboard player doing the symphonics but, when she left for academic reasons, the band decided to continue without that component. They said they couldn’t find anyone of the same caliber. So, we have symphonics that are developed by other means, in this case, via the use of VST instruments on a midi. And, they’re good, more than good in fact. Of course, most people use samples. And you have to wonder if, at some point, the computer will be able to replace the entire band, complete with computer generated band members. . . Somewhere Elvis is getting worried, and the labels are licking their lips. But, it’ll be a long time before the computer can program someone as interesting as Marta for me to bullshit with. We talked about much more than just music. You can’t program cool, at least not yet. And the lady is cool.
The three songs on the EP are За Твою Душу, Shadows' Steps and With You. Each is a strong symphonic metal offering. However, there are several other titles available on the same site. They include Lies and Butterfly, which are singles, and Dance With the Wind, which is referred to as a demo. The vocalist is Iryna Vitiv, she’s a student, and a serious vox. The girl can do it all, the soft, the hard, the howling, this is what we want in our Gothic metal, this is what turns our soul, this is what keeps us alive. Guitars are provided by Sergiy Vladarsky and Dima Dvugroshev. Sergiy also does the programming, the dude has talent, I can understand the lack of interest in another keyboard player. And, of course the killer percussion is done by my lady Marta, and she looks good doing it.
I have to tell you, much as I like the vocals of Iryna, my favorite selection may be an instrumental selection Dance With the Wind. This is some serious symphonic metal. And, you really have to wonder why the band wouldn’t want a full time keyboard player to perform something this good live. Well, this and related topics were addressed during our conversation, here’s some parts of the discussion, which involved the entire band but filtered through Marta, the lone English speaker.
Doctor T: When you’re doing your lyrics, are you doing a direct translation?
Marta: When I write lyrics, I write directly in English. But, we have someone else and she writes lyrics in Ukrainian. The song Four Soul and Shadow’s Steps originally in Ukrainian and then later I translate them.
Doctor T: But when you write, you write in English?
Marta: Yes
Doctor T: There's two things here, there’s music and there’s lyrics. Does somebody do the music and then you do the lyrics or how does that work?
Marta: OK I write lyrics and Sergiy, he is composer for For Your Soul, Shadow Steps and With You, the music. I also write music, the song Lies, I write more slow music.
Doctor T: Could you ask Sergiy about the samples.
Marta: We use VST instruments to get symphonic part of our music. We create MIDI on our computer and then we put VSTs on MIDI. After that Sergiy equalizes them, so that it sounds ok.
Doctor T: Are you at all giving any thought to bringing on another keyboard player?
Marta: At first we had a keyboard player but she went to study in another town. She was very good, we were very despondent that she left us. And we didn’t want to search for another keyboardist. We didn’t want any more because we didn’t want to change, she was our best and we didn’t want anyone else. After that, the second try we made, we found the keyboardist, but it was not successful. After that we didn’t want anymore.
Doctor T: What can you tell me about your vocalist?
Marta: What do you want to know?
Doctor T: Something about her background, her training, that sort of thing.
Marta: Ah, when she was at school, she learned music at the musical school. She graduated at piano lessons, but she also attended vocal lessons too.
Doctor T: So, is she a full time musician, or does she do other things too. What’s her commitment to the music?
Marta: Ah, she studies at the university Biology. But she is a member of Onatra from the beginning. I joined later. Onatra had once started, before it was created, maybe three years, but it changed its members and it was not successful and we do not consider it as Onatra. Onatra is what we are today, although we had a long story.
Doctor T: So, the word Onatra, is that from another music title?
Marta: (Laughs) I will tell you, Onatra, I do not know how to explain this, I just had this name in my mind and I liked it very much. I played in another band, and I just wanted another metal band with the name Onatra. And when I told Sergiy about this name, he accepted it and said cool, let it be Onatra. He also found a French transportation company called Onatra.
Doctor T: What is it, the word?
Marta: In France, I think, it is a firm of transportation, trains, busses.
Doctor T: So why wouldn’t you use a Ukrainian word.
Marta: What do you mean?
Doctor T: You know, use a Ukrainian name, a Ukrainian word.
Marta: (Laughs) OK, there is Ukrainian word that sounds like Onatra, it has one more letter. Ondatra, it’s animal. And people always when they hear Onatra, they say, you mean Ondatra. It’s not the same thing.
Well, I looked up that Ondatra thing, it’s a small, not particularly attractive rodent. I can understand the band’s reluctance to have a hard tie in to it. But clearly, a more enticing Gothic symbology might be appropriate; this is fine Gothic sounding symphonic metal. And, lyrically, there is potential. This is especially true of the Ukrainian lyrics which Marta shipped to me, translated from the original Ukrainian to English. They’re interesting and I’ll provide some of that translation below, however, the title track, За Твою Душу or For Your Soul, just has to sound better in the native tongue. Ukrainian, like Russian, is a beautiful language, spoken and in song, and it has to be easier to write the lyrics in your own tongue. However, the lyrics do translate to a suitably dark musical statement:
Our small paradise / Was here, on Earth, Like stars in the sky. / Now it is ruined, It burned away suddenly, / And covered my head with ash.
Hard Chorus
For your soul I will be defeated. / For your soul I will forget your offences. For your soul I will die.
The black crow is flowing to me, / Through the darkness and coldness. Bringing sinister memories and tears
The music seems to capture much of the symphonic Gothic coming from Eastern Europe, and it’s as good as any. As I may have mentioned previously, this is a very young band with little history to draw upon. They’re working hard to increase their musical library and hope to have sufficient material for a full CD in the relatively near future. You can’t help but pull for them, there’s never enough strong symphonic metal in the world. Let’s hope this sound grows, it’s sure on the right track now. За Твою Душу indeed.
9.5 / 10
