Arctic Dreams is a Serbian-German sympho-industrial-black-death-metal band originally founded in 2009 year in St.Petersburg, Russia by Alexander Alex_Y Järvinen (vocal/guitars/music/lyric) and Igor Sydius Pokatilov (back-vocal/guitar) and based in Belgrade, Serbia. The name of the group is the quintessence of the traditional values of Northern Scandinavian Metal, in the music of which the themes of the North, winter, cold, polar night can be traced. In the lyrics of the composition, completely different themes are raised, ranging from deeply abstracted themes to the plots of famous movies and videogames that form their own Arctic Dreams meta universe. The band was a studio project for a very long time, more than 10 years, but in 2020 they decided to return to full-fledged activitie
"Storm" Single Review
The track starts with atmospheric tones before erupting at the seams with guttural screams and blast beats that grab the listener with its intensity. Symphonic melodies join the fray and add even more dynamic elements while barreling full speed ahead. Somehow the track doesn't slow down even as it speeds past the midway point, if anything it picks up steam with its oustanding guitar solo around the three and a half minute mark. The closing of the track keeps the whirlwind riffs and aggression at 11 as it caps things off.
Verdict:
Arctic Dreams unleash chaotic carnage with their new single.
-Interview- (9/2/26)
1. What's new with Arctic Dreams?
"So, after successfully warming up for HATE last September, we decided to finally gather our strength and finish our second full-length album. Work on it actually began back in November 2024, when our drummer Roman recorded his parts, but with how busy we all were, we simply couldn't find the time to complete it. Still, presenting fresh material was the logical next step for us.
You know, our first album, "And The Agony Has Started," lingered for a long time like unfinished business, and honestly, its material feels dated to us today. By that I mean we wouldn't write something like that anymore - we've grown as musicians, and our style has evolved along with us. That said, "And The Agony Has Started" has some strong moments that people still listen to, and it remains a snapshot of its time and a page in our history.
So with the second album, we decided not to let it drag on. For about half a year we stepped away from playing live and focused entirely on the record. We refined the arrangements, wrote orchestral parts we'd never used before, and - my own personal addition - choir parts. I used to use them sparingly, but there's plenty of them in the new material. This final push began in September 2025, and our second LP, "Letargin," was released on April 6, 2026.
We had planned major touring in support of it, but unfortunately we had to pass on many events due to circumstances mostly beyond our control. So far we've played a couple of shows - in Belgrade and in Niš - and we're now preparing for our set at Hellhammer Festival Open Air 2026 here at home in Serbia. But we're not giving up, and we're always on the lookout for new opportunities to perform.
And one more piece of news that means a great deal to me personally - while we were working on "Letargin," my daughter was born.”
2. What do you want listeners to take away from your new music?
”Well, first of all, as I already mentioned above, our arrangements have become more complex in places and more interesting, and the tempo of the compositions has generally gotten faster. Also, for the first time on this album, we experimented with a ballad - "And I Will Be Your Angel."
The material is fundamentally different from the first album. Where "And The Agony Has Started" was a collection of stories (for example, the one about the Saw and Gordon Freeman from Half-Life), "Letargin" turned out to be a concept album overall.
Running through the tracks is the story of a man who went through a war and can't escape it. The narrative begins with the protagonist defending a fortress against enemies ("Glory Forever"), then he ends up in the Dyatlov Pass incident ("Frozen Little Beings"), then he's carried back to the age of the Vikings and takes part in a raid ("Storm"), and after that we send him, conceptually, into an Orwellian dystopia ("2084"). The next composition, "Despot & Tyrant," is a monologue by an evil autocrat, a master of lives and souls, who poisons the hero.
And so, step by step, the listener arrives at the title track, "Letargin." Here the approach is completely unexpected: for one thing, the composition is very long, almost nine minutes, with a fairly complex symphonic arrangement, a slow section, and two guitar solos. The essence of the track is that our hero plays a card game against a character we invented - the Ace - trying to win himself peace and absolution from the horror of war that haunts him. The finale tells us that the hero has, after all, lost his soul to the Ace.
But let's continue our journey through the album. Having lost the game to the Ace, our hero decides to leave this world ("To Meet The Heavenly Light") and comes to his little daughter in a dream ("And I Will Be Your Angel"). After saying goodbye to her, the hero faces Judgment ("Second Circle"). "Second Circle" was based on Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. And the final composition - the hero comes before the Slavic goddess of death, Morana ("Morana").”
3. Out of all of the years you've been together, what are the top three moments with the band that blew you away?
”I can't say we've spent a lot of time together, unfortunately. The members we started Arctic Dreams with more than 15 years ago have scattered around the world, and with many of them I don't even have contact anymore. And since we became active again in the current lineup, a lot of members have changed, so I can't say we spend much time together either.
That's why I think it makes more sense to answer what struck me personally, as the founder and the driving force behind Arctic Dreams.
First of all, I was struck by how far the level of modern technical solutions for musicians has come. My life worked out in such a way that I was performing actively from 2007 to 2011, and then I had a huge break. We only started performing again last year. And you know what I'll tell you? It was significantly easier for me to get back into live activity. We were able to afford professional equipment that either didn't exist 15–20 years ago, or if it did, cost astronomical money.
The second thing was probably the show with the Poles in HATE. For the first time we got to watch how a professional metal artist works, from the moment of load-in to the moment of load-out.
And the third moment happened recently, when we started arranging shows and tours outside our Serbia. We found out the hard way how much it takes out of you in nerves, money and time - and what a swamp it is in general.”
4. What's been the inspiration behind your music artwork?
”The cover features the protagonist of the story and the Ace looming over him. By the way, we're thinking of making him our mascot - maybe.”
5. What advice would you give to an up and coming band?
”I’d advise them to find a good job. Or some other good source of income. Because when you start a metal band, you need a lot of money. A lot. I’d also advise them not to expect immediate success. Because before you see your first successes, you have to go through fire, water, and copper pipes.”
6. What's your favorite track of yours to play live and why?
”This will be the title track from the new album, Letargin. The song is very long, featuring an acoustic section, a rich symphonic arrangement, and several solos.”
7. What's your thoughts on AI in music?
”Oh, this is a huge topic. Honestly, it deserves a separate interview of its own, ha-ha. I've gone so deep into it that one weekend I sat down and wrote out all my thoughts on the subject in something like a small brochure.
Look, I have a fairly interesting and unusual vantage point: on one hand I'm a programmer, and right now I'm working on integrating AI everywhere I can; on the other hand I own a recording studio where we record live music. And here's what I can tell you: modern AI is excellent at solving business problems quickly and at lower cost, but it has nothing to do with creativity. Any neural network, whether it's a language model or generative AI, produces its output based on the millions of samples it has copied into its memory.
But unfortunately, technological progress can't be stopped, and I think its effect on music is bad. First of all, digitalisation on its own has been bad for music. It's now available at any moment on streaming platforms, and it has turned from a cultural value into the background noise of everyday life. You no longer have to search for, order and wait for a vinyl record, a cassette or a CD of your favourite artist's album - everything is already there in Spotify on your phone. And with the arrival of Suno, absolutely EVERYONE can make music, which kills the whole point of starting a musical project.
You'd think that was the end of everything, but no. For one thing, I'm glad that platforms and labels have started tracking, labelling and removing AI-generated music - life has become a little easier. Even before that, the accessibility of technology meant a huge amount of music was being released, and with AI-generated music that volume has grown exponentially. So it's become extremely hard for a real artist to get their music through to a listener. These days you have to put in a lot of effort and money just so your fan actually hears you.
Second, speaking specifically about metal, the community of metal fans is conservative by nature - fortunately. It's hard to sell them mass-produced filler; it gets rejected immediately, with rare exceptions. Yes, neural networks have now reached a level where you can't tell on first listen whether something was generated or recorded. But I've noticed again and again that you listen to AI music exactly once, and you never want to put that track on again. Simply because it sounds like ten thousand other tracks just like it.
Let me take this thought a bit further. Why do we have all these legendary artists and their recordings from the '70s, '80s, '90s and 2000s - the pre-digital era? Why do we still listen to them every day, and why are they still headlining festivals and filling halls and arenas on tour? Because in their time everything was analogue: the recording was done on tape and the mixing was analogue too. It was hard work, but those recordings were UNIQUE. Because so many factors shaped them: the artist's mood, their way of performing, the mains voltage at that particular moment, even faults in the equipment. Every one of those nuances was a brushstroke of that uniqueness. And what does a neural network do now? It just takes that uniqueness and copies it on the user's prompt. Where's the creativity in that? What is the listener supposed to be paying for?
You know what I think about all this? That the metal listener is getting more and more tired of this whole digitalisation of music. Which is why you have to record as much as possible live, and show the listener that you're making this music live, in order to earn their trust. At any rate, that's the direction we've chosen for Arctic Dreams.”
8. Out of all of the physical formats that are creeping back up in popularity like cassettes, CDs and of course vinyl, which one do you prefer as an artist and also as a fan?
”All three. Each format, in its own right, is part of our culture. You know what's important? We need to instill these formats in our children. ”
9. What do you want to accomplish before the end of 2026?
”To be honest with you - I don’t know. We originally planned to release an album and tour in 2026 and 2027, but so far, things haven’t gone at all as we planned. For now, we’ll take it one step at a time and keep you and our fans updated on what’s happening. Thanks for the interview!”
-Interview- (9/14/25)
1. What's new with Arctic Dreams?
Alex Y: Mike, hello! It's been ages since we last saw each other!)) So much has happened)) First of all, unfortunately, the co-founders of the project, Sydius and Nenad, have left. Distance takes its toll...Sid lives in Berlin, and when the question of concerts came up, we realized that he wouldn't be able to come to the Balkans. It's a shame, of course, we worked together for more than 10 years. Nenad, of course, didn't stay with us for very long, only two years, but he managed to make a serious contribution to the project.
This year, we finally got back into concert activity. We played in Belgrade and Niš, and we hope to play in other cities in Serbia this year. Gena finally switched from bass to guitar; he is a guitarist after all. We were joined by the wonderful charismatic bassist Mirko Deathlord and the brilliant keyboardist Ivan Kleiner, who our project was sorely lacking. They are participating in today's interview, by the way. We slowly began not only to gain concert experience, but also to build our own show production. Much has been done in this direction, and much remains to be done. We believe that the local audience welcomed us very warmly, and the crowning achievement of our activities this year was a concert with the legends of the Polish scene, Hate. We have definitely moved to a new level. I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank Hellhammer Promotion and Marco personally.
Gena: There's a lot of new stuff going on, we're working on a new album, new live shows.
Mirko Death: Well, we are recording new songs.
Roman: We are working on a new album and right now planning a single release before it.
Ivan: Working on a new album.
2. How's the new music comiung along and and is there a release date for it?
Alex Y: You know, we started working on our second album back in early 2023. But we had problems with the drummer after we moved. At first, our friend Marko Mitrovic helped us with the drums. But after a while, it became clear that he wouldn't be able to invest as much time as we needed. And that's when Roman, our current drummer, joined the project. That was in June 2024. It took him some time to learn the material for the new album, and in November 2024, he recorded all of his parts for the album. But in 2025, we switched to touring and didn't do any studio work. Basically, our 2025 concert season is coming to an end, and we plan to focus on completing the second album. We don't have any specific details yet, but we plan to support the album with concerts in the spring of 2026.
Gena: It's difficult to say when it will be ready, but we are working on new material in the studio.
Mirko Death: It's going quite well. Got a lot work yet to be done, but soon very soon album will be seeing the light of day.
Roman: I don’t think we can tell you the exact date because it takes forever to bring everything together.
Ivan: As far as I know, new album is aimed to be released next year.
3. What can you tell us about inspiration for the new music?
Alex Y: We continue along the same lines we started on our first album: we draw inspiration from everything we like, but filter it through the prism of Arctic Dreams.
Gena: It's like taking a shit... sometimes it happens naturally, and sometimes you have to strain to make it happen.
Mirko Death: I personally finding inspiration in slavic mythology and current social issues.
Roman: I just love good stories.
Ivan: Alex and Gena are composers so the question is for them.
4. What have you been listening to lately?
Alex Y: You know, lately I've been listening to what I'm walking to. My main focus is on participants in major European metal festivals. Over the past three years, I've managed to attend three Vaken festivals, the French Hellfest, and the Belgian Graspop Metal Meeting. These are the biggest metal festivals in Europe.
Gena: Protest the hero.
Mirko Death: Trivium.
Roman: Yesterday, I was at the Blind Guardian concert.
Ivan: Depeche Mode.
5. Do you have any pre-show rituals before performing?
Alex Y: We haven't performed enough yet, so we haven't come up with any yet.
Gena: Have a beer or two.
Mirko Death: Nope.
Roman: No.
Ivan: No.
6. What's one thing you'd change about the local music scene?
Alex Y :You know, we need a good (meaning big enough) metal festival. With big, interesting headliners. I don't think we'll be able to do something like Graspop or Hellfest in the coming years, but a festival like Romania's Posada Rock is well within our reach. It's a small, cozy festival, I think between 2,000 and 5,000 people, held in the province where Count Dracula's castle is located. Despite the relatively small number of visitors, the organizers bring in cult headliners. In 2023, these were Carcass, Sodom, Crematory, and even Royal Hunt)) Well, and a few more interesting headliners. Yes, maybe there aren't that many heavy music fans in Serbia itself for such a festival, but Serbia is geographically well located. People from neighboring countries can come to such an event.
Gena: More places where musicians can hang out and play live shows.
Mirko Death: More clubs for metal bands in every city.
Roman: More ads and promotion.
Ivan: More places for local metal bands.
7. What's your favorite show that you've played and why?
Alex Y: It was definitely the performance on September 4th together with Terrorhammer and Hate. The guys below answered this question before that concert, so their answer doesn't count, ha ha ha.
Gena: All live shows are unique, and I love them each in their own way.
Ivan: I am new to the band so I played only one gig so far.
8. Any plans for any new music videos?
Alex Y: We will definitely make a second official video for the future album.
Gena: There are many plans, but as always, there is little time and few resources.
Mirko Death: Yes there is. We are brainstorming about ideas.
Roman: I remember we discussed something, but it was just not a serious draft, so I wouldn’t say that there is some real work with it going on right now. Maybe one day we will do it.
Ivan: I am not yet familiar with such plans.
9. What do you wish to accomplish for the rest of the year?
Alex Y: Maybe a couple more concerts and definitely work on finishing the second album.
Gena: It would be nice not to die.
Mirko Death: Wish we play all around the world.
Roman: Survive =).
Ivan: To finish recording of all the synth parts for upcoming album.
-Interview- (6/25/22)
