From a Withered Land to a Cryo Depth: An Interview with Olga Kann

Olga Kann is a creative tour de force in extreme metal. With multiple projects that range from black metal, deathcore, symphonic death metal and even dark ambient. While also creating such creative and diverse musical soundscapes, she also aims her creativity in countless forms of multimedia. From music video production, photography, and designing cover artwork for not only her projects, but other bands as well. With her symphonic black metal project Withered Land about to release their second album Hall of The Dead this fall.

I sat down with Olga to talk about all of her musical projects, how she channels her creativity and fighting the dreaded “writer’s block”, and how Warcraft saved her life.

Viewing The Hall of The Dead: Withered Land

FMP: Withered Land is your one-person symphonic black metal project that you formed in 2020. What made you decide to launch the project?

Olga: I had the idea to create a black metal project for a long time. There were a number of tracks that were waiting for the moment to be released. To be honest, I would like to create an album in each of my favorite genres, I have too many blanks. The conceptual first album took shape almost immediately, from the first to the last song it turned out to be complete. It was composed almost on one similar inspiration. For me, it is like a book of five chapters. The second (future album) was already more difficult to compose. Much time passed, I was busy with other projects, my strength was running out. Nevertheless, I recorded the instrumental part relatively quickly. And the vocals were recorded several years later. I needed to gain experience, besides, this was the first experience of recording vocals on my own.

As for the music, I wanted to do something interesting in style, make the album faster, angrier, but at the same time preserve the mysticism and lyricism. This is also a conceptual album. I was constantly redoing something, even the art and videos were redone many times. At some point my patience snapped and I decided to finish it in order to calmly continue creating the next tracks. When I created the project, I didn't really think that it would be a serious matter. At that time, Monumentum Damnati was in full swing. But gradually time passed and I understood in which direction I wanted to move more.

Initially, the project was conceived as a studio project, but now I even have a concert lineup. And, probably, there will be concerts soon, but I would like them to be held not regularly, but on special occasions, I don’t want to bore the public.

With this project I feel like a living person and can embody those dark fantasy images that I always wanted. To live in those worlds that are inaccessible in reality. I do not make music for money, I see my heritage in music first and foremost. When I created this project, I just wanted to give life to my developments, now this thirst only intensifies and grows every day.

FMP: Did you always strive for it to be a one-person led project?

Olga: On the one hand, my credo in life is "if you want to do something well - do it yourself". On the other hand - it's hard work and it's exhausting. I have a rather complex character, although who has an easy one? I know how to work in a team, but this requires serious motivation, or I need to be a leader in this team, to feel useful.

In different years of activity, my projects had full-fledged line-ups; for concert activities this is an important factor, but for studio work it is not necessary. Often in my life, I met such combinations of musicians - skilled/quarrelsome or lazy/compliant. It is unclear what to do with this. Through trial and error, I just do what I do, meet those who are interested in creating a worthy art object together, and then, if we are comfortable working together, we continue to collaborate. I'm not afraid to work with people in sessions, it's a great exchange of experience, variety, experiments. I do not accept toxicity in relationships, which immediately throws off many candidates. Everyone has their own expectations from the project, I have my own different priorities and this is normal.

Working solo, I get an important advantage - to make decisions independently, allocate time according to my strength, inspiration, choose a strategy for promo and music creation. It is important to me that my colleagues live in the same inspiration as me, otherwise what is the point of the group as a collective? This is a very controversial issue with no correct answer. Whichever side of the scale outweighs (pluses or minuses) that path a person chooses.

FMP: Though you write the music and the lyrics, although you don’t do vocals on the band’s debut The Endless Journey. Out of curiosity, is there a reason why you chose to have vocals being handled by someone else? You did take on lead vocals on the song “Through The Winterhold's Blizzard”. What inspired you to finally take on lead vocals for the song?

Olga: At that time I had not yet studied vocals professionally, and of course the first logical thought was to record an album with a professional. Closer to the recording of the second album, I had already studied quite a lot, took lessons from several teachers and thought that the time had come to do it myself.

I was tired of sitting in the shadow of the bass neck hehe and I decided that it was time to do at least one project where I could convey my art with words. I still think that there are many people who would record vocals more professionally, but it would already be a retold story. I want to convey my story as an author myself and now I have some skills to do it. There is still a lot of work ahead, but I am never afraid of it.

FMP: The band is about to release their newest album Hall of The Dead on September 19th. What can fans expect from the follow-up to The Endless Journey?

Olga: First of all, fans should be prepared that this will not be a sequel, but a separate story. Only one of the tracks on the album can be associated with the debut release - "Revenge of The Fallen". In this song, the main character of the debut album will find his final rest. Hall of the Dead is inspired by the Elder Scrolls series and cinematic atmosphere. There will be a lot of new things both in terms of theme and style. Here you can hear my clean vocals for the first time, by the way. At the same time, the future album is very aggressive and angry, but at the same time there is quite a lot of lyrical content on it.

My philosophy is simply understanding that the ending is always the same in the end and no matter how you feel about it, it is neutral. Death is neutral. It is not a choice, not a gift, not a curse, it is part of the path. Seven conceptual songs are the stories of travelers who died in the forests of Winterhold in different ways. This is a rethinking, and then inevitable acceptance. There is also one special track on the album that will delight fans of Tolkien with its references: "All Dead, All Rotten" - a story about the prehistory of the Dead Marshes. The two instrumental tracks were originally written as instrumentals, as if they were game soundtracks. They tie the stories together and give the listener time to catch their breath.

This album also featured ethnic instruments - Karelian-Finnish kantele, Scandinavian tagelharpa. This is a very interesting experiment. I think it would be great in the future to release many separate tracks or entire albums of purely acoustic type with only ethnic instruments.

Beyond The Wall of Sleep: Monumentum Damnati

FMP: The next project I’d like to talk about, cloaked in mystery, is Monumentum Damnati. Leaning more towards the death/doom genre, where did the influence for the project to steer into that direction come from compared to your others?

Olga: This is my very first project, it was created together with my husband and drummer, Vadim, in 2012 under the name Sleepless Anger. At that time, I played bass in another project, Moonway (gothic doom). Initially, it was planned to play something melodic and gothic with doom elements. We released several singles (which were later re-released under a new brand). We performed at several concerts, including a large festival organized by me in 2014.

The vocalist of that time left for Poland, he became an excellent tattoo artist, but gave up music. Gradually, the guitarists began to show less activity in their activities. It was a wonderful line-up, inspiring and probably the best in terms of memories. But it also disappointed me in the group as a phenomenon. Even then, I was thinking about going solo. I took a break from music for several years, including to improve my health.

Returning to the case around 2017, I started recording a new album, a debut. The name of the band changed to a magical Latin one - Monumentum Damnati. I found a line-up, invited a session vocalist from Beyond The Darkness. During the recording process, vocalist Thanatos joined the band on a permanent basis.

After the release of the debut, a number of events happened that are still perceived as a nightmare. And the pandemic, and political mass repressions, then total isolation from sanctions. It's not so easy to live here, let alone make music. The second album was ready quite a long time ago (2022-2023), but it was only released now.

In terms of style, I initially wanted to make MD melodically doom-death. Romantic gothic was also mixed in here. On the second album, the vector shifted to dark metal/symphonic death, symphonic black. To something more evil, fast, gloomy.

Now I think that if I find the strength to implement new MD tracks, I would like to return to the roots, but add even more tragedy and doom in combination with occult mystery. I have many plans, but so far I do not have the strength to implement them.

FMP: The band’s imagery is so macabre and dark, very Lovecraftian, especially on the artwork for the band’s most recent record From Beyond. Who came up with the imagery approach to match the darkness and bleakness of the music?

Olga: Thanks. I come up with all the themes, Lovecraft is my serious source of inspiration, as is horror literature in general. Also, Gothic Victorian classics like Edgar Allan Poe excite the soul. Masks, images, all this is also the fruit of my sick mind. At the same time, I constantly draw inspiration from different sources, from different stories. On the debut album in the booklet, you can see sinister clowns, historical photos with tanks, a gloomy creature in a gas mask. It's all a macabre allegory, a theater of the absurd, perhaps. Horror in our lives surrounds us everywhere, I'm just trying to look under this gloomy canvas in my own ways. MD is a rather visually oriented project. I have many ideas for a theatrical show that could be realized in live performances. But at the moment, any concert activity seems a dubious undertaking in such difficult times. At the same time, I constantly draw inspiration from different sources, from different stories.

FMP: When you designed the artwork for the album (which is pretty sick looking I might add). Did you have an idea of what the cover was going to look like while making the music or just randomly came to you?

Olga: To be honest, just like with Withered Land, the covers and videos for the tracks of this album were quite difficult for me. I did it all alone - art, filming and editing videos/scripts, etc. I think if I hadn't been crazy to begin with, I would have gone crazy from such activity. I was very tired and at a certain point in time these ideas, sinister and creepy, just came by themselves. And at some point, reality merged with fantasies and it was impossible to distinguish what was real and what was not. A scary time, but inspiring. This is how an artist lives.

No Remorse, No Redemption: Bleeding Malice

FMP: Bleeding Malice is a deathcore project that you have with Alexander Rabets. When did that project form?

Olga: This project was formed as a joke during a friendly get-together. As a result, I wrote an album quite quickly, Alex wrote some lyrics. And we recorded this album in a pretty tight timeframe. I was least worried about what I would compose, it was a kind of experiment and challenge to work with a genre that was not typical for me. Initially, the drummer wanted to play hardcore, closer to punk, but I ended up making metal out of all this, as always.

Last year we even managed to play a few live concerts. But at this stage, the project's activities are frozen. The material turned out great, I remember some moments of the performances with warmth, but overall I don't get the emotions I want. And despite the fact that this project acquired a full-fledged line up, I didn't feel the contribution of the other participants, it was still the same project of 1/2 people.

FMP: The band’s 2021 debut, Thy Kingdom Come, is a concept album. Can you explain what the concept behind the album is?

Olga: This is, in general, the most realistic album in terms of stories that I have ever created. Largely because I trusted the vocalist to write the lyrics, except for two songs. I came up with the title of the album almost immediately, because I knew what I needed to talk about and what kind of music this was. It is dualistic and simple at the same time. It shows how real monsters hide behind the guise of morality, religion and ostentatious virtue. This is about how the world should not be. Drowning in sins, anger, greed, everyone is ready to snatch their place in the sun. At the same time, this is universal sadness, the pain of a person who is lonely by nature. His awareness of the inaccessibility of the Absolute. When he calls the abyss and even it does not respond.

FMP: The band released a new song last year “The Judgement Day”. Is this the start of a new concept album for the band’s follow up?

Olga: This is most likely not a new beginning, but the end for the group. At least in the form in which it previously existed. As I said earlier, I do not receive the emotions and recognition here that I expect. My strength, energy, time are not unlimited and I choose a different vector of development. I respect the work that was done and will remember this project fondly, but right now I definitely need to reboot from certain things.

Immersed in The Abyss of Madness: Life For Ner'zhul

FMP: Your symphonic death metal project Life For Ner'zhul debuted this year with the song “The Scourge of Lordaeron”. Can you explain the formation of the project?

Olga: This project is now one of my main musical activities. It is still far from the ideal that I would like it to be. But it is a big step away from my usual style of work. I have a lot of tracks in stock and they are all quite different in genre. Initially, I thought to work in a slam key. But then something went wrong. However, the material mainly revolves around death metal with different variations. There are many interesting feats ahead. For now I am working on the skills of lower extreme vocals, and also working on arrangements (as usual it is quite a tedious task and not fast). In general, I still need to build some ziggurats.

FMP: According to the band’s Bandcamp page, the project is dubbed “Warcraftian Extreme Metal”. What makes the Warcraft series so captivating to make music about it? Is the writing process just playing World of Warcraft or original Warcraft?

Olga: Warcraft literally saved me from death several times. I'm not kidding. Stupid thoughts in the heads of teenagers are common. And when certain life circumstances are imposed on them, pressing like a press, in the absence of support, something very fatal can happen. In my case, I was lucky, I had Warcraft and a community of friends who pulled me out of the abyss (or from the noose, to be sure, haha). Instead of worrying about real problems, we killed heroes and died on the battlefield ourselves. Real life with its shit was left behind, which I am immensely glad about. This escapism saved my ass when it seemed there was nowhere to expect salvation.

I also think that all my life I was in love with Arthas and his dramatic story was somehow embodied in my life, where my heart was broken in exactly the same way, forever and irrevocably. Probably from the moment when my heart turned into a block of ice, I truly felt life and the opportunity to create. Not just something mathematical, but something real, suffered through one’s own feelings.

So besides it being just a cool universe with rich lore, characters, locations, dynamic games, books, etc., it's also a pretty personal universe for me.

If we talk about specifics, then I prefer to play classic Warcraft and Dota. Also I read a lot of books in this lore.

FMP: Is there a new EP or album in the works for Life For Ner'zhul? If so, will it be in 2025?

Olga: Yes, new material is being prepared, there will be many invited guests. Most likely, I will release individual tracks, promote them individually, and when the time comes, I will release an album. It would be great to make videos with cosplay in the Warcraft universe in the future. Some tracks are conceived as fun-metal. I want to take a break from serious philosophies and make just cool humorous tracks, with funny content that will give listeners smiles and brighten up even sad days.

Orchestrating Haunted Stories: Cryo Depth

FMP: Your last project I’ll be talking about is the dark ambient project Cryo Depth? When did you start that project and what influences you to write music for it?

Olga: I get a lot of inspiration from movies, games, as you know. I needed a separate project for instrumentals, and moreover, I always wanted to make music for games & movies. Cryo Depth can already be heard in several games, including the Chernobyl disaster.

This is about the atmosphere. Soundscapes are not music in the generally accepted sense. Not hits to dance to in bars, but something associated with visual images, maximum synergy with the visual, to which the brain creates the environment itself.

I also have tracks in a neoclassical key, they differ from soundscapes/ambient and look a little more musical in the general sense. But both tracks are more about immersion. About certain states.

FMP: What is the writing process like for making music for this project?

Olga: Depending on what kind of track it is, the creation process differs. I mainly use a MIDI keyboard with various samples, I also use field recordings. I immerse myself in the atmosphere of the subject in which I want to create music, catch the mood, try to determine the color and smell of the environment where I am. To understand what kind of character I am, what surrounds me and what the plot is. And based on this, I make general sketches, harmony and finalize.

FMP: Are there any horror film composers that inspire Cryo Depth? And are there any ambient projects you love that people should check out if they are a fan of Cryo Depth?

Olga: I'm a big fan of old school horror films. There's a whole category of composers there, many of whom recorded their music with an orchestra. But at the same time, I also love modern composers. Oh, that's a tough question. I am a big fan of horror atmospheres like Resident Evil. I also like works of Charlie Clouser, the sad stories of Akira Yamaoka or the epic scenes of Jeremy Soule. I love classic music so much. The list of sources of inspiration here is endless.

FMP: Is there any film directors that would be your “bucket list” to score a film for?

Olga: To be honest, I am ready to collaborate with absolutely any horror director, just for the idea. Depending on the plot, I am also ready to work in other genres (thrillers, detectives, historical dramas, etc.). Of course, I also hope that guys like James Wan, Damien Leone, Ari Aster, Jordan Peele and of course Tim Burton reading this article, and I want to take this opportunity to tell them - guys, write to me, and I will make the best soundtrack for you absolutely free!

Delving into The Creative Mind

FMP: I’ve always wanted to ask this to someone with so many projects. With so many bands that you have, ranging from all sorts of different genres and styles, is it hard to pinpoint what song or lyric goes to what particular project?

Olga: In general, it's quite difficult, but I have my own classification system. And it's mostly tied to the theme/atmosphere of certain tracks/albums. By changing the arrangements, changing just the vocals, you can radically change the genre of the same song. But I try to initially understand for which project I want to finalize the existing material. I come with a certain inspiration, which is superimposed on the song. And then everything falls into place.

Withered Land is about dark fantasy, but also romanticism. About battles and fights, epic nature, magical Middle Ages, folklore legends and pagan traditions. These are walks through Skyrim with a sword in hand. Stylistically, everything that is closer to classic black, folk, viking - I send here.

Monumentum Damnati is more about horror, pomp, dark stories, creepy mythology, Lovecraft, , Poe and their colleagues, Victorian gothic, the smell of damp cemetery earth. Here I try to make tracks closer to dark metal, somewhere doom, somewhere a little black, death, melodic doom/death.

Bleeding Malice was a project where the most important thing was to show human feelings, his nature, vices and stylistically it is closer to the -core subgenres.

Life For Ner'Zhul is the Warcraft universe and something in between death metal, deathcore with symphonic arrangements (because I can't live without it :) ).

FMP: You design the artwork for the albums for the projects as well. Did you have an idea of what the cover is going to look like while making the music or does it just randomly come to you?

Olga: Many bands treat covers and clips rather superficially, they are a tool for promotion, and for some it is just a formality. For me, art, videos and everything I create with my own hands are part of my heritage, art in all its manifestations. Creating all this, I experience a certain inspiration and under its influence I implement my ideas. I had the sketch for the art for quite a long time, probably since 2022, when I started working on the music. Since then, it has changed only a little, a female ghost was added. This art was not so easy for me, like other singles' art, I doubted the style of drawing. I wanted to do something fantasy, but keep the gloom.

FMP: With your multimedia work, from video production to your own photography, you are very creative and artistic. Did you always want to do this for a living? And when did you decide to pursue it for a living?

Olga: Thank you! To be honest, yes, I wanted a job that would be connected with creativity. I studied a lot, while working a regular job. I tried myself in many things. And my last standard job, where I worked for someone, knocked me off track so much that I can’t imagine another option for myself. I hope I will never have to go back to the office/warehouse or anywhere. I like to be responsible for myself, I don’t like working in a team and obeying stupid orders and living by a schedule. I have quite pronounced cyclothymia, with which any work by the hour becomes unproductive. I am happy to see that my work brings joy to people - bands, their fans, labels and the community as a whole. I often do charity work, which I also like. Art is inseparable from my life.

FMP: How do you deal with “writer’s block” in all the facets of media you deal with on a day to day basis? Do you have any advice for people who face the dreaded block?

Olga: Here, a rather important point lies in the causes of the crisis. For me, it is most often not about inspiration, it is with me almost always, a lot of ideas swarm in my head, they never stop (life with ADHD is never boring).

The most difficult thing for me is my cognitive state, which comes after the period of hyperactivity, when I physically cannot do anything, my thoughts are confused, I am constantly distracted by other things, routine things take too much time, my energy is depleted. I try to do as many things as possible in advance, so that later, during my period of suspended animation, I can do something less active.

People with this feature can only be advised to better organize their life, understand their active/inactive periods, learn to live with them and use them to the maximum. Do not try to do it by force. Keeping a diary or a plan systematically is a useful practice. It is best to write it by hand, kinetic connection is quite a powerful thing, thoughts reach the brain better than through gadgets (besides, while you are trying to write something in gadgets, you will definitely be distracted from the process by notifications, messages, etc.).

Ideally, put these gadgets away. I spend a trillion minutes on social media because, yes, someone has to pay attention to promotion, posts, stories, reels, need to communicate and be constantly in sight. Ideally, it is better when your manager does this, and you ignore social media and gadgets for as long as possible. They drain you. Sometimes they give inspiration, but more often than not they kill it. At this stage, while you don’t have a manager, try to plan to allocate a couple of hours a week only for posting/preparing material and don’t overdo it, postpone posts in advance.

In other case, if you are relatively okay with self-organization (you're lucky one!), then inspiration should not be a problem. Otherwise, why create anything if there is no inspiration/motivation/reason? In my understanding, creativity comes when a person wants to express something in one form or another of creativity. If you do not want to - do not create. If you want, but do not know how or are afraid - go to professionals or people who at least understand a little about this. Surely, there are people in your circle who have already painted at least one picture, published an album, performed at a concert, published a book. Just ask him, ask him to help make a plan. Most often, they will agree to help and it will be a joy for them, a new experience. If they refuse, kick them out and look for new surroundings. When you have tactics, your work will become easier and you will have more space to listen to your inspiration. It is important to understand that if you want to develop, you should always strive to learn something new from those who are at a higher level than you in certain skills. And gradually move forward, becoming a better version of yourself.

You can check out her Linktree page to find all of her social media accounts as well as links to all of her musical projects.