Belle Morte is a musical project from the Belarus capital of Minsk. They play dark symphonic metal with a gothic/progressive flavor and melancholic vibe. The band’s debut EP Game On, was released in 2018. In 2021 the band signed a deal with Italian label, Wormholedeath, to release their full-length conceptual album, Crime of Passion, inspired by John Fowles’s novel The Collector. The album explored themes of obsession, stalking, and murder through the perspectives of both the perpetrator and the victim.
Belle Morte’s new album Pearl Hunting, was released on January 23rd on Wormholedeath Records. The album incorporates ethnic and instruments and musical traditions from around the world. The album features collaborations with musicians from 12 different countries, integrating instruments like the Japanese shamisen; Celtic bouzouki; Mongolian morin khuur; Germanic lyre; Belarusian duda; Ukrainian sopilka, jouhikko, bandura and duduk; Uilleann pipes, whistles, a replica of the Trinity College harp, pan pipes, ocarina, quena, suling, gamelan, lute, hurdy-gurdy, oud, saz, shamisen, koto, and shakuhachi; Armenian duduk; and Indonesian suling and gamelan. All together these global sounds create a rich fusion of symphonic metal and world music.
Belle Morte is made up of Anastasia Schebrova, (who goes by the stage name: Belle Morte), she is the lead vocalist, lyricist and songwriter; Sergey Butovsky, who plays bass guitar, creates arrangements, does the sound production, and sings backing vocals, and vocals on tracks, 2, 7, 10, and 11, as well as also writing the song “Krew”; Maria Shumanskaya, plays keyboards, and violin on track 5; Ilya Rogovoy and Ilya Petrashkevich, play guitars; and Rostislav Golubnichiy, plays drums.
Lyrically, Pearl Hunting spans a wide array of themes, from love, lust, and personal struggles to tales of vampires and creatures from Japanese folklore, offering listeners an immersive and varied storytelling experience.
The album opens with the short, but mighty, title track, “Pearl Hunting”. It is an absolutely intriguing song that draws you into the album well. The first thing you hear is the overwhelming voice of Anastasia Schebrova. If you close your eyes, you may believe you are hearing a younger Tarja Turunen. When you open your eyes, her features of dark hair and dramatic looks, will help make that resemblance even stronger. So the comparison goes way beyond vocal sound. Anastasia’s siren-like voice is perfect for the story laid out in this short, 1:45 opener. Anastasia sings, “Where auroras paint the sky. In Nordic waters treasures lie. Where spirits of forest dwell. We started hunting for the pearls. In the realm of the sand. We take a deep breath to descend. Into the Arabian sea. The sirens call seductively. In the land of the rising sun. We dive into cerulean. Past the forest of the kelp. Where pearls shimmer in the depth”. The beautiful and haunting surrounding music charges your spirit, You do not hear copies, from the shelves, that you have heard a thousand times before, by other metal bands. This is unique music, that has had time to ferment and take on its own meaning and life. As a reviewer you are immediately completely enthralled and can’t wait for an interview to find out more! Just one of the many pearls that this album holds.
“Fallen Idol”, opens with pipes and wonderful surrounding sounds from the multitude of world instruments mentioned above. You are immediately taken in by the work and love incorporated into this album. Like it used to be. No skimming, just to get something out. You know this band took it’s time to deliver this album, with just the right notes and sound. Just consider how much time it must have taken to bring all the instruments and their musicians together, and place them perfectly within each song. Well and carefully crafted music, that just doesn’t fill our world enough, anymore. No assembly line used to rip out metal songs here. This is how deep symphonic metal and music used to be made.
Anastasia sings, “My fallen idol, could you stop and listen. I won’t dance around the truth. I used to grasp your words like a blessing. But tonight I am changing the rules. And you think that you are perfect. And you act like you’re a star. I don’t want to be your puppet. As for me, this went too far. I am not blinded by you anymore”. She is laying down the law and changes are on the menu. A powerful song full of diligent metal guitars, with world symphonic sounds and strings surrounding. Anastasia sings, “It’s all about your heart and not your body”. Absolutely, this is passionate music made over time and with care like it used to be. Thank you. Sergey Butovsky joins Anastasia to sing, the chorus, “My cruel-hearted judgmental fellow. Carping things that you don’t apprehend. And now you’re left with all your self-conceit. Forever vain beloved and false friend. Never wanted to disappoint you. And now you’re left with all your self-conceit. Forever vain beloved and false friend”.
“Exorcism”, is one of the best songs on the album. The music video they made will bring back memories of the famous 1970s movie. It opens with Japanese strings and Eastern music. Anastasia sings, “You’re my darkest secret. No one knows I keep it. In a well secured place. None to witness my disgrace. You’re my guilty pleasure. I need an exorcism to rip you out of me. Consumed by this chasm within power so frightening. I need an exorcism some kind of ritual”. Ever fall for someone so bad you can’t stop thinking about them for a minute? That is what she is singing about here. The heavy guitars and symphonic metal is some of the best on the album.
“Blame Me”, also has a lyric video which helps the listener discover what the song is about. However, unlike some female metal singers, I had no problem understanding any of Anastasia’s vocals or lyrics, throughout Pearl Hunting. Anastasia sings, to the sound of Balkan/Middle Eastern themed music, “If it seemed like all the air was poisoned. I tried but couldn’t take a breath. Then you stood there and watched me. Oh, was it me, who made this mess?” The metal guitar soloing that ensues is wonderful, not ear blistering.
“Wintersleep”, is another one of my favorite songs on the album. It has a Japanese or Asian feel to the music. Acoustic guitar and Anastasia singing, “By the time you’ll be leaving. Please make sure that I’m sleeping. Cause I don’t think I’ll bear the sight of you walk away. In the warm realm of dreaming. I will shelter this feeling. I will winter my sorrow till it no longer stays”. Then, the band brings on the Uilleann pipes and whistles, in a wonderful change of sound and cultural direction. Violin, helps close out this magnificent song.
“Losing Faith”, opens with excellent percussion sounds, drums, and flute playing. Almost a South American or African sound. Anastasia sings, “20 hours 20 days. There were many different ways. But you chose the way of lies, the way of faking smiles. Play pretend that it’s alright. But it’s not. I lose my trust; I lose my faith in you. Lose my faith in you”. Another wonderful, culturally blended song, full of heavy metal guitars, as the song progresses.
“Black Waters”, also has a music video to support its visual direction. Anastasia sings most of the lyrics, but Sergey Butovsky supports her well. Together they remind me of the best of Visions of Atlantis, only this may be much better, given the diverse sound of their music in comparison to the pirate themed music being re-spun from VoA. Anastasia sings, “We follow to the discreet place where nobody can see us. We lose the sense of time and space, dissolve in fantasies. Deep down we go. I say take it slow. I don’t wanna drown in this abyss around me. Hold head up high. Black waters let no light. Velvet waves are tender, but restrain forever if we let them”. One of the best songs and videos on the album.
“Willow”, may be the darkest song on the album. The subject matter is disturbing at times, but the music is interesting. Anastasia sings, “Meet me when darkness falls and everyone’s asleep. I’ll be dressed up in shadows and red peonies. Breathe in this moist air, grey mosses and decaying leaves. The fragrance twilight brings. I whisper in your ear. No one will hear you here. So go and scream my dear. Take my hand and dance with me, my love. Eternal, infernal. The rapture I bestow. So crimson and so warm. You don’t know what follows. The willow sees it all”. A song of possession by another name.
“September”, is another of my favorite songs on the album, and the music video supporting it is also the best of the ones I watched supporting, Pearl Hunting. Anastasia sings, “Hello my dear. Since you aren’t near. I sing my songs. Hoping you hear them. And you don’t mind. You’re deaf and blind. To all my signs. It’s just not fair. I’ve tried to live through this why don’t you just simply let me be. Tried to forget this September has taken the best of me. And if I survive this autumn I will never fall for you”. As a friend of the month of September and the fall season, this one will stay with me, as a treasured pearl. The oud and saz playing by Rúben Monteiro also makes this one of the most memorable songs on the album, as well.
“Jorōgumo”, is one of my least favorite songs on the album. Not because of the music. The music is Japanese influenced and wonderful. It is the necessity to use growling vocals. Anastasia and Sergey trade off, singing portions of this song, as the magic music plays. They sing, “I wandered through eternal eaves. In caverns vast I sought for peace. In labyrinth of twisted night. Where visions danced in spectral light. In twilight’s shroud, where shadows play, Bewildered, I have lost my way”. Truly a great song, if they had only left out the growling.
“Krew”, is a closing showcase for Sergey Butovsky. He sings the lyrics along with Anastasia, to this song, that he also wrote, in Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Polish lyrics. (I triple dog dare you to try that fellow metal bands!). I do not know what they are singing, but it does sound very passionate and emotional. My guess, (after using Google to translate), tells me this is a brotherhood song reaching out to friends in the Ukraine, going through one of the worst invasions in modern history. Some of the lyrics translate as, “Only behind your shoulders. Truth, will and homeland. Ukraine will live forever. Brother, hold on, don’t back down!”
“Exorcism” (piano version), is a wonderful surprise and extra bonus for the album. Enjoy this, all of you, who, like me, are keyboard and especially piano lovers! Better that the original version, for me.
Pearl Hunting is just what the doctor ordered to start 2025 off, for this year’s metal albums. Every inch of this album is a wonderful cultural journey that you will want to experience, and often. I will be buying the CD as soon as I can locate it here in the States. It is simply the kind of music, like Ammify from Australia, that wowed me last year. Wonderfully different and amazingly made with absolutely talented musicianship. A great way to start 2025 metal lovers. Metal power with global culture. You cannot ask for more. (Other than maybe a metal concept album), (but I think we may be lucky enough to witness that before the end of the year, from another band). As for now…give Belle Morte the cup, for Best Metal Album of 2025, for now. I don’t know how anyone is going to surpass Pearl Hunting. Belle Morte has definitely laid down the gauntlet and it maybe only that metal concept album that will scale these heights. This simply is the perfect direction female metal music should be heading in the future. Give us culture, a story, great vocalists and wonderful, diversified, music, with global and ethnic instruments and musicians. Everything anyone could want. As Kenny Loggins once sang, “This is it! You’re going no further!”, in search of great metal albums this year.
Tracklist:
- Pearl Hunting 1:45
- Fallen Idol 5:10
- Exorcism 5:29
- Blame Me 4:35
- Wintersleep 5:17
- Losing Faith 5:10
- Black Waters 4:43
- Willow 5:25
- September 4:49
- Jorōgumo 4:50
- Krew 4:44
- Exorcism (piano version) 5:52
Guest musicians include:
- Max Kerner – Celtic bouzouki (1)
- Caterina Castiglioni – Germanic lyre (1)
- Yanina Yakshevich – Belarusian duda, Ukrainian sopilka (1)
- Ada Rusinkiewicz – backing vocals (1), (9), vocals, Polish lyrics author (11)
- Tero Kalliomäki – jouhikko (2)
- Ulziisaikhan Khoroldamba – morin khuur (3)
- Lernik Khachatrian – duduk (4)
- Ella Zlotos – Uilleann pipes, tin whistle & low whistle (5)
- Marta Masciola – Trinity College harp replica (5)
- Carlos Carty – pan pipes, ocarina & quena (6)
- Maulana Malik Ibrahim – suling, gamelan, vocals in Sundanese (7)
- Emma Spinelli – lute (8)
- Rúben Monteiro – hurdy-gurdy (8), oud & saz (9)
- Hisashi – koto (10)
- Reigen Fujii – shamisen (10)
- Souzan Kato – shakuhachi (10)
- Yaroslav Dzhus – bandura (11)
- Alex Pilkevych – vocals, Ukrainian lyrics author (11)
Album credits:
Pearl Hunting, was recorded at Kuba Sawicki studio (Lodz), Blackline studio (Minsk), Ivory Records (Batumi). The album was produced, mixed and mastered by Sergey Butovsky.
Band Website and Social Media Links:
Website https://bellemortemusic.com/
EPK https://bellemortemusic.com/epk/
Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpgzB7LdE8HZMjesQWr3iTw
Bandcamp https://bellemorte.bandcamp.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/bellemortemusic
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/7v4MigNtCPxvHOr2DNsYcD
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bellemorteofficial
Tiktok https://www.tiktok.com/@bellemortemusic
VK https://vk.com/bellemortemusic
YouTube and Music Video Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tTB455jAZY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNFB00nKQSQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ_olWVtsPk&t=2s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RWgpmbNxfM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXg-iowOGd8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGG6Ukupeb0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9JnR41zj1s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zah42yvyDcs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRiGSwz6fp4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEEUJppNmmc