Release date: October 21, 2018.
The eighth full-length album of the band Alkonost "Octagram".
In our new album we again turn to the perception of the world and ourselves, which our ancestors had. When the world was younger, humans lived in the rhythm of the cycles of nature. They even perceived time not in the form of motion from the beginning to the end, but in the form of a circle, ring, wheel.The Wheel has eight spokes - and eight times a year the gods perform a new action of an endless mystery called Life, and people remember the deep connection that exists between them and the world around them, between everyday life and the life of nature.
Mother Earth prepares for the change of seasons four times, and people sum up the outgoing season and prepare to the one that awaits them next. And the world is experiencing the peak of states - growth, prosperity, decay and death four times as well. At such moments, the spirits of Earth, Water, Air, and Fire enter into full strength mode; the boundaries between middle world and underworld are becoming thinner, and the invisible doors are opening ... Mermaids sing their charming songs, wood-goblins confuse their paths with the human ones, and random stranger may not be an ordinary mortal ...
Eight knitting needles. Eight facets of the state of the world. Eight holidays. Eight stories.
The Wheel is rolling. The winter sun is rolling into the sky - and the daylight is increasing. A new year has been born in the darkness and coldness of winter.
Here the Wheel turned - and the first thaw teases with a premonition of change, informing that it is time to wake up from a winter sleep and look for the Path to Spring. Another turn of the Wheel - and now sparkling spring streams, and the day becomes equal to the night, putting an end to the cold and early darkness in the evenings. The Wheel is rolling. In the Dance of Blossoms, at the May bonfires, hands and eyes of those who have been searching for each other for a long time finally meet. The dance twines and opens the Gates of Summer. Here the Wheel freezes - and the Sun stops in the heavenly palaces at the peak of its power and glory. Father-Sun marries Mother Earth on the solemn festival of the Wreath of Summer. Everybody’s gifts are generously poured from the bottomless bowl for everybody, and everyone came to the wedding feast - gods, and spirits, and humans.
But only those who are the worthiest will receive the great gift of the Lord- Sun, the fiery color of ferns, which blooms in the thicket of the forest in the deepest hour of a non-darkening night ...
And the Wheel turned again – and the Mother Earth gives birth to the first offspring, and humans celebrate the first harvest of fruits. The Wheel is rolling. The spikes acquire golden color and the leaves turn yellow in the trees, day and night divide time equally–The Leaf Fall is coming, the holiday of Autumn and parting with the past. And the wheel keeps rolling. Daylight diminishes, trees and grass fade, and the Great Mother draws her sorrowful face to the world - the face of Death. People burn bright lights in their houses to protect themselves from the approaching night and those that come with the darkness of the night on the Winter’s eve. The ancient Wheel turns, and now it is ready to freeze completely. The Great Serpent, who swallowed the Sun, overshadowed the whole world with his icy wings - and all living things froze. But at the darkest hour, The One will appear who will challenge the Monster to a duel, and hit him, and descend into the womb of the Serpent, in order to return the renewed Sunback to the Earth. And to wind up the ancient wheel on a new circle.
