During the long and trying years since their last studio venture, Theodor Bastard have been searching for a way out of the shadows cast by the pandemic, war and invasive technologies. Now, with their upcoming new album,▽, the world music pioneers are returning with dark electronics for our dark times.
“Sverkay”, the thrilling lead single from ▽, launched the band back into international headlines with coverage spanning from Headbanger Russia and Belgium’s Grimm Gent to Canada’s Different Stages Radio, Latin America’s Metallerium and Metal Devastation Radio in the U.S.
Today, Theodor Bastard are releasing the second advanced single from ▽ (pronounced V). Sparked by a heavy electronic beat, the dark and energetic “Vedma” braces against the flames of an increasingly cold and crumbling world.
“I know people probably expected another Northern ethnic album from us”, Theodor Bastard producer, multi-instrumentalist and founding member Fedor Svolotch says. “Oftentimes, once bands find their niche, they stay there. But this has never been our path and now is not the time for beautiful genre obedience. ▽ represents our vision of what’s going on in the world today. Instead of flights into space, instead of discovering the vast mysterious inside ourselves, once again, humanity is busy destroying itself. This album is our attempt to find a way out of that cycle, to understand what is happening, and to feel for some kind of perspective”.
Listen to “Vedma” on the Season of Mist YouTube channel.
▽ comes out November 13, 2026 on Season of Mist.
Pre-order
https://orcd.co/theodorbastardv
Pre-save on Spotify
Available formats
CD Digipak
12” Vinyl Gatefold (Black)
12” Vinyl Gatefold (Yellow, red and white marbled)
Theodor Bastard will perform “Vedma” and other new songs from ▽ this November and December during their 10-date headlining tour of Russia.
Theodor Bastard ▽ 2026 Russian Tour
November 27 – Yekaterinburg @ Svoboda
November 29 – Novosibirsk @ Podzemka
December 4 – Krasnodar @ Port 219
December 5 – Rostov-on-Don @ Krop Arena
December 12 – Saint Petersburg @ Eifman Academy
December 18 – Moscow @ Urban
December 19 – Nizhny Novgorod @ DKRT
December 20 – Penza @ TsKiD
December 21 – Saratov @ Oniks
December 22 – Samara @ ODO
▽ reflects just how much has changed since the world last heard from Theodor Bastard in April 2020. While the band are still recognized internationally as leaders for ritual folk and world music, on their new album, they’ve re-embraced their early electronic impulses because that’s how life feels now: cold, sharp, tense. New single “Vedma” surges with black cosmic energy, as if its analog synthesizers are programmed to summon the apocalypse.
“Our sound changed because the world changed”, Svolotch explains. “We had to destroy our own habits and expectations to make ▽. We wanted to start again, as if the band has no past, no safe place, no ready-made formula. As a result, this album is not a continuation of what came before. It’s a different door”.
To a world that’s mired in its own deadly trance, ▽ arrives like a much needed slap across the face. However, that doesn’t mean the album is devoid of hope. At its core, Theodor Bastard’s ritual spirit remains intact. “Vedma” never loses its edge, but when the song blasts into a chorus that’s blessed with enough gravitational force to knock the stars from the sky, vocalist Yana Veva clings to the only thing that’s worth saving from a world on fire. “Иду в холодный город чтобы обнять тебя (I walk into the cold city / to embrace you)”.
“So much has surrounded us during recent years: the pandemic, war, division, fear, anxiety over technology, and a sense that reality itself is becoming darker and more unstable”, Svolotch says. “We have felt so much anger, pain, confusion and disappointment both in ourselves and in the world around us. All these emotions were gathering inside us, changing, darkening, searching for a form, until they eventually transformed into the unexpected on ▽”.
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