Album Review: Hangover in Minsk – Party is Over

Band: Hangover in Minsk
Album: Party is Over
Label: Mork Stork Productions
Release date: April 16th, 2025
Country: Poland / Belarus (previously)
Format reviewed: High quality digital recording

Album Review: Hangover in Minsk – Party is Over via Mork Stork Productions by Ioana

DSBM was the genre that more or less got me into black metal. That being said, after listening to it for a while, I found myself being disappointed by a rather big number of albums from this particular category. That being said, when I do manage to find a good one, it will likely mess me up emotionally for a good while. And since I am writing this review in the first place… you connect the dots. Hangover in Minsk is a band that I got really excited about even before their first single was out, since it is a side project of Dymna Lotva, another DSBM act that had me feeling things I wasn’t ready to deal with ( seeing them live also left me with my mouth open both literally and figuratively). That being said, when “Devil In Me Wants To Dance”, the first single from “Party is Over” came out, I had pretty high hopes for it, and guess what, I was right to do so, because that song is CATHARTIC, but more on that later. At this point I could just stop writing and give the album the 10 it deserves, but that would kill all the fun, wouldn’t it? So, without further nonsense on my behalf let’s get into it.

The album opens up with “Farewell”, setting the ominous, sorrowful tone of the album with just a few acoustic passages that slowly built up, joined soon by a lead motif and even more background musical ideas. From this introduction alone one can figure out what Party is Over is about to do to them, but before the tension can finally be released, vocalist Nokt joins in, along with faint drum patterns, which slowly intensify… before a howl cuts through the recording. We are met by a gut wrenching vocal performance, laid on top of a slow mournful instrumental, reminiscent of a Dymna Lotva song, but not quite. Compared to the themes of war, history and folklore of its twin, Hangover in Minks delivers a dose of pure, urban misery and negativism.

Before you can ever wonder “What the hell is going on?”, “Drunk and Beautiful” comes in, building on the musical ideas established by its predecessor. What makes it stand out, however, is the almost contemplative atmosphere, which stems from two recurring questions found in the lyrics: “Will you still love me?/Will you still be here?”. These two questions are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the visceral portrayal of alcoholism found at the core of this album, and from that perspective, “Drunk and Beautiful” is a cold shower. That vocal performance cuts deep, and, when accompanied by the slow, repetitive melodies, it generates an unescapable feeling of loss and despair.

“Fuck You, My Love” takes the despair of its predecessor but adds anger in the mix. The result is a claustrophobic, almost crushing composition. And all the anger I mentioned is expressed through Nokt’s, but especially Déhà’s vocals. Trust me when I say, the fury and the pain in his voice is on a different level. This is also where the music starts to speed up, and the guitar work becomes more and more intricate. The songwriting is surprisingly intricate, having all sorts of different ideas merge and blend into one another, all while building up on that dread filled atmosphere.

I’ve briefly talked about “Devil In Me Wants To Dance” in the introduction, but that just doesn’t do it justice. I still have no idea how the band managed to portray the feeling of not being good enough and crashing out because of it so well, but they did. Everything from the rhythm shifts to the riffing, the punchy bass, and the “lashing out” and “exhausted” moods brought forth by the vocals, this song felt so utterly liberating it’s hard to put into words. Even though the theme of the album is foreign for my life thus far (I’ve never even gotten drunk), “Devil In Me Wants To Dance” is one of the most personal songs I’ve ever heard in my life. As the title suggests, it will make you either dance like a maniac or cry in the corner, both options making sense. It also ended up coming off almost healing to me (hence the cathartic element).

This next one on the other hand feels like a really, really dark joke, the kind that you feel like you’re about to go to Hell if you laugh at. “The Cow Was Stolen From The Bar (Again)” is based on the band’s shenanigans at the band’s favourite bar, while also keeping up those dark themes about alcohol abuse, with some references to suicide sprinkled in, and of course, the music is fitting is every way. At times it comes off as very groovy, and it gets you moving, but soon, the reality of the song hits you and you’re wondering if you’re right in the head or not. The lyrics walk a very fine line between silly and disturbing, (don’t tell me I’m talking nonsense before you’ve heard the song). When I first heard it all I could think about was the Polish Cow meme, which is more similar to the song than it should, but it references drug use instead of alcohol use. Nevertheless, it is a really great song, one that I listened to a little too many times. The music video for it is also exactly what one may expect from the description I gave. Dark humor at its finest.

Ok, fun’s over, now we’re gonna get dark. “Morning Mourning” is the song I listened to the most times, and this fact alone left me pondering on whether or not I have masochistic tendencies or not. The pain this song exudes hit me like a truck, and it even managed to get me to tear up a little at the first listen (the only other song that ever did that to me was “Into The Streams Of The Black River” by Ofdrykkja). The chorus in particular is a different kind of heartbreaking. I have no idea how Jauhien and Mikita managed to write a guitar section that reaches the depths of suffering this song requires, but again, they delivered, and pairing that with Nokt’s howling/singing (the way she sings “Forgive me” felt way more personal than it was supposed to), the result puts 90% of modern DSBM to shame. It doesn’t get more real than this. I am really curious if the band will do a music video for this, simply because I wonder how does one even put this song’s mood on screen. What does one have to do to achieve that? Obviously, this is my favourite song the album.

“Till Soberness Do Us Apart” tones down the intensity just a little, engulfing the listener once again in dread and loneliness, all summarized through the lyrics: “You are just gone/ I’m just drunk”. Above all else, this song is achingly cold, the kind of cold you only find on the street at 3 AM, cold that is only emphasized by the emptiness of your environment. It just drags you through every negative emotion there is, leaving you exhausted by the time the last note rings out. And that dissonant riff during that particular slow section is the auditive description of spleen.

The album closes with “Party is Over”, an epilogue of the madness that came before it. It is the embodiment of finality, while simultaneously leaving the listener “hungover” from the experience. In approach it is fairly similar to “Farewell”, hinting at the idea that the vicious cycle will continue to repeat, even though it is over for a short while. If its predecessor was a reflection of the negative emotions felt by the alcoholic, this feels like a resignation and also a sort of twisted irony of the individual’s fate. It’s not as overt as in “The Cow Was Stolen From The Bar (Again)”, but it reminds me of a sort of bitter, hopeless chuckle by a person in the depths of the suffering they’ve made peace with.

After the Dymna Lotva live performance I attended, I had the opportunity of having a small conversation with vocalist Nokt, and when “Party is Over” came up, I asked if it was influenced by Psychonaut 4’s “Dipsomania”. She replied with: “Yes, but without the drugs”. And while that’s true, this one felt a whole lot more personal, even though I’ve never suffered from either addiction. The reason why that is, I believe, is that “Party is Over” is not just another DSBM record about alcoholism. It is also about how life can utterly drag you through the mud, and the insanity that comes from not knowing how to deal with it when pairing it with any sort of self destructive behavior. And that thing right there is universally felt, because no one would feed their own self destructive tendencies if they didn’t cause relief or catharsis even for a short while. For some that might as well be the only option, and that is what “Party is Over” portrays. 10/10

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10/10  Immortal Classic
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