The End of Melancholy is a female-fronted alternative/gothic metal band, founded in 2014 in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. Since 2015 The End of Melancholy had performed with such bands as Motionless in White, Theatres des Vampires, Hanzel und Gretyl, released five music videos, EP, singles, at the beginning of 2019 released first LP “Paradox Intention”. In May 2021 The End of Melancholy released their fifth official music video “Sacrifice” with the same name single, and after that the second brand new album “Nature Unleashed“. Here’s our interview with the voice of the band, Olly Lex!

Beginnings:

Well, I met Andrew Petroff (guitarist, composer, sound-producer of the band) on some metal show, and during our conversation, we thought it would be great to make some music together, cause we figured out that he’s a composer and I’m a vocalist. Our first experience was the experimental song “Pentagram” with the poetry of Alister Crowly, you can find it somewhere on the net but we don’t include it anywhere. Then, I suggested to Andrew play something dark, gothic but with powerful metal riffs. And the vocals should be from soft singing to extremely harsh and growls. I always dreamed to do it in one band, it was my kinda desire to express my vocal techniques in something melodic, but also hard music. So, we started with the ballad “Dolphins”, I just fell in love with the music and immediately composed the chorus. It was a really great inspiration… Then we decided to shoot the video for it and did a release on social media, and we got huge feedback from the US and Europe. We released an Ep “Playing with Shadows”, then the next video for the single “The Demon”, and actually then we released our debut album “Paradox Intention” and go on a European tour. And during that time, of course, we formed the band, had some changes in members, and finally, we’re having now something like “gold membership” with our bassist Roman Laine and Eugene Gnip as a drummer.

Behind the name:

Funny story actually, I saw the title “The End of Melancholy” on a random T-shirt and I had this really exciting feeling like: “what a brilliant phrase! I’ll name my band like that”. Honestly, it’s like a sign for me, I’m struggling with melancholy, with weakness, depression, you know all this gothic stuff (laughs), but actually… Who isn’t depressed? But you know, the thing is… It’s the end of it. We’re going to the light! The end is the beginning and all that stuff.

Inspiration:

Now it’s “In This Moment”, I really dug it only in 2020 when they released “Mother” and their brilliant “The In-Between” song, but guys, they absolutely blow my mind!

I think it’s our common experience of what we’re listening to… Also, we have our own baggage of songs, and we want to make it more and more. 

Teamwork:

Andrew writes the music, I’m writing the vocals lines and lyrics. It’s our common process. I always describe music to Andrew, give him ideas, then he just closes the studio door and writing, writing and writing. Then, when everything is ready, we start rehearsals with the band.

COVID-19:

Awful… Postponed tours… Really hard moral and financial situation in the whole world, but we got something good also… A new album! I have hopes for 2022 that we can be able to hit the road again.