Ukrainian modern metal band IGNEA releases the first single from their upcoming album, Monumental. “Dreams of Lands Unseen” shares a name with the four-piece’s 2023 album but is a step towards something new. The single explores the race to space during the Cold War and therefore a time when war-ridden humanity projected its greatest hopes into the cosmos far beyond our known worlds. Bursting with energy right from the start, “Dreams of Lands Unseen” combines a punchy, driving riff with fierce growls.
 
To deepen the nostalgic atmosphere, shimmering keyboard and theremin solos evoke a distinctly 1980s vibe. This matches the monolith of an album that IGNEA are about to release: Monumental, out October 23, 2026 via Napalm Records, explores and reflects on nostalgia in all its forms.
 
Helle Bohdanova adds:
“This song is about the blend of ambition and illusion, where space wasn’t an escape but a conquest shaped by ideology and dreams. Across Ukraine and many post-Soviet countries, mosaics still depict this promised future: cosmonauts, rockets, bold visions of worlds yet unseen. We shot the video in black and white on purpose, reaching for the vibe of old sci-fi rather than modern blockbuster spectacle, using Cooke Varotal lenses, the optics favored by Kubrick. In the end, I think the song isn’t nostalgic for space exploration itself, so much as for an aesthetic that was itself already nostalgic, looking back at a future that was already passing. Still, I guess each of us has dreamt of becoming an astronaut at least once… haven’t you?”