In 2017, Roman Sayenko of Drudkh started a new band built on raw black metal. Now, Windswept are casting a cold spell over a dark moment in Ukrainian history with their upcoming third album The Devil’s Vertep.
The Devil’s Vertep come out Friday, December 12, 2026 on Season of Mist Underground Activists, but you can hear all six blazing tracks by listening to the full album stream at Black Metal Promotion.
Listen Below:
Pre-order & Pre-save
https://orcd.co/windsweptthedevilsvertep
Available Formats
CD Digipak
12” Vinyl Gatefold — Black
12” Colored Vinyl Gatefold — Red & Black
Across The Devil’s Vertep, Windswept retrace the witch trials that took place in Western Ukraine between 1753 and 1754. The album blisteringly unfolds across six acts: the grim discovery narrated in “Infanticide,” the escalating procedures of “Investigation” and “Torture & Confession,” the witchdoctor’s craft in “The Potion,” the broader networks of sorcery in “Nest of the Witches,” and the judicial reckoning in “Verdicts.” With a cold hard gaze, Windswept transform archival records into unflinching black-metal.
While The Devil’s Vertep marks Windswept’s first venture into Ukrainian demonology and witchcraft, these themes trace back much earlier in Roman Sayenko’s creative path. In the autumn of 1996, Sayenko began developing an unfinished project titled KOZLONOGYI (Goat-Footed): a concept rooted in the same folkloric and mythological territory that would later resurface within The Devil’s Vertep. Although KOZLONOGYI never moved beyond a few rehearsals, its sketches and early riffs became the foundation for Windswept’s latest work. By reviving and re-working these ideas nearly three decades later, Sayenko bridges eras of black metal evolution, imbuing The Devil’s Vertep with a distinctly 1990s sensibility and reverence for the early traditions that shaped his artistic identity.
Recorded, mixed, and mastered at Viter Music with production handled internally, The Devil’s Vertep balances immediacy with conceptual cohesion. Its stark presentation reflects the gravity of the source material, while the cover art by Obsidian Bone situates the work in a visual landscape as unsettling as the music itself. By channelling the voices of the past, Windswept expand their raw black metal vision into a work of historical remembrance, turning archival fragments into a haunting artistic statement.
Line-up:
R. — Vocals & Guitars
T. — Bass
V. — Drums
Production Credits:
Recorded at Viter Music. Produced & engineered by R. & V. Mixed & Mastered by V. at Viter Music.
Cover Art:
Obsidian Bone
