Blackened Rose's Aleksei Iagunkov Talks of Influences, the Sound of Music, and What the Future Holds!


Hard rock, glam metalheads BLACKENED ROSE have a debut single out, with the band working upon their second single, expected to be released real soon! The band talks about their influences, the sound of their music, and what future plans are ahead for them for this year.


1. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.

Blackened Rose was originally planned to be a side project of the vocalist Aleksei Iagunkov (ex-Step In Blood), who wanted to delve more into his recent fascinations with 80's styled hard rock and dark beauty of gothic metal, but due to circumstantial changes quickly grew into something bigger through the first rehearsals at the end of 2022. Recruiting the guitarist Erick Perdomo-Borelly (Dimi.xomusic, Noon Shift, ex-Matt Charleston), classically trained keyboardist Naomi Campbell and bass player Paya Jebelli (Dimi.xomusic) the newly formed ensemble started writing their first original songs. Soon the line up was complete with the Brazilian rhythm machine Luan Medeiros (Dear Scarlett, ex-Devils Paradise) and the Sydney-based quintet has found their wings, playing a few shows around their home city and releasing the debut single “Ginger Red (Oh, So Bad)”, which was inspired by bands like Airbourne and HIM. Now Blackened Rose is looking forward to more shows and more music to be released soon! 

2. What’s the origin of the band’s name?

The name originally came from one of the older songs of mine (which might be released in due time, who knows!). There were two lines: “A ray of light on blackened rose Lying on a dead love's grave.” And the words Blackened Rose just stood out to me! And think! Roses often stand for love, and when roses die, they kind of lose their colour, blacken. So Blackened Rose can be perceived as the metaphor for “dead love” in a way. –  

3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?

Blackened Rose is from Sydney, Australia. Currently there are quite a lot of indie bands in Sydney or solo acoustic artists. In metal thrash and death sub-genres are currently predominant. From the local bands I’ve seen, I could recommend checking out Hellz Abyss, who play a blend of old-school classic heavy metal and hard rock. Other notable artists to me would include a blues rock songwriter Matt Charleston and melodic death metal band Besomora. – Aleksei Iagunkov

4. How would you describe your style?

Blackened Rose blends influences from old-school fun 80’s hard rock and glam metal with dark, melancholic beauty of goth. Main influence bands would be: HIM, Poison, Whitesnake, Skid Row, Type O Negative, Airbourne, Ghost, Negative, Warrant, The 69 Eyes, Bon Jovi, Cinderella, etc.

5. What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your works?

The debut single “Ginger Red (Oh, So Bad)” is available now on all the streaming platforms. It’s a fun song about a certain girl that likes to play with others’ hearts for her own pleasure. At least in the nearest future you can expect a variety of songs from us from fun joking ones like this to dark and gloomy tunes about love.

6. Do you have any new music in the works?

Yes, we are currently planning our second single. And most likely it will be very different from the first one.

7. How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?

Currently we have two shows planned, one of them being BattleFest in West Sydney. That’s the event no rocker or metalhead should miss! It’s going to be massive!

8. What plans do you have for the future as a band?

I like to plan according to the situation and circumstances, so for this year the plan is to release two more singles, play a few shows around Sydney (and hopefully not only Sydney) and release a music video. But then who knows what opportunities might arise?

9. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?

Currently our music is only available online, but is in plans to make our own merchandise soon too.

10. What is it you’d like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?

The catchiness of it and the fun. I have noticed that a lot of rock and metal seems to be quite dark or aggressive. I want to make a case that it doesn’t have to be that way. Where is fun 80’s rock? Let’s revive that enjoyment!

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