Melnitsa (Мельница, the Russian for "windmill") - the cult Russian neo-folk rock band. Founded in 1999 by Natalia "Hellawes" O'Shea and Alexey "Chus" Sapkov around the remnants of a local folk band Till Eulenspiegel.

The band fuses Russian, Irish and other North European folk influences with guitar pop/rock. Natalya, the lead singer and primary songwriter, is an academic and a specialist in medieval European languages and cultures by day. Her expertise lends the typically complex fantasy-laden lyrics a degree of authenticity.

For the first...