Drudkh "Їм часто сниться капіж" (2018)

Hailing from deep within the endless forests of eastern Europe, Ukraine Black Metal outfit Drudkh release a full length album named in their mother tongue, translated it reads "They often see dreams about the spring". With five lengthy track of bleak, chromatic droning I got more of a sense of looming death at the hands of mother nature than the blossom of spring. Its long sprawling riffs shred shrill tones in a constant tumble of bleak grinding that when put in focus seems all to abrasive. Little charm emerged from its foundations, moments of respite through acoustics and the calming entrance of synths sparked some interest in brief shifts of tone but mostly its a drab and pale affair.

In the right mood this chromatic droning can be rather indulging and relaxing. The constant rumbling of the drums and the high tremble bass guitar plodding away becomes hypnotic as the textural shifts and directional changes seem to magnify with a sense of epic proportion. Stepping back from its harsh and ugly aesthetic doesn't leave one with many impressionable moments other than its break aways, like a singular moment in the middle of the third track. The harsh, angular grinding of steep riffs seems to fall wayside to a deep uprising of male choral voices upon soft synth that buries the guitar and elevates the music to a wondrous place. The following track dabbled a little with this too and the penultimate track has an epic conclusion as synths help elevate its climactic end to soaring heights.

Unfortunately for me, too much of the record is based around its harsh, unforgiving approach to atmosphere and so my attention doesn't serve it well. The most enjoyable moments came from synths and choral sounds that would overwhelm the guitar, soften the tone and elevate the mood but it was far and few between. I hold this band in high regard, I appreciate their approach to the genre and I will continue to be curious about their records even if its not quite for me it has been worth my time.

Rating: 5/10

Drudkh "Microcosmos" (2009)

I enjoyed the Ukrainian bands latest release Somewhere Sadness Wanders. Intrigued by their dense, stoic sound I turned to what some fans say is their finest moment, the seventh album, Microcosmos, which I unfortunately didn't find a connection deserving of such praise. My experience of this record is mostly mediocrity with an exceptional moment of soaring epic between a hardship of forms broken by a raw, visual Slavic folk instrumentation in the acoustic oriented moments that interlink long passageways of thick, grisly guitars that span four lengthy ordeals.

Moody cold winds, overcast skies and vast forests stretching the mountains as Drudkh capture the bleak yet beautiful side of Eastern European countrysides with their thick wall of tonal noise. The ever present drone of dense, chromatic guitars haze over clunky, muddied baselines as the drums do an industrious job of holding it together with on a kit that rattles and rumbles as if its bursting at the seems, ready to fall apart. Singer Thurious snarls and shrieks in his native tongue at regular measures with a helping amount of reverberation that bleeds his shouts into the fog of guitar distortion.

The songs grind and groan as unapologetic riffs carry the burden of continuing forward on these nine minute plus epics. They carry a hardship as bluesy woes cry from the harmonization buried in its tonal thickness. No flashy tricks, or stunts shift the music in unexpected directions or uplift the weight, "Ars Poetica" finds respite in the rumbling of a gentle snare drum alongside a folk like acoustic plucking as the song rests its tired feet for a moment. Its a continuous journey of hardship with only the occasional break for something a little more excitable, the albums longest song "Decadence" drags us through the dark to the eight minute mark for a gleaming moment of triumph and relief as the song reaches a satisfying peak with its soaring riff of victory.

Flashy electric guitar solos arise in short bursts on these songs. With a more conventional tone and flair they seem a little out of place however one can hear that's not what the band were going for. They have sorrow, grief and pain in their call but the tone feels unequal to the music and they stuck out like a sore thumb for me. The atmosphere this records holds is strong and rigid, vivid and engulfing but its wasn't quite to my taste, it leans to far into the struggle with not enough rest from the ruin.

Favorite Song: Decedance

Rating: 5/10

Drudkh "Somewhere Sadness Wanders" (2017)

Many years back in my early days of Black Metal discovery I remember Drudkh as one of the first bands I heard branching out from the traditional aggression and satanic oriented sound. Perhaps with a strong influence from Burzum their journey into low fidelity textural guitar distortions brought about a sense of naturism, atmosphere and natural beauty. At the time it was a really odd experience but Id never stuck with the band despite holding them in high regard, they just slipped my mind at the time. All these years later I tune into there latest EP and I'm greeted with a reminder of how we learn music, the textures, melodies, structures and inspiration. This was once a challenging band for me, yet now its a welcoming pleasure. Drudkh are a Ukrainian band who formed in 2002 and have since released ten full lengths and this is the latest of six EPs.

Opening with "All Shades Of Silence" we are hurtled into an immediate wall of sound, thick and textural with shrill melodies bleeding from distortion wrapped in the thunder of blast beats and driven by a pounding baseline. In rather primitive yet effective song structuring this drone of darkness breaks to reveal the light with a shift to another short repeated section of dual guitar work, scaling tremolo picking and churning power chord ripping working off one another in tandem. These simple shifts lead the song into a stark and bleak minimalist composition on the keyboards, a cosmic glimpse as astral synths draw out their spacious tones over a buried, mysterious clicking. In its final phase the song finds its way back to a far more expansive Black Metal tone with Post-Metal guitar leads and an adventurous baseline rumbling up and down the fret board. Its a song that conjures an Ethereal setting, rich in atmosphere, with the harsh contrast of mother natures cruelty through ripping guitar distortions. The second song is more of the same, big blocks of arrangements on repeat, changing up every minute or so, shuffling back and forth and around the five minute mark jumping to an excellent climatic break with heathen chants over the shift in musical intensity.

The music is fantastic, fast, intense yet soothing, indulgent and wondrous in that typically Black Metal way. The guitar texture and riffs are much to my taste but the one thing I couldn't get out of my mind were the song structures. Each song seemed to play of the shifting of the short sections on repeat. Each had four to five each with some variations that made up over twenty minutes of music. Despite seeming simplistic, its extremely effective! Solid record, I have no excuse now to not give them more attention.

Rating: 5/10