For almost a quarter of a century, the Ukrainian band Drudkh has been musing and reflecting life. In those twenty-three years, Roman Saenko and his companions composed an impressive landscape of melancholic, atmospheric black metal with abundant pagan and folk influences. I have deliberately chosen the word “landscape” here, because Drudkh’s music mainly conjures up images of the (Ukrainian) countryside, its natural beauty, its history and its folklore. Nature, history and (folk) culture all in one, closely intertwined with nationalistic themes and a lot of atmosphere. In addition, Drudkh’s music is intimate and invites introspection about the past and the future, the cycle of life and death and the human psyche. On the new album Гра тіней (Shadow Play), for example, the listener is specifically invited to a world of opposites (light and dark, good and evil, beauty and decay, physical and ethereal), for a journey of discovery along the different facets of human emotion, mainly from a personal perspective. Light and dark: a play of shadows but also a play of opposites…
Drudkh is a band with a mission and a very unique approach (with which they even precede their peers from Mgła and Wolves in the Throne Room by a few years). Therefor you might expect that they have maintained a consistent style throughout those years. However, that is not entirely the case, because since Відчуженість (Estrangement) from 2007, Drudkh has opted for a more solid, more modern, sharper, rawer and occasionally faster approach, with a more prominent role for the vocals, which has caused some of the natural warmth of the music to disappear. On the latest albums, this is even more evident. Yet that typically descriptive, melancholic style with long-drawn-out, often repetitive themes has remained intact in recent years and Drudkh is still very recognizable in 2025. It may not sound as organic as Кров у наших криницях (Blood in Our Wells), but their previous album, Всі належать ночі (All Belong to the Night) managed to convince black metal fans once again. And that has everything to do with the high level that this Ukrainian formation manages to reach album after album, both in terms of songwriting and storytelling, as well as in instrument handling and expressing emotions. Drudkh always brings quality with depth.
The promo doesn’t mention the war in Ukraine, which continues to threaten the soul and even the survival of Drudkh and that in itself is remarkable. Last year, ex-Drudkh drummer/keyboard player Amorth died on the front line, and this makes you realize how close it all comes. Nevertheless, Roman Saenko and his band continue to do what they have been doing for years: making pure, uncompromising music, straight from the heart.
Atlhough Всі належать ночі (All Belong to the Night) is furious and unusually brutal by Drudkh standards, there is no trace of a tougher approach on Scattering the Ashes. Melancholy and sadness, these are the emotions that the war in Ukraine mainly evokes in us. Not a heroic struggle, but the survival of the individual amidst death and destruction. In times of disaster and adversity, people often resort to ways to escape reality (mentally). These can be found, for example, in nature, in the past and in everyday life. In fact, that is exactly what Drudkh has stood for throughout its existence: escapism; a spark of hope in a world full of darkness, but at the same time also realism; a core of darkness in a life that seems too cheerful and too carefree. The instrumental Scattering the Ashes therefore sounds partly melancholic, but at other times it is hopeful and carefree. The song feels like one long reverie; the dreamy train of thought of someone who is apparently (because you hear a sample of footsteps) on his way through nature and seems to be of two minds. Where to? In fact, Scattering the Ashes is built up from two different themes: a rough, sharp and cold theme consisting of clearly isolated, heavy chords and a beautifully pastoral, light-footed acoustic theme. Contrasting, yes, but still seamlessly brought together in this long intro. A game of opposites, indeed, but Drudkh shows that yin and yang belong together. The homeostasis of life, condensed into one song. Genius.
After three songs you can already clearly notice that Гра тіней (Shadow Play) sounds less modern than Всі належать ночі (All Belong to the Night). In that sense: this is certainly a step back in time, a return to the roots, but with years of new experiences under the belt. Even the solid, raw, pumping Fallen Blossom (the music here really doesn’t match the subject matter I think) nestles completely in the melo-atmospheric nest and not in the post-black regions where Всі належать ночі (All Belong to the Night) mainly stayed. Fallen Blossom is quite overwhelming because of the raw emotions that are fired at the listener unfiltered, both in the drums and in the vocal cords. The synths and guitars here provide a clear contrast with their veiled atmospheres and warm melodic riffs. The promo did not come with lyrics, so I can’t say for sure whether Drudkh once again got their lyrics from Ukrainian poets, but this could be a perfect embodiment of the atrocities of war and the hopes of the Ukrainian people. Гра тіней (Shadow Play) clearly remains a play of opposites…
Contrasts, did I say? Yes, because The Eve musically changes track once again, albeit with the same ingredients. Гра тіней (Shadow Play) undulates between hope and disappointment, between reverie and harsh reality. These elements can also be found in The Eve, the freshest and most modern song on this album. The drums give the song a certain urgency from the start, a kind of optimistic élan, but the synths, keyboards and guitars apparently prefer to pull you along in a fixed cadence, a hypnotic, steady search through a mystical dream world. The vocals, on the other hand, provide a lot of anger. It is unclear where The Eve is going exactly, because the contrasts and the emotional layering of this song still cause some confusion. It proves once again that Drudkh‘s music is far from one-dimensional…
The Thirst starts with great fire and speed. Drudkh clearly thirsts for revenge, escape, exploration…? Who knows? They have twelve minutes to get there. There is a clear contrast (again…) between the first half of the song, with a high intensity, a merciless drum sound, angry, raw vocals and fast but melodic, cutting tremolo on the one hand and a long drawn-out, monumental second part on the other. Thus, Гра тіней (Shadow Play) ends in apparent beauty, but the pain and disappointment remain palpably present (and again, the vocals are the main reason for that). The last five minutes of the album build from a serene acoustic solo and especially the addition of a prominent layer of synths and keyboards creates a mystical, reflective atmosphere.
And with these musings (and questions?) the game of shadows ends. It has very clearly also become a game of contrasts. It is not clear to me whether the war in their country has had an influence on a number of choices made (I hear a lot of pent-up anger and powerlessness in this work), but Drudkh has certainly put themselves back on the map with a pure, open-hearted but also raw album that is full of contrasts. Sometimes full of fire, sometimes full of disillusionment, sometimes subdued and sometimes unfiltered. There is absolutely no arty-farty post-black here: this is atmospheric black metal with a lot of depth and emotion. No music for sensation seekers, but an exciting musical book that reads in 55 minutes.
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