Drudkh - Handful of Stars + A Furrow Cut Short

Thanks to the wonderful phenomenon of the "search engine" I was able to locate the first reference to Ukranian black metal band Drudkh I was ever exposed to. An article in The Atlantic entitled "Doom Metal Has a Dirty, Soothing Secret: It's a Lot Like New-Age Music". I think it's self-evident why such a headline would draw me in and make me want to read the piece but if memory serves I didn't even finish it because I was too eager to hear this particular black metal band (not exactly my field of expertise at the time though I have developed an appreciation for the genre)...the hook? Easy enough to guess:

Ukranian black-metal horde Drudkh, for example, may ideologically flirt with quasi-fascist nationalism, but musically they're no more offensive than My Bloody Valentine or Sigur Ros. Drudkh is loud, certainly. But its loudness is lyrical and sweeping—less remorseless assault than transcendent sublime. Drudkh's 2012 album Eternal Turn of the Wheel was even based on the four seasons, like Vivaldi.

Indeed, it is the off-the-wall reference to Sigur Ros which made me place Drudkh at the top of my "Must Listen" priority list. And though the only real similarity I can find between the two groups is that they both feature lyrics from languages I am unfamiliar with, still I found a lot to enjoy in the music of Drudkh. Where Jonsi sets free a vocal sound which conjures angels and the heavenly realms, Thurios voice is like a mad caveman angry that someone has possibly stolen his club. Let's just say it's not difficult to conjure emotions of anger mixed with a slight bit of aggression when listening to Thurio's brand of black metal grunting. Since the number of people listening to Drudkh on Spotify who can actually understand the words is surely in the vast minority it's easy to take that sound along with those unintelligable words and make them all about yourself and your own pithy hard feelings.

Though I've listened to all of Drudkh's work that's on Spotify I'm still most enamored of their album Handful of Stars. From what I've read a lot of Drudkh fans were "disappointed" with this particular album because it strays musically from the characteristic styles of black metal (ie. blastbeats, high speed guitar riffing, etc.). Personally I have no allegiance to any musical tropes indigenous to extreme music so my approach to Handful of Stars was the same as I'd utilize with any hard rock record. On those terms it succeeds in a big way.


DRUDKH on Spotify
A Furrow Cut Short is Drudkh's most recent full-length record. Released in 2015 it finds the band only slightly returning to their black metal roots. In my opinion it is a much more challenging listening experience than Handful of Stars but rewarding nevertheless.