Drudkh breaks the silence with their new album.
Created in Ukraine in 2002, the project led by Thurios (vocals/keyboards/guitar), Roman Saenko (guitar/bass), Krechet (bass/keyboards) and Vlad (drums/keyboards) – all of them also members or ex-members of other projects such as Rattenfänger, Hate Forest, Windswept or Old Silver Key – announces the release of All Belong to the Night, its eleventh album, on Season of Mist Underground Activists.
For obvious practical reasons, I will use the tracks’ translated names here.
The album starts with The Nocturnal One, a very raw composition which welcomes some soothing Folk keyboards, then visceral screams join the hypnotic melting and its very Old School mix. The atmosphere plays on an assumed duality between aggressiveness and soaring sounds which feed the fiery and abrasive rage, but we also find some softer melodious parts to keep this rocky sound before mixing this universe’s two sides in haunting riffs which drive us to Windmills, a track with mystical and occult sounds. Unhealthy saturated vocals resurface in a slow, airy, extremely dissonant rhythmic pattern which keeps its soft tones, even when riffs suddenly flare up to strengthen the visceral rage. November follows with cold, dissonant Heavy Metal-influenced sounds before letting a catchy rhythm strike us in a more straightforward way, while leaving room for melodic harmonics. Screams are also quieter before the break, but the atmosphere gradually changes when saturation returns for a heartbreaking final which guides us to Till We Become the Haze, the last composition, which will once again give way to an impressive contrast between oppressive mix and soaring tones. The band skillfully places hypnotic clean parts to gradually return to saturation, but here the band will surprise me by offering a few seconds of silence before letting its rhythmic crush us again, then it will anchor itself in mystery and silence.
Those who know Drudkh know that the band can mesmerize us in just a few seconds. All Belong to the Night is no exception to the rule, letting its Old School sounds fly around us while giving the compositions a fairly natural rhythm.
95/100