Windswept emerges from the darkness of Ukraine.
Created in 2014 under the name Herbarium by Roman Saenko (aka R, guitar/vocals), the mastermind behind Drudkh and numerous other projects, surrounded by his companions T on bass and V on drums, the band released its third album, The Devil’s Vertep, in 2025.
The band immediately attacks with Infanticide, a virulent and intense first track that combines its dissonant but sharp rhythms at full speed with wild roars, as well as catchy Old School passages borrowed from Pagan/Black and its martial roots. The icy sound is barely disturbed by the sometimes hypnotic drumming that initiates the changes in rhythm or by the few vocal parts that appear, but Investigation eventually takes over and offers us a much rawer sound oriented towards a measured approach that contains its aggression. A few airy tones can be heard in some of the slower passages, but you can sense that the musicians are already eager to let loose, and the accelerations confirm this amply, invoking their most furious influences, as on Torture & Confession, which opens the way with feedback. The riffs that follow are much more melodic than their introduction, even offering a few more epic mid-tempo passages to accentuate the heavy moments of uncertainty that precede the eruptions of darkness, transforming them into a veritable tornado that accompanies us to the end of the song. The Potion offers a slightly brighter touch to its virulent flow populated by Roman‘s vociferations, but the approach remains fairly similar and surges forward at full speed, offering sharp harmonics and other intoxicating cymbal work, or returning to more raw moments with a fairly gentle tempo. The track is fairly consistent, unlike Nest of the Witches, which immediately offers a jerky rhythm while the vocalist redoubles his intensity to accompany the regular assaults of this fairly short track, which ultimately joins Verdicts and its unapologetic touches of melancholy that naturally transform into haunting anthems during the fiercest passages of the first half of the track; then it ends on a more soothing note, almost relieved to finally reach its conclusion.
The wild touch of its creator gives Windswept all the strength and legitimacy it needs to tell us this story buried deep within Ukrainian history. The Devil’s Vertep is dark, but its beauty is widely accessible to those who listen closely.
90/100