Drudkh aren’t finished with with their zenith; They Often See Dreams About the Spring surges with sweeping harmonies and breathtaking cadences. Surely this is a renaissance for their career, as the Ukrainian based group follows up the critical success of A Furrow Cut Short with an even better album in my estimation.
It’s an unloading and cryptic album with hypnotic songs that dig down into the dirge of a warrior’s spirit. Artistically the album renders images of rolling landscapes and hideous flames purging all in its path. This is the purity of raw black metal in an environment that has fostered more than one thousand years of war torn poverty and oppression. It is no coincidence, in my mind’s eye, that this outfit has been releasing such tenacious material in the outcropping of a war that continues to tear apart their homeland.
Among Drudkh’s most persevering hallmarks is the ability to create music that rises above the tension. On one end of the spectrum is a style that relentlessly attacks in the form of their second wave inspired black metal assault, but they are also cultivating inspiration from folk ballads and the mystique of their culture. Beyond the maelstrom are symbols of faith and relief. Like the life of a forest that dies and breathes again, Drudkh lives out the tragedy of their struggle and relays inspiration out into the fog.
Release date is March 9th.
