Drudkh
Autumn Aurora

From the vibrant black scene in Ukraine (Lucifugum, Hate Forest, Nokturnal Mortum, Astrofaes?), arise Drudkh, a result nonetheless of the recombination of members from the aforementioned bands. Roman Saenko, Thurios, and Amorth, a stable trio from the outset, already since 2002. Without neglecting their side projects, the three demonstrate their incredibly fertile inspiration by producing albums at breakneck speed, one each year, and, just to overdo it, two in 2006!

And in September (not by chance) 2004, "Autumn Aurora" was released. Never before in these 40 minutes have such bright and clear images been generated through music. The genre lends itself to it, Ambient Black Metal is by definition evocative. The falling leaves of "Fading"? Just like the storm of "Summoning The Rain", a heavy rain that gently wets everything under the shadow of black clouds, as a piercing cold peels the skin and penetrates the most hidden recesses of the body? The repetition of delicate keyboards, surprising riffs and solos (!), sharp and defined rhythms only amplifies the sense of alienation that allows one to see through the music.

There is room for moments of apparent calm, which project into the violence of the windy and brilliant storm of "Glare Of Autumn", which spares no energy and unleashes mercilessly with double pedals and airy, rarefied riffs that evoke lightning and dazzling flashes. It all ends with the faint pattering of rain fading into the next track, which seems to want to dazzle with radiant rays of sun, the last sun of autumn that slowly disappears leaving only the memory of the warmth it emanated? "Sunwheel" slowly evolves over its nearly 9 minutes, giving way to purplish hues, like a sunset: the sun gives its best just before disappearing into the night?

Gusts of icy wind move us to one of the most beautiful and evocative tracks of the entire album, "Wind In The Night Forest"? Never have the guitars and keyboards been so misty and rarefied, weaving vast landscapes of endless plains and labyrinthine forests, in which only the wind knows how to carve a path. The screamed vocals are not the protagonist; the music of Drudkh is compact and harmoniously crafted to be unique and indivisible. The surprise is always in the solos, which are never trivial or self-serving; it’s not about technique, nor about emotions, only sensations? The night does not end, it gently fades into the biting cold of the wind that slowly turns water into ice. And so the initial theme of "Fading" is reintroduced, much colder and less acoustic, to describe in detail the infinitely slow fall of the first snowflakes?"The First Snow" tries to leave the listener in the most pessimistic state of mind possible, desolating the Ukrainian steppe landscape, first with the death of nature, then color? The cover, in fact, is only an introduction to the album, a landscape of beauty that can only be natural? And that, as such, dies?