First of all, I want to correct myself, as I got the line-up of Autumn Aurora wrong: Thurios and Amorth (formally of Astrofaes) started playing with Roman Saenko only from this release onwards. Previously, a certain Yuriy Sinitsky (also involved with Lucifugum) was responsible for percussion and Saenko handled everything else. From 2006, and with this album, Thurios took over the vocals while Amorth took charge of the percussion.
I apologize again, but the available information on this group is very fragmented, as they do not have a website and do not give interviews.
The evolution of Drudkh is ongoing and is expressed through the annual albums they produce, certainly not limited by time, considering Autumn Aurora was released not more than 3 years before this. Lyrics inspired by Ukrainian pagan literature, in their native language, the usual gusts of wind, impressive moments of vast and steppic space; Drudkh change colors, lights, sounds, but not form. They are recognizable to anyone who has heard even just one of their albums.
Every intro is played with Ukrainian folk instruments, and even the melodies on which the songs are structured are of clear folk origin. An example is "Nav'", which acclimates us to the album's epic atmospheres right from the start. In fact, the space immediately taken by "Furrows Of Gods" strikes like thunder in a clear sky, a sensation of apocalypse that furiously descends from above, striking those who are both protagonist and spectator of divine wrath. This time, the blow is at the beginning, there is no time to gradually and repeatedly delve into one emotion at a time, everything and now! Saenko's solos, incredibly played as part of the whole and not as an end in themselves, highlight his high musical competence that is never flaunted as such but showcased masterfully "because they fit just as they are/where they are". And the first 10 minutes of this yet another masterpiece fly by between the rawest anger and the most impressive fury.
But then they repent. Or maybe not. "When the Flame Turns to Ashes" underscores a sense of guilt that keeps on edge those unsure if they should continue with destruction because it's the right thing to do or stop to repair the too many damages committed. An infinite cycle of schizophrenia leading to a stalemate: first, the constant perpetuation of the pain of not being able to make a decision, then witnessing the slow exhaustion of any residual energy, having used half to fight the other half... Thus increasingly desolate and sad, the surrounding landscape withers slowly, folding and twisting until it almost disappears. Indeed, in the ashes of what has been reduced, "Solitude" screams in pain its own suffering. Once again, a great demonstration of mastery of all the instruments played. And indeed, one of Saenko's most depressive arpeggios will kill any hope, any sense of power of those who have massacred everyone, including themselves, and by necessity is alone, sole and architect of nothingness, punished for this with eternity: "Eternity". Yet another hallucinating solo almost wasted for the classical standards where a guitar is an end and not a means...
The anger expressed still through fury for its own sake, not revenge though, spreads like rain into every crevice, filling it with that emptiness that belongs to those who have everything and come to desire nothing just to give a sense to their own existence. The end as a desire, as the completion of a circle, seems as though it may never arrive. There is no tranquility in the life of those who do not know how much uphill road they still have to climb, thus a tragic ascent of hate surpasses the desire to continue, becoming confusedly part of the whole, burning itself endlessly as an infinite atonement for what one continues to be... "Ukrainian Insurgent Army", an instrumental piece, always closes the inevitably limited sphere where peace has no space and war cannibalizing itself continues eternally, where war is represented by every gesture that keeps every being clinging to life, making them writhe between fury and repentance as day and night have always chased one another without either ever prevailing. Thus every evil is birthed from every good and vice versa, depending on how we handle this microscopic sphere.
Nevertheless, it is a great CD, the music of this group is priceless.
Tracklist
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