Drudkh - Autumn Aurora (2004)

Back sometime in 2000 when I was first introducing myself to the black metal genre through Norwegian bands, such as; Emperor, Dimmu Borgir and Satyricon I came across this band named, Nokturnal Mortum, who were not from northern Europe, but rather from a city named Kharkiv in a country known as Ukraine. As much as I enjoyed all my Norwegian black metal back then I remember this Ukrainian band absolutely possessing me and not letting me go until several months later. Flash forward several years later (February of this year to be exact) and a friend that works at a record store is asking me if I ever heard Drudkh, who happen to come from the same ancient Slavic land as Nokturnal Mortum. A quick once through in the store while browsing and watching said friend get overly passionate about the album and being equally impressed myself, I throw down my buck and give this Ukrainian band a proper listening through their second album, 'Autumn Aurora.'

Drudkh, meaning "Wood" in Romanised Sanskrit is largely the brainchild of one Roman Saenko, whom has also done time in Hate Forest, Dark Ages, Blood of Kingu and most recently Old Silver Key, while alongside his mates in Drudkh has been highly prolific releasing no less than nine albums since 2003 and capturing a large audience of black metal fanatics during those years. 'Autumn Aurora,' the bands second album along with their debut, 'Forgotten Legends' are largely seen as the bands masterwork and honestly just one private listening to this record revealed that to me quickly.

The album opens with, 'Fading,' which is simply just the sounds of birds chirping and an ominous acoustic guitar melody for the first 1:30 of the album before diving into, 'Summoning the Rain.' Within seconds I found myself hit with this wave of coldness as an incredibly atmospheric yet epic and memorable riff welcomes me to the world of Drudkh. Backing synths of the utmost aerial and involving quality also guide me through their forest while soon enough vocalist, Thurios begins screaming. For nearly six minutes the song remains utterly mesmerizing and grim when it suddenly bleeds directly into, 'Glare of Autumn.' Introduced once again by gorgeous acoustic guitar melodies and this time a sample of heavy downpour, at the one minute mark a repetitive riff and synth melody cascade and devours me with one of the most massive and haunting black metal moments I've personally ever heard. This feeling of utter coldness and loneliness is present for the remainder of this instrumental song as the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and my senses remain in awe.

'Sunwheel' is something entirely different however, unexpectantly it feels as if the skies are clearing and the rains have dispersed when the highly folky and dare I saw upbeat riffs of this song enter my ears. For its entire nine minute duration the song remains bouncy, colorful and fun and has this sense of renewal to it, almost as if a long dark winter has passed and the spring season has arrived to warm the lands. 'Wind of the Night Forest,' on the other hand brings back the darker qualities of the three earlier songs. Again absolutely colossal riffs, an awesome solo, haunting synth melodies, great vocals and superb drumming carry this song for its entire nine and a half minute duration without a boring moment to be found.

'The First Snow' closes out the album with a song that almost sounds like a bow to Burzum's infinite classic, 'Det Som En Gang Var.' Perhaps its just the synth melody, but some serious similarities exist, although acoustic guitar is present alongside the synths and heavily buzzing electric guitars for the entire nine minute duration of this instrumental song. Drudkh are one of the rare black metal bands out there that employ the repetitive riff technique and get away with it flawlessly, simply because their riffs are outstanding and the atmosphere is nearly unmatched.

As previously mentioned this is my first foray into Drudkh (despite knowing their name for years and only hearing a few random songs previously) and I look forward to exploring their other creations. Though I'm the sort of listener that doesn't dive into it all at once, in fact I haven't gotten my hands on any of their other releases just yet, because I haven't gotten enough of this one yet.

'Autumn Aurora' is truly a modern day classic in every sense of the word and if highly atmospheric, enthralling and well composed black metal is your thing, then you surely can do no wrong with this one.