Drudkh
Drudkh is a Ukrainian black metal band from Kharkiv. Formed in 2002. Drudkh, meaning “wood” in Sanskrit, is an atmospheric black metal band from Ukraine formed by Roman Saenko, the leading member of Hate Forest; Thurios, the leading member of Astrofaes; and Yuriy Sinitsky, of Lucifugum and Definition Sane
About
Their strongly folk-influenced music focuses on a strong atmosphere with a lot of feeling, and the lyrical contents embrace Slavic mythology, seasons and poetry. Many of the band’s lyrics are derived from the works of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Ukrainian poets, especially Taras Shevchenko.
During all its history, the band followed a ‘no photos, no interviews, no website, no gigs’ policy, which was nobly accepted by Drudkh’s new label Season of Mist. The absence of any comments or information from Drudkh’s side gave an opening to a few ignorant internet warrior-fans to spread rumors, that the band embraces some extreme political views. This is absolutely misleading and a total profanation, since there is nothing in Drudkh’s music or lyrics that would suggest any political outlook. Drudkh praise individualism, self-improvement and estrangement from modern values.
Their folk-influenced music focuses on a strong atmosphere with a lot of feeling, and the lyrical contents embrace Slavic mythology, seasons and poetry, especially the works of Taras Shevchenko, from which the lyrics to their 2005 album The Swan Road were derived. They have released four albums via the English extreme metal record label Supernal Music. All albums have also been released on vinyl through two Finnish black metal labels, Northern Heritage and Faustian Distribution. Several people have wrongly associated Drudkh with the National Socialist Black Metal movement, although this has been more due to the nature of the band members’ other projects than to any content in Drudkh’s music itself, which is neither National Socialistic nor traditional Black Metal. (That said, it’s worth noting that one of the band’s official shirts has described Drudkh as “Art for White Intellectual Elite,” and several of the band members’ other projects are National Socialistic).
On the 23rd of March 2006 Drudkh released Blood in Our Wells, once again through Supernal Music records. The new material takes a more pronounced national historic leaning on this album, with poetry from the most respected XXth century Ukrainian poets serving as lyrics, and brilliant soloing, while retaining the blend of their original style of Metal and traditional Ukrainian folk music. Because of the use of samples from classic Ukrainian cinema, the album is considered more cinematic than its predecessor, while still in a similar vein musically. Blood in Our Wells was released in two non-vinyl formats: normal jewel case (unlimited and available everywhere), and super jewel case plus (limited to 1000 hand-numbered copies and made available only through Supernal Music).
In the end of 2006 they released their fifth album (and second of 2006), entitled Songs of Grief and Solitude. This is a fully acoustic folk album, with music taken from traditional Ukrainian folk tunes and from earlier Drudkh compositions (for example, “The Cranes Will Never Return Here” is based on a riff from Blood in Our Wells’s “Solitude,” and “Archaic Dance” is based on a riff from “Glare of 1768” on The Swan Road).
In 2007, Drudkh released Estrangement and currently is working on a new album that will be released on Season of Mist label.
Discography
Studio albums
- Forgotten Legends (2003)
- Autumn Aurora (2004)
- Lebedynyy Shlyakh (The Swan Road)(2005)
- Krov u nashykh Krynytsyakh (Blood in Our Wells) (2006)
- Songs Of Grief & Solitude (2006)
- Estrangement (2007)
EPs
- Anti-Urban (2007)
