DRUDKH - Autumn Aurora (2004)
Supernal Music
1. Fading
2. Summoning the Rain
3. Glare of Autumn
4. Sunwheel
5. Wind of the Night Forests
6. The First Snow
Every so often the beauty of art comes full circle.
The enigma that is DRUDKH ("Recorded Winter '03, Ukraine" by who? what? why? how? Internet searches provide some results, but not many) have created a distinctly black metal piece with Autumn Aurora: fast drums, screaming vocals, and layers of guitars. Yet everything has a great harmonic balance and is utterly beautiful at the same time. The dichotomy here is so perfect that one may have a hard time hearing one side or the other, as everything comes together in a completely marvelous whole. The most obvious example is the guitar solo in "Sunwheel," as it has massive sheets of distortion, pummeling double bass, and a fast moving guitar solo, but it's just so pretty that the harshness is well overshadowed.
The incredibly organic sound achieved here is mostly due to the keyboards and production (not pristine, yet hardly dirty either), but every element plays a role in sounding exactly as the album cover pictures. Within its own circles, black metal is generally synonymous with the forest but with Autumn Aurora the mystique is fully visualized. I was truly enthralled with this album driving down the mountain in the fog from a camping trip several months ago, the music could have been coming from the trees themselves best I could tell. This level of synchronization with nature is rarely achieved in music, regardless of how many groups may try.
A high watermark for black metal, metal, music, and perhaps even art in general, this is an extraordinary accomplishment that should not be missed by anyone. I cannot quite give this a perfect score yet, but in the coming months and years, it certainly has a chance. My only genuine complaint is that it is too short! There should be another track filling the gap between "Wind of the Night Forests" and "The First Snow," as the album closes too quickly. Then again, so does autumn.
9/10
NAD
Supernal Music
1. Fading
2. Summoning the Rain
3. Glare of Autumn
4. Sunwheel
5. Wind of the Night Forests
6. The First Snow
Every so often the beauty of art comes full circle.
The enigma that is DRUDKH ("Recorded Winter '03, Ukraine" by who? what? why? how? Internet searches provide some results, but not many) have created a distinctly black metal piece with Autumn Aurora: fast drums, screaming vocals, and layers of guitars. Yet everything has a great harmonic balance and is utterly beautiful at the same time. The dichotomy here is so perfect that one may have a hard time hearing one side or the other, as everything comes together in a completely marvelous whole. The most obvious example is the guitar solo in "Sunwheel," as it has massive sheets of distortion, pummeling double bass, and a fast moving guitar solo, but it's just so pretty that the harshness is well overshadowed.
The incredibly organic sound achieved here is mostly due to the keyboards and production (not pristine, yet hardly dirty either), but every element plays a role in sounding exactly as the album cover pictures. Within its own circles, black metal is generally synonymous with the forest but with Autumn Aurora the mystique is fully visualized. I was truly enthralled with this album driving down the mountain in the fog from a camping trip several months ago, the music could have been coming from the trees themselves best I could tell. This level of synchronization with nature is rarely achieved in music, regardless of how many groups may try.
A high watermark for black metal, metal, music, and perhaps even art in general, this is an extraordinary accomplishment that should not be missed by anyone. I cannot quite give this a perfect score yet, but in the coming months and years, it certainly has a chance. My only genuine complaint is that it is too short! There should be another track filling the gap between "Wind of the Night Forests" and "The First Snow," as the album closes too quickly. Then again, so does autumn.
9/10
NAD
