Лебединий шлях (THE SWAN ROAD)

A band that sounds like a crossbreed between (old) Enslaved and Bathory with a mix of death and black metal vocals is surely a winner. Add the obvious Ukraine folk music vibes too and the band's unwillingness to do any interviews & answer fan-mail and the scene really begin to take notice.

There is no doubts that Drudkh is one of a kind and they blasts their own path. This is something I admire them for. I also like their music a lot. Their mix of Eastern European traditional music and black metal is really refreshing. But all this is futile if their music is not up to scratch. But, it is.

This album consists of some pretty long songs which weaves around in a melodic black metal forest, a forest also shared with folk music. But this is mostly a grim black metal album with tremolo picking electric guitars, bass, drums and pretty grim vocals. The music is good though throughout. Unfortunate, it lacks the little extra that makes a good black metal album. It has a lot of sameness throughout. But the closing song Song of Sich Destruction is a great song. This is a good black metal album, but nothing more than that. Their sound is great though and that saves the day.

3 stars