Drudkh : “Всі належать ночі”

The Ukrainian black metal scene is among the most primal and raw representatives of the black metal genre at the moment. Almost every work that has come out of the lands of Ukraine is imbued with unprecedented fury, raging passion and excellent songwriting skills, with some of the representatives towering monumentally, bringing much more than beautifully played music and bloodthirsty vocals, namely – pieces history, bits of soul.

This is also the case with the Kharkiv based black metal band Drudkh, which paints natural landscapes with music, shares  elements of folklore and the history of Ukraine, and of course, breathes life into forgotten works of Ukrainian poets.

In a corrupt, fabricated and unhealthy attention-seeking world, it is nice in such a dystopian atmosphere to go back in time to the works of great artists, recall historical events from the recent past and listen to musical compositions that mentally  carry him to another world filled with melodies that make his soul soar.

„Всі належать ночі (All Belong to the Night)“  is Drudkh’s twelfth full-length album.
Darker, somehow different and deeper, the record presents us with four tracks totaling around 40 minutes, each of which has a lot of embedded meaning and sticks hard in you like an arrow, with the songs flowing smoothly into each other, leaving a sense of completeness.

In their own melancholic and at the same time fierce and primal way, Sayenko and his comrades  revive the voices of the Ukrainian past. The lyrics of the songs are entirely in their native Ukrainian language, and the works of Ukrainian poets are used as a basis, among which the names Yakiv Savchenko and Antin Pavlyuk stand out – people with a tragic fate, on whom the weight of the events of 1937 fell without any mercy.
Well, now Drudkh present their works to the world through music  in the same  ruthless way as they were treated, but also with an inhuman passion and love. The tragedy of one sometimes lights the fire in the hearts of dozens of others.

The album opens with „Нічний (The Nocturnal One)“, with lyrics from “Жертви Нічного” (“Victims of the Nocturnal”) by Yakiv Savchenko, who was executed on November 2nd 1937,  during the regime of Joseph Stalin. A fate that we know very well is shared by many of our most respected artists in Bulgaria after the date September 9th, 1944. The song has exactly that sense of descending darkness and despair that people probably felt at that moment, with heavy danger looming above their heads.
Prolonged and multi-layered, the track presents the listener with numerous surprises, including sections with captivating progressive basslines, pulsating rhythms and grandiose melodies… all wrapped up in the power of Thurios’s vocal appeals, direct and razor-sharp.

The fury transitions smoothly into a ritualistic, almost folkloric atmosphere with “Windmills”, where melancholic choral vocals lead us into a song that sings of one of the dearest structures for the Ukrainian land – the windmills, and hope itself. The song features Vlad’s pulsating drums and beautiful melodic sections. “Windmills” sounds like a breath of hope, like rising above all evil. Sayenko once again manages to create light through the darkness and shift all his power into it, which serves as a strong retaining wall for the one who listens.

“Листопад (November)” is the shortest of the four tracks, but also the most melancholic, carrying a specific emotion that sets it apart from the other tracks and recalls the beauty of “Autumn Aurora”and other influences. The anger in this song is nestled at times in sections with doom metal reminders and moods, melting into each other. The song is based on the poem “Листопад” by Antin Pavlyuk and allows us to touch the more romantic side of Ukrainians – one of the many that remain untouched by the dust of time, despite the blood that has been spilled.

„Як смертне прядиво, як безнадійність прощ,
як невод умирання довгий, непролазний…
як непотрібна і глуха образа
осінній дощ, ізнов осінній дощ.“

The closing track „Поки зникнем у млі (Till We Become the Haze)“ is a fifteen-minute opus based on Savchenko’s work, this time taking inspiration from his poem „Не дано“. Totally immersive in nature, the track unfolds before us a cinematic atmosphere, alternating between medium tempos and strong moments of inspiring tension, progressing and returning us to a position of floating through space, beautifully accented by Vlad’s drums, the atmospheric guitars and the  bass. It’s as if the track combines the other three from the album and presents their most beautiful elements in one, adding new stylistic surprises as well. A beautiful, but also sad finale of “All Belong to the Night” insome way , acting as the last pulse of a touching story.

And like the whole concept of the album, the cover also  has a special meaning for the Ukrainian people and culture. On the 26th of November, according to Ukrainian custom, a candle is placed by the window in memory of the Ukrainians killed during the Hladomor  in 1932-1933. A period that strongly marks the Ukrainian memory and leaves the unspoken promise of retribution.

„Всі належать ночі (All Belong to the Night)“  is a beautiful euphonious story about the light in the darkness, about looking at the past in the present time, about the beauty of melancholy and sublime feelings in the soul of a person, even when faced with brutal trials. Listening, you smoothly immerse yourself in bold guitar and bass lines, soaring vocals, pounding drums and messages, all synchronized and forming a whole picture, continuing to echo in your mind long after it’s over.

„Лиш засвітиш свічки – і освітиш нам путь,
Поки зникнем у млі.“

The album will be released on November 11th via the Season of Mist Underground Activists label and can be ordered at the following address: https://bit.ly/3N114Ro

Two of the title tracks are currently available, check them out here: