Vehemency
In my opinion, the Ukrainian folkish black metal band Drudkh has released some of the most beautiful music ever. So, when Supernal Music announced in 2007 that this ten inch EP was released, it was certainly a must-buy.
”Fallen into Oblivion” is a mid-tempo, melancholic instrumental with just a few different riffs recurring throughout the song. Particularly in this song the raw production enhances the howling guitar sound, so that Anti-Urban is actually quite noisy of its nature. It does help the music to sound more tender in a way (if you can say so about a black metal release), so it is not necessarily a bad thing. ”Ashes” is a faster song with vocals sung in English and it is probably a bit more traditional Drudkh song.
Apparently the drums are programmed for the first time in Drudkh’s career, which is a minus. Luckily they sound good enough and it actually took me very long to realize they were programmed. And I’m still not even hundred percent sure! But as I said, they don’t bother me much, but of course it weakens the natural atmosphere that Drudkh is commonly known for.
Anti-Urban didn’t let me down, but on the other hand it is quite average for Drudkh’s standards. Of course it is hard to top the previous albums because my expectations are always really, really high when this band releases something. Anti-Urban provides two tracks of Drudkh quality, but if I were new to the band, I would start with something else. Fans (like me) will surely like this, of course.