DRUDKH — Forgotten Legends (review)

DRUDKH — Forgotten Legends album cover Album · 2003 · Atmospheric Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
The Angry Scotsman
This album is a great example of how black metal can be good!

Always a fan of black metal's cold, grim often melancholic yet aggressive aesthetics, I also found most of it unlistenable, it just could never grab me. Usually because it easily gets boring or was simply so horrid. However, with their debut release Drudkh puts out a good piece of traditional black metal.

It is harsh, low fi, filled to the brim with buzzing guitars and shrieking vocals. This is certainly a straight up black metal album, however there are some differences with "Forgotten Legends". While these songs are long, they do have some variation. Just enough as a matter of fact! These songs are simplistic and repetitive but they don't continue on playing the same 2 rhythms for 12 minutes. The music changes up, just a bit, and just often enough so the songs never drag. Even over 16 minutes! Moves with the perfect pace and flow.

There are not many blast beats to be found here, the drumming instead utilizes long chains of double bass to push the songs along. Something out of Burzum's book and a style I prefer over the unrelenting blast beats we usually see with the genre. This is alternated with simple, straightforward drumming, both of which gives the music a more melancholic feel in my opinion.

Also from the church of burzum is some subtle songwriting. At first you may hear an abrasive wall of buzzing guitars but when you really listen you will find some real melodicsism and subtlety. More than a simple wall of noise, it is truly layered and textured.

The vocals are typical black metal shrieks, but a bit buried which is nice. Makes them more of an additional instrument than vocal assault, easier to swallow. I am also a fan of when vocals are treated as more of an instrument than conveying a message, especially for more extreme metal, and that is the case here. The lyrics have never been released. Add this to the shrieking style and low fi music and it is literally impossible to even know what he is saying!

A perfect example of how black metal atmosphere can be tempered with just a bit of musicianship to make something really good. Not for everyone of course, but if you can handle extreme metal this is a great album.

Three Stars
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The Angry Scotsman wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Totally get that, guess there was enough for me lol I was surprised that it held my interest as well as it did!
Wilytank wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I'd give it three stars myself, but it's nowhere near varied enough in the structure. The first two songs plod on for far too long. I liked the third one though. So it gets a slightly above mediocre 60%ish score from me.

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