Handful of Stars
The title of the latest Drudkh album is both: A summary of what awaits you and the hope to finally become better known. Although every previous album was superb Drudkh never really got the attention they deserved. Handful Of Stars really could change this, because it’s superior to every previous album and it leaves the well-trodden paths of black metal in general. Read here about it!
Handful Of Stars is the eighth studioalbum of Drudkh and so they literally released an album per year since their foundation in 2002. They tried different styles in this cycle of releases and not every of these satisfied the fans. (A) Handful Of Stars also could leave a bad taste in the mouthes of some fans.
Compared to their previous albums you’d have to say that Handful Of Stars is basically more into the post rock genre and though mid-tempo songs are dominating. They reduced the soundscape to the most necessary elements and concentrated on well placed accents. Handful Of Stars doesn’t try to overstimulate, but to create a unique, scenic atmosphere.
The reduction to the essential core in combination with those post rock elements and the conciousness to the atmosphere could scare the devotees of the blacker albums away, because Drudkh absent themselves out of the black metal frame. The escape from those solid structures does make (A) Handful of Stars singular.
Although you’d have to award that (A) Handful Of Stars did some major changes compared to the previous albums it absorbes and unites the best parts of every album and so becomes the top of creativity. Especially embosomed songstructures, vocals, riffs, melodies and basslines did extant on a large scale.
New is the concious repition of several structures, which is at once boon and bane of the album. On the one hand it forms the character of each song, on the other it leads to some lengthiness at times. The production is crystall clear and supports the created atmosphere in all points.
Conclusion:
Drudkh did release the best album of their entire carrier and should get the publicity they deserve! (A) Handful Of Stars is the quintessence of their discography and so it unites all the highlights. It shouldn’t be unrewarded, that they had the courage to leave the well-trudded pathes of black metal to create something unique! So why do you wait, go and buy it!
Rating: 96/100
Running Time:
41:54
Tracklist:
- Cold Landscapes
- Downfall Of The Epoch
- Towards The Light
- Twilight Aureole
- The Day Will Come
- Listening To The Silence
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
- False - False [EP] |
- Old Silver Key - Tales Of Wanderings |
- Drudkh - Eternal Turn Of The Wheel | threnodies
- The Great Old Ones - Al Azif | threnodies
