Review Summary: A new peak.
Nearly three years after their last album, Drudkh has returned with a new record. A lot has happened during these three years in Ukraine, much grief, fear, and many more things. Originally, I wanted to detach this historical context from the discussion of the album, but in my opinion, the emotional connection (for me) is simply inevitable when immersing oneself in the melodies and atmosphere of
Shadow Play. The atmosphere surrounding the album is also weighed down by the fact that
Shadow Play is shrouded in mystery. Neither the exact lineup nor any aspects of the album's production are known, so in this case, we are entirely reliant on our ears and previous experiences. (How exciting!)
The album has a special opener, as “Scattering the Ashes” first takes us on a walk (at least through our ears), as we hear the sound of rustling leaves and creaking branches underfoot. Personally, this immediately reminded me of Ulver’s 1994 magical debut album, particularly the track “Graablick Blev Hun Vaer”, which also features a similar sound sample of walking through the forest. The opening track itself bears a striking resemblance to the closing track of their 2004 album
Autumn Aurora (“The First Snow” / “Перший Сніг”), as it also consists of slow, eerie, and deeply melancholic guitar melodies (the acoustic melodies are beautiful) and ethereal synthesizers. If it's not too much of a stretch to say, the connection between these two albums is so strong that it feels as if
Autumn Aurora and
Shadow Play are strongly related. This connection is evident in the albums' atmosphere and even in their style too: both albums feature many mid-tempo riffs, heavily melancholic atmosphere, also, the synthesizers play a significantly more prominent role in these albums than usual (at least within Drudkh's discography).
According to Drudkh's intention,
Shadow Play can be considered a concept album, where elements such as light and shadow, the contrast between silence and storm, and the forces that squeeze existence in an untold story appear, and in this narrative, images of escape and death also arise. That's all we know what is at the core of the album. Even though this is not much, I believe it’s still enough to provide that extra layer that can deepen the musical experience. I emphasized this because this conceptuality is also present in the music itself. Apart from the opening, the remaining five tracks are completely cohesive, and although there are no directly recurring melodic elements, they form an organic, tightly intertwined whole, much like a classical music piece. This gives the album a very unified flow, resulting in
Shadow Play being able to captivate the listener so much that it feels like the album reaches its end in the blink of an eye. Don’t take me wrong, this does not mean that the album is monotonous or shallow – on the contrary!
Shadow Play is an extremely consistent, high-quality atmospheric black metal record from start to finish. This also makes it difficult to pinpoint standout moments, but I will still attempt to do so.
The last third of the track “April” is particularly strong, where the increasing tension dissolves in a blend of heart-wrenching, sweetly sad riffs and acoustic melodies, beautifully accompanied by long, airy, and freezing cold synthesizer melodies (same thing can be heard in the album’s closing track too, “The Thirst”). Another track that represents strong emotions is “Fallen Blossom”, which is the absolute heaviest track on the album. The melodies of this track represent a sort of glorious release of anger, relying onto fast-paced drums and riffs – somewhat recalling the very aggressive
A Furrow Cut Short album. However, if there is a true pinnacle to the album, it is none other than “The Eve”. In the typical Drudkh fashion, this song is written for two guitars (which, due to the minimalistic usage of synthesizers, strongly resembles the Cascadian style of black metal, like Wolves in the Throne Room), and I think it captures all the accumulated emotions perfectly. Bittersweet, melancholic, contemplative, and fully utilizing the contrasting sound of black metal: ah, it’s so
beautiful… I’ve heard it many times, yet I still find it hard to find the words. This is typically one of those pieces of music that is difficult to summarize… because it needs to be
felt. (Quite artistic, isn’t it?)
In conclusion, I daresay that
Shadow Play crowns Drudkh's current discography, and it can even be seen as a synthesis of all their previous albums. This record easily captures the listener’s attention, and with each listen, it just gets better and better! A true masterpiece.
