Conor Fynes 'Anti-Urban' - Drudkh (4/10)

Drudkh have always been a band that advocates a return to a simpler way of life, one that discards modern day conveniences and technology in favour of what they consider to be a more fulfilling existence in nature. This two song EP 'Anti-Urban' brings their message to the forefront, and delivers an afterthought of music to fans who may want an extra dose of the atmospheric black metal style that Drudkh plays. When it comes down to musical quality however, I find that 'Anti-Urban' is a fairly underwhelming and lacking experience, and while their style is nicely touched upon here, the music never gives enough depth to be worth more than a spin or two before moving on to better things that the band has produced.

'Anti-Urban' is a two track EP, and the first of these is 'Fallen Into Oblivion', an instrumental track that mostly consists of a melancholic melody getting looped and looped. It is a pleasant melody and even beautiful, but the track does not feel as if it builds up to much more than it is from the very beginning. The drums are simplistic and the way the guitars are played seems uninspired. 'Ashes' follows the same sound that 'Fallen Into Oblivion' started, but adds some ambient black metal rasps. They are mixed so low that it might as well have been another instrumental, but 'Ashes' does flow a little better than the first track... that is, until it just cuts out randomly, and then the EP is done. Drudkh has done some incredible things, but then, there are EPs like this (and albums like the bland 'Songs Of Grief & Soltitude) which make me wonder where their heads are at sometimes.

'Anti-Urban' is not necessarily bad, but just a tad unnecessary and uninspired.

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.