Style: Atmospheric black metal
Primary Emotions/Themes: Wandering through a deep woods where thousands of years of history are contained
Thoughts: Blood in Our Wells got a lot of people talking about Drudkh when it first was released. I remember reading metal archives and this album seemed to come up in nearly every thread at the time. It was enough for me to check out the band and see what all the hype was about.
Needless to say this album was my first exposure to Drudkh. I really had no idea what to expect. I tried to go in with tempered expectations, but based on how seemingly the entire metal community was obsessed with this album I let myself get a little excited. Was it going to be an all time great? Was it going to be album of the year? I had no idea.
To be honest my first few listens were a bit disappointing. The music droned on for what seemed like forever, the riffs repeated over and over again with no real progression. The vocals seemed one dimensional and didn't really accentuate the music as well as other black metal acts that I had heard in the past. I was pretty disappointed to be honest.
That was nearly twenty years ago... the question is how has the album aged after all that time? Well, my opinion of the album changed over time. Is this one of the best black metal albums ever written? No, far from it. Is it the best Drudkh album? No, but it is close.
Blood in Our Wells manages to convey all of the emotion, all of the sorrow, all of the suffering, all of the struggle, all of the loss, all of the hatred, all of the turmoil... every emotion that the band has ever tackled and heightens it... makes it feel more potent, more immediate.
From the very first notes of Furrows of Gods I can tell that the band is intensely focused on delivering a focused and strong message about the state of their Ukrainian heritage. The guitars weep with those lost, the drums pound the importance of the message with every beat, the vocals howl and wail in mourning, the keyboards blanket it all with a veil of sorrow.
This is not a happy album (as if the album title did not give that impression already). This is a chronicle of suffering and loss. Blood in Our Wells channels these emotions better than nearly any other album I own.
Written August 9th 2024
No comments:
Post a Comment