Drudkh - Songs of Grief and Solitude (2006)^{Release ID: 18426}

I think Drudkh are a fantastic atmospheric black metal band, one of the best the genre has to offer. I'm also quite partial to a bit of folk music, so I thought that this would be right up my street and some of it is very nice indeed. At it's best it is earthy yet fragile-sounding at the same time, but in all honesty a number of the tracks are a bit repetitive and while this is fine in the context of atmospheric black metal when laid bare, as here, it becomes just a little tedious. Still, kudos to the band for trying a different approach and not at all surprising from them really as they are obviously steeped in Ukrainian folklore and proud of their folk roots.