Review by Jeger on February 28, 2025.

To counterbalance the light from the dark and the dark from the light. For what would our universe be without the adversarial functionality of contrasting forces? I'm of the mind that one cannot really achieve any sort of enlightenment without first becoming accustomed to his shadow self. Exile and the cyclical way life revolves its way inevitably into its gravely destination. The frailty of infancy revisited once again during life's autumnal cycle. An ode to the importance of contrasting forces and the fascinating revolution of life cycles? Sounds like someone's writing a black metal review... Getting all deep around here. I've just given you a hypothetical rundown of the concepts behind Drudkh' forthcoming LP, Shadow Play, scheduled for a March 21 release via Season of Mist: Underground Activists.

When is a Drudkh album ever not magnificent? With Shadow Play, Drudkh has really created something that other artists should not listen to. Insecure bands might not wanna play black metal anymore. A bold yet ethereal experience is Shadow Play, like drifting upon a helium updraft into where the atmosphere begins to warmly drench you with cascading guitar riffs and submission you with mammoth cadences, rouse you with cardiac bass lines and lull you with depressive melodies. Drama-infused and intrepid in its momentum is "The Exile" - a grande affair, elegant in the vein of Seth's latest "La France de Maudits" LP and yet imposing as it brutishly towers over your fleshly heap: gigantic snare-bludgeoning beats driving the whole thing forward like one of those gargantuan Ogre beasts they always have at the back of the line during the battle scene in one of those fantasy epics that I hate…

Feeling the urgency of the energy now as "Fallen Blossom" plays. Like a well of anticipation rising from deep within as all phases converge into this relentless blast-propelled crescendo of black metal. One of those really deep masterpiece-level albums that tease before you like a hooker in Amsterdam epic compositions, stellar engineering and lyrical subject matter that no one truly understands but the artist who wrote it. A patient, almost tortuous pace to "The Eve". The stuff that's going on in the background is every bit as important as what's going on at the fore. Keyboards provide an environment rich with melody whilst all other elements roar onward at a freight train's momentum.

How can we appreciate the dark without the light and vice versa? How do these contrasting forces coincide with the cycles of life? Who fucking knows… I'm sure the lyrics are brilliant though as they ought to be in accompaniment to such enrapturing music. There are bands for whom you get overjoyed whenever they cut an album. Drudkh is one of those bands - pioneers of a respected but controversial UABM scene - quintessential and important in every way. Think Sargeist, Mork, Helleruin or Satanic Warmaster and you'll be paving the cerebral pathway toward the creative realm in which Drudkh haunts. Champions of that coveted sweet spot within the underground; that place where you're renowned for all the right reasons and by people who truly matter - discerning black metal people. This is why we do it, people. Another opus of the magnum variety.

Rating: 9 out of 10