Drudkh - Handful of Stars Review

Since ive found myself submitting quite a few reviews for Metal Archives i thought i might as well post them here as well.

As soon as I saw the cover art for this album it became one of my “Most Looked Forward to Albums Of 2010”. The artwork has a really cool astral theme and this coupled with the name “Handful of Stars”, I was expecting something completely different for this album. At the least, I was sure the lyrics would be about space or astronomical themes, or more fantastical because of the Elf/Wizard like character on the cover. This is the main reason I didn’t immediately warm to this album. It was so different to what I was expecting that I was initially disappointed. But like many progressive albums, after 10 listens it grew on me immensely.

The first thing you will notice about the album is that the production is so much better than any other Drudkh release. It is clean and smooth and all the deliberate rawness is gone. The guitars and vocals are clearly audible which is a nice change from previous albums and the guitars are also less aggressive. The second thing you will notice is the music itself. It’s no longer straight up Atmospheric Black Metal. The template that has been used up until now for Drudkh has honestly been used to death by them. The change that subtly began with Microcosmos has come to fruition on Handful of Stars. The sound is a subtle amalgamation of post rock and black metal but it is still very recognisably Drudkh, with a bit of Dopamine (china) mixed in.

The post rock sounds may come as a shock to some but this album really grew on me. Enough to buy the leather book edition and rank it as my favourite Drudkh album so far. This is also an excellent album for people trying to get into the band that aren’t big fans of their rawer work. I dropped this album 5 points because the art didn’t match the music so it gave a false first impression and the lyrics also don’t match the art. It’s also a bit short at under 45 minutes although this is standard for a Drudkh album and hopefully the Slavonic Chronicles cd coming with the leather book edition will make up for this. So in conclusion, this album sounds like Drudkh has bought a fancy suit and had sex with post rock. And post rock was hot.

Score: 95%