Ukrainian atmospheric black metal legends solder another admirable record with potent messages for their place and time.
Review:
Nothing out of the ordinary. That's how I would describe the last 15 years in Drudkh's discography, which generally has a couple of notable peaks of achieving immeasurable greatness (for example with Blood In Our Wells), but once you listen to one album, you unlock them all.
What they definitely have in their favour though is the work itself, as it is the one of the most, if not the most self-contained, unique atmospheric black metal band in the world with notable musicians that you can recognise within seconds. Vocals are so characteristic, the playing style is the same, and the signature of Drudkh resonates in Всі належать ночі too. As a band with members in many side projects, there are specific elements I am looking into when going to each one of them (as described for example in a couple of posts about Precambrian here), but with Drudkh, it should all be about the journey.
The record is totally evocative, beautifully atmospheric, almost exclusively middle to slow paced, it takes its time to set in and gives space to the musicians to play even more freely at times, straying from their own established formula. I couldn't help but draw some comparisons with Agalloch when it comes to the clean guitar parts, especially in the introduction (and later repeated) melodies of "Листопад", but other than that, they just sound like themselves, which is in itself an advantage. Slightly ominous riffs crawl in "Поки зникнем у млі" which is a really distinctive track this band would make, and the most memorable guitar melodies for me where in the second track "Млини", which is another point to look after apart from the flawless atmosphere it uniformly has.
The great art and wondrous lyrics (poems by Antin Pavluk and Yakiv Savchenko, and we are not surprised but happy) conclude another fine record by a long-running, seasoned band. Four tracks and 45 minutes of Drudkh being in good shape and form, but they don't know the opposite anyway.
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