Drudkh frontman lowers the temperature with his new project, Windswept

Forerunners of the East European black metal scene, Drudkh’s journey into the deepest undercurrents of their Ukrainian identity has been enthralling fans for the past 15 years, driven by their mercurial frontman, Roman Saenko into ever more expansive territories.

For those seeking the more hardbitten territories of Drudkh’s earlier albums, or Roman’s former band Hate Forest, the frontman’s new band, Windswept offers a perfect gateway. Released via Season Of Mist subsdiary Underground Activists on March 31, Windswept’s debut album, The Great Cold Steppe, has an arsenal of riffs that sounds like circular saws dipped in liquid nitrogen, but sets about carving out huge sprays of face-searing yet emotive melody that marks this out as another deeply personal work of sonic excavation.

Roman Saenko may still not be be prepared to show his face for Windswept, but he is streaming the The Great Cold Steppe in all its icily exhilarating glory. So zip up your coats, tell your nearest or dearest that you may be gone for some time, and brave the elemental elixir that is The Great Cold Steppe below!

Pre-order The Great Cold Steppe here!

Having freelanced regularly for the Melody Maker and Kerrang!, and edited the extreme metal monthly, Terrorizer, for seven years, Jonathan is now the overseer of all the album and live reviews in Metal Hammer. Bemoans his obsolete superpower of being invisible to Routemaster bus conductors, finds men without sideburns slightly circumspect, and thinks songs that aren’t about Satan, swords or witches are a bit silly.