Drudkh: A Furrow Cut Short

Ukraine’s majestic black metallers regain their crown

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

Drudkh have been working towards the majesty of A Furrow Cut Short for some time. Where the Ukrainians began life in 2002 as a fairly prolific project with a record every year – sometimes two – their output has suffered in later years from a lack of imagination and inspiration.

The highs of Blood In Our Wells and Microcosmos are starkly contrasted in the disappointing notes of Handful Of Stars and the slightly better Eternal Turn Of The Wheel, and the time spent away has certainly enabled Drudkh to find their spirit once again.

Cursed Sons I begins the journey on deep riffs and Roman Saenko’s instantly familiar voice drives the song forward into realms of limitless scope. The record is wonderfully expansive and Embers flows through into Dishonour I on gorgeous movements of guitar that sit behind the instrumentation and give the song life.

A Furrow Cut Short is a beautiful epic that traces its roots through Drudkh’s history and Ukraine’s past, and it forges a path through to the present and beyond and the stunning climax of Till Foreign Ground Shall Cover Eyes./o:p