Label: Season of Mist |
Underground
Activities
I
cannot but recommend the album for fans of Drudkh. The Grift tracks are in no
way bad, they just do not compare to the masterful first half of the
collaboration.
“Betrayed By The Sun / Hägringar” DD//LP track listing:
Side A:
1). DRUDKH Його двадцять четверта весна (His Twenty-Fourth
Spring)
2). DRUDKH Осінь в сепії (Autumn in Sepia)
Side B:
3). GRIFT Källan (The Source)
4). GRIFT Cirkeln (The Circle)
The Review:
Splits
are, by their very nature, a risky venture. Like any chimera or hybrid, you can
end up with a monstrosity or abomination or something which is better than the
sum of the parts. The best splits, ironically, are those that do not actually
evoke the sense of being split; they form something cohesive and
coherent. Recent examples would include joint efforts by Torrid Husk/End and the
just-released Selvans/Downfall
of Nur collaboration. In a
sense, this makes split albums a little bit tricky to review because the
metrics become muddy: are we looking at a series of discrete tracks? Side A and
Side B of a vinyl release? Or are we evaluating the album on how it sounds from
beginning to end? With those disclaimers in mind, let's take a look at the
collaboration by the legendary Drudkh and relative newcomer Grift.
First
things first: there is little doubt to my mind that Drudkh is at the peak of their
powers in this split. “His Twenty Fourth
Spring” is probably my favourite track of theirs since 2006's “When the Flame Turns to Ashes”.
Everything in both tracks delivers an intense, aggressive auditory experience
with virtuoso performance and production. It is damn fine work and very
promising for the next full-length after the somewhat disappointing “A Furrow Cut Short”. There is a sense
of reinvigoration as opposed to reinvention here, as if Drudkh have found new blood for
the wells from which they draw their music
The
following two tracks by Grift present an interesting but not
necessarily good contrast to Drudkh. In isolation, these two tracks are
competent, but are frankly not nearly as good as Erik's work on Syner,
nor are they as compositionally compatible with the first half of the split.
Raw production, shrieking vocals, slower, folk inflected rhythm and pace; all
are jarringly set against the much smoother sounder Drudkh
song. I am a fan of Grift, whom I see as having immense potential,
but am not convinced that this paring served either band well. There is also
the feeling of an excellent band putting out some of their best work to date
set against some less-than-stellar material by a newer artist.
These
criticisms of the paring and some of its weaknesses aside, I cannot but
recommend the album for fans of Drudkh. And to be fair: the Grift
tracks are in no way bad, they just do not compare to the masterful first half
of the collaboration.
“Betrayed
By The Sun / Hägringar” is available here
FFO: Burzum, Hate
Forest
