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Drudkh > Пригорща зірок (Handful of Stars) > Reviews > Shores_of_Sorrow
Drudkh - Пригорща зірок (Handful of Stars)

The Downfall of Drudkh? - 40%

Shores_of_Sorrow, March 19th, 2011

After Microcosmos I didn`t really have high expectations when I saw Drudkh was releasing another album, especially not an album with a cheesy title like "A Handful of Stars". Microcosmos was to me dull and uninspiring, and their new post-rock approach is really not my cup of tea at all. When I look back at superb releases like Autumn Aurora and Blood in our Wells, I almost can`t believe how this band has changed. From an amazing band with brilliant atmospheric songs and memorable great riffs, and now this; A mediocre, boring band with some post-rock influences and even some prog elements.

"A Handful of Stars" starts off with a short piano intro, not unlike most of Drudk`s albums, but this one is particularly boring and in my opinion pretty pointless as it really does nothing to set the mood for what`s to come. The first real song on the album, "The Downfall of the Epoch", starts of slow with some jazzy drum beats, before it speeds up to a mid paced song with a few speed changes during the 12 minutes of the song. And while older Drudkh could make long songs with just a couple of riffs and create and amazing atmosphere, this album fails to do so, and I find myself bored instead. The riffs are not nearly as good as previous releases and this really destroys a lot of the magic Drudkh used to create.

The post-rock influences really becomes obvious in songs like "Towards the Light", where in the middle of the song there is a breakdown with only one guitar playing, and then the drums and bass kick in with this funky beat and ruins the whole fucking thing. It almost sounds like a Pain of Salvation song and this is not what I want when I`m listening to Drudkh. The guitars is not as distorted as before and the whole sound of the album is much softer, more grey than black, so to speak.

The rest of the album goes on in the same patterns, some dull, mediocre riffs over some light and sometimes slightly jazzed up drumming with the occasional breakdown. There is also an outro that`s just as boring and pointless as the intro. But it`s not ALL bad, the vocals is still like they`ve always been, there`s a couple of great guitar solos, especially at the end of "The Day Will Come", Which despite being stuffed with post-rock influences, is my favorite song on the album. So it`s not a terrible release, it`s just not Drudkh like we used to know them.