Last year, Drudkh conquered the third place on my award list, so when I heard that they where releasing a new album just some months after putting out the masterpiece Autumn Aurora, I became anxious, nervous, but ultimately excited.

The day arrived when I finally had the opportunity to listen to the latest opus by this Ukrainian gentlemen, and I must say that once again they managed to surprise me, and at many different levels.

After the first spin I felt a great relief, because what I had just heard was kind of different from Autumn Aurora, but at the same time, it was undoubtedly Drudkh; and that was great, because it meant that the band managed to create something different and unique, something fresh and yet, something that once again captured my senses.

Where Autumn Aurora was a melancholic and thoughtful piece of art that invited the listener to sink deep in their thoughts and self exploration; The Swan Road feels more like a manifestation of intense passion and extreme feelings all being let out at once.

In their previous album, Drudkh created beautiful and melancholic landscapes with mostly mid/slow tempo, hypnotizing and repetitive riffing. Here we find a faster and more aggressive Drudkh, with more variation in each song, but with the same engulfing quality of Autumn Aurora. Drudkh create an amazing trance like experience by using thick, intense riffing as the main component of the songs, but there are quite a few leads in the album (similar to the previous album’s song Sunwheel) that always appear in the precise moment to enhance the listening experience even more, they’re like a sudden rush of adrenaline that give more power than you though the song would be capable of having, it could be described vulgarly as the song’s orgasm. Also, the album has more vocals than the previous album and I really think they are extremely passionate, thing that fits the music perfectly.

The production in the album is meant to fit the music, the more aggressive and raw edge Drudkh approached in this album; it is a bit dirty and fuzzy and it manages to create a huge wall of sound, while maintaining a deep atmosphere all the time.

Saenko and company have once again released a breath taking masterpiece, and at the same time they have managed to avoid repeating themselves. Tell me how many bands are capable of doing so in such a short time…. That’s what I thought… only Drudkh can.

I once again would like to invite all of our dear readers (Black Metal freaks or not) to try out the amazing experience a Drudkh album is; there are few artists that put so much emotion and energy into their music as these gentlemen, and I’m sure that once you give them a listen, you will agree this is some of the most passionate and unique music ever created.

Note: The album has been released in vinyl through Faustian Distribution in colaboration with Northern Heritage. The CD version will be released March 28, through Supernal Music.

The album will be reissued in 2010 by Drudkh's current label Seasons of Mist in its entirety, but with different artwork.