Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band, formed in Suffolk, England in 1991. The band's musical style evolved originally from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic metal and other metal genres. Their lyrical themes and imagery are heavily influenced by Gothic literature, poetry, mythology and horror films. The band has gone through many lineup changes, with vocalist Dani Filth being the only constant member.
Astrofaes was a Ukrainian black metal band from the town of Kharkiv, first coming into being in 1996 as a project between Thurios and Khorus (Khors). The band managed a very productive first year, releasing the demo Ad Infinitum, the live album The Attraction: Heavens and Earth and a second demo also titled The Attraction: Heavens and Earth by autumn of 1997. Despite trouble maintaining a record label, the group managed to continue its productivity; by 2005 Those Whose Past Is Immortal marked their eighth release. Astrofaes have employed Saturious and Munruthel, both involved in Lucifugum and Nokturnal Mortum, for keyboards and drums, respectively.
Hate Forest was a Ukrainian black metal band formed by Roman Saenko, the leading member of Drudkh, Dark Ages, and Blood of Kingu. Thurios joined the band in 1998 after the recording of Scythia. The music is mostly very fast, but occasionally slow, with low, distorted vocals, raw Lo fi quality production, programmed drums, and dark ambient elements. Musical influences are mostly from Scandinavian black metal to traditional death metal, especially Bolt thrower. According to the band, its lyrics are about mythology, mainly Slavic, and inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's stories and Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy. The band never gave interviews, never released photos, and held its distance from the black metal scene. After Hate Forest disbanded, Saenko focused on Blood of Kingu, a band similar in style but of different inspiration but had also ceased to exist in 2016. Despite accusations of being a national-socialist black metal band, there is no definitive evidence available to prove the statement, and the band and their record label had previously expressed an aversion to political lyrics, endorsements, or any sort of mention of modern issues prior to their disbandment.
Forgotten Legends is the first full-length album by Ukrainian black metal band Drudkh. The album's sound and atmosphere have often been compared favourably to those of Burzum. The lyrics to the album are a complete mystery, as they have never been released.
The Swan Road is the third album by the Ukrainian black metal band Drudkh, released in 2005. It is characterized by shorter songs and more prominent lyrics than are found on previous Drudkh releases; the lyrics are all taken from the work The Haidamakas (1841) by Ukrainian national poet Taras Shevchenko, narrating about the famous Ukrainian anti-Polish peasant rebellion of 1768. The name of the introductory track comes from the year 1648, when the greatest Cossack anti-Polish uprising set in Ukraine. The final track is an epic song on the destruction of Zaporizhian Sich by the Russian army in 1775. This album contains an increased use of distortion in the mix and more frequent usage of blast beats, but the last three tracks are considerably more low-key for Drudkh, with the final track being a folk ballad, presaging the direction they would pursue farther on the following year's Songs of Grief and Solitude.
Blood in Our Wells is the fourth album by Ukrainian black metal band Drudkh, released in 2006 and dedicated to Stepan Bandera, former leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. The name of the album comes from a line of the 1935 poem by Oleh Olzhych and, like its predecessor, it features lyrics taken from classical Ukrainian poetry, and the sound is more influenced by folk music and pagan metal this time around, with most compositions consisting of two or more interlocking movements.
Songs of Grief and Solitude, is the fifth album by Ukrainian black metal band Drudkh, released in 2006. It marks a radical departure from previous Drudkh works in that all songs are entirely acoustic, arranged in the manner of traditional Ukrainian folk. Several songs contain elements of previous Drudkh material: "Tears of Gods" contains elements of "Fate", "The Milky Way" is a rearranged version of "Blood" and "Archaic Dance" references "Glare of 1768", all three of which originally appeared on The Swan Road. "Why the Sun Becomes Sad" contains elements of "Sunwheel" from Autumn Aurora, and "The Cranes Will Never Return Here" is an acoustic rendition of the opening riff from the Blood in Our Wells track "Solitude".
Anti-Urban is an EP released by Ukrainian black metal band Drudkh on April 16, 2007, by Supernal Music. It is the band's first EP and sixth release overall. It is only available directly from the label, and has been limited to a two-time-only pressing of 999 10-inch vinyl records. In 2009, it was re-released in mini CD format by French label Season of Mist. This version was available only as a part of a box-set edition of their album Microcosmos, limited only to 500 copies.
Estrangement is the sixth album by Ukrainian black metal band Drudkh, released in August 2007. The album was previously known under the title River of Tears, but then had a name change. Its songs have a minimalistic influence and also features the band's first prominent use of blast beats since The Swan Road. All the lyrics of the album are based on the 1931–1932 works of the Ukrainian poet Oleh Olzhych. A spoken introduction in the first track is taken from the 1995 Ukrainian feature film Atentat about the life and assassination of Stepan Bandera, and says in Ukrainian, "We shall always be there".
Blood of Kingu were a extreme metal band from Ukraine formed in 2005 by Roman Saenko, the main member of Drudkh, Dark Ages and Hate Forest.
Microcosmos is the seventh album by Ukrainian black metal band Drudkh, released on June 22, 2009. It was released as CD digipak (unlimited) and as box set by Season of Mist under the Underground Activists imprint.
Paysage d'Hiver is a one-man ambient black metal band from Schwarzenburg, Canton of Berne, Switzerland. Formed in 1997, the sole member is Wintherr, an alias of Tobias Möckl, who also plays with Darkspace as Wroth. "Paysage d'Hiver" is French, meaning "landscape of winter"; indeed, their songs' lyrics address primarily winter, darkness, and out of body experiences. Wintherr has cited the Burzum albums Hvis lyset tar oss and Filosofem, among others, as an inspiration for his music. All of Paysage d’Hiver’s own material is released through Kunsthall Produktionen, a label Wintherr runs together with Nimosh of the band Nordlicht.
Šlágry is the third studio album by Czech black metal band Master's Hammer, released in 1995 by a now-defunct subsidiary of Osmose Productions, Kron-H, specialized in more experimental outputs than Osmose itself. Greatly contrasting with the sonority of the band's previous releases, Šlágry sees them "virtually abandon[ing] the operatic black metal of previous releases in favor of modernist electronic music", and "shar[ing] publishing credits with Carl Czerny, Otto Katz and Giuseppe Verdi, mixing bits of metal, folk and musique concrète into a style based on the classical avant-garde", as they put it in the album's liner notes. In fact, "Hlava modernistova" is the only black metal-oriented track of the entire album.
Handful of Stars is the eighth full-length album by Ukrainian black metal band Drudkh, released in 2010 on Season of Mist's Underground Activists label.
Slavonic Chronicles is an EP released by Ukrainian black metal band Drudkh on September 20, 2010, on the French label Season of Mist. It was released in two formats: as a 10" LP and as a mini CD. The last one is available only as a part of a deluxe leather book edition of Drudkh's 2010 full-length album, Handful of Stars, strictly limited to 600 copies.
Winterfylleth is an English black metal band from Manchester. Since their inception in 2007, the band has released six studio albums and have become a popular act in both the English underground metal scene and the wider international metal arena. Winterfylleth are self-described as "English Heritage Black Metal" and is often considered to be musical 'brothers-in-arms' with fellow English black metal band Wodensthrone owing to the common lyrical and aesthetic themes they share. The band takes its name from the Old English word, 'Winterfylleth' which translates into modern English as 'Winter Full Moon', and is signified by the arrival of the first full moon of winter - which is usually in October.
Eternal Turn of the Wheel is the ninth studio album by Ukrainian black metal band Drudkh, released on February 24, 2012, through Season of Mist's Underground Activists label.
Ukrainian metal is the heavy metal music scene of Ukraine. The most common Ukrainian heavy metal subgenres are black, pagan, folk and death metal. The most popular and well-known bands are black metal bands Drudkh, Nokturnal Mortum, Khors, death metal bands Fleshgore, Firelake, folk metal bands Tin Sontsia, Veremiy and Jinjer, a metalcore band. Among the biggest festivals are Metal Heads Mission, Carpathian Alliance, Global East (Kyiv), ProRock (Kyiv).
A Furrow Cut Short is the tenth album by Ukrainian black metal band Drudkh, released April 20, 2015, on Season of Mist's Underground Activists label. It is the band's longest recording to date and the first to receive a vinyl release on two LPs.
