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Ever since my first taste of Drudk with their superb sophomore effort Autumn Aurora I found myself to be quite enamored with the band. I've noticed fans of the band have jumped on and off the band over the years with most of their albums having divided opinions, but I don't care about that shit. Everything I've heard I've enjoyed (although I never bothered with Handful...), so I'm not going to sit around contemplating whether this can hold up to x album or if it's a return to form and their best since y album. What I am going to do is tell you, the prospective listener, is if this is good...

...And it is. This is some quality black metal, having its seed removed from the usual icy, mountainous habitat and planted in a grand forest. This seed has now grown into a gnarled, bark chipped leviathan, and roots strewn through the floor, with branches shedding their beautiful yet decaying flora. What strikes me about Drudkh and particularly on Eternal Turn of the Wheel is how good this sounds with headphones. A lot of the guitars are separated between the left and right well, which when filling the room via speakers entwine together creating a tapestry of hypnotic black metal, however when listened to via the headphones you can unweave this tapestry and it really makes you realize how well put together the music is, and how interesting each guitar line is.

This music on offer here is going to appeal more to fans of acts such as Austere, Wolves in the Throne Room, Woods of Desolation, and of course Hate Forest. Those who find themselves preferring the more necro style of black metal might not find themselves enjoying the music here too much. It is atmospheric, beautiful and certainly a far cry from some of the more bleak bands. The production is very well done, with great clarity and the aforementioned left and right guitars, the tone is good and has a raw enough edge to keep away the posers. The vocals are well done here and don't distract or detract from the music, a molten rasp which sounds great.

Overall I've thoroughly enjoyed my spins of Eternal Turn of the Wheel, and fans of the bands I mentioned earlier are going to want to grab this straight away. This is some really great black metal, with a lot of focus on sorrowful melodies, atmosphere, and I think it really enforces how well an art form this style can be. Corpse paint wankers will probably decry this, but for those who see the big picture I'd suggest you pick this up.