Now, Czech ritual dark ambient duo Druhà Smrt return with their fifth release for Sombre Soniks. As always with this label, and this act, you can expect some decent dark ambient, this time quite reminiscent to projects as Raison D'Etre, Desiderii Marginis or Inade. So I guess it's no miracle that I'm a bit nostalgic for those good old CMI-days. If Karmanik would still be active today, he would probably have signed this duo already. Why? Well, simply because this is excellent stuff with a great production, created by people with a passion for this kind of music.
And you can hear that. There's a certain perfectionism in this music, even though it seems to have the ability to live its own life, go its own way. In five tracks, each lasting over seven minutes, Druhà Smrt come up with deep but melodic drones, soundscapes and minimal percussion. They're not mere songs, or tracks, but massive musical landscapes, exactly how this music is supposed to be. You can hear them, you can see them and you can feel them, and that aspect only appears with the best artists in the scene.
So are Druhà Smrt currently one of the best in the scene? As far as I'm concerned, yes, they are. They have been doing this for several years now and they seem to improve every time they release a new album. So my advice? Do what I did: play the album, feel homesick about the good old days of dark ambient music and realize that the scene is far, very far from dead. On the contrary, it's still alive with the souls of the damned and it's still able to touch the listener deeply. Support it, and buy this brilliant album...
Serge