
22/02/2025
Ukraineās own Roman Saenko - the visionary behind renowned black metal projects, Hate Forest and Drudkh. Roman is somewhat of an aloof eccentric, as are most brilliant artists. He does no interviews⦠I believe thatās because the music he creates with Drudkh and his other projects happens to be of the most meaningful kind. However, there was one period of time in particular when an interview couldāve potentially served the band well. Years ago, Roman came under fire for dedicating one of Drudkhā tracks to Stepan Bandera - a Ukrainian Nationalist and N**i Sympathizer. Fallout within the black metal community⦠Not within the intelligent part of the community, but in the dumb hysterical anti-fascist part. I donāt know, seems to stand that a LOT of people in Europe were N**i sympathizers or involved with the Third Reich in some way back then. They were pretty popular⦠And Nationalism at its core has zero to do with racism, which is intrinsically built upon the idea of an intercultural hierarchy and one group being superior over another or all others based upon ethnicity. Whereas Nationalism is rooted in the universalist notion that advocates sovereignty and a shared moral equality among the people of a nation. Just because you support som**hing that someone else believes in, that doesnāt mean that you support EVERYTHING that person believes in. There are people who happen to be heroes of mine who have done reprehensible things, who have disagreeable opinions and who
possess vulgar character traits. That doesnāt mean that they are not still iconic, charismatic, inspirational or even in some cases cast in an Anti-Heroās light. Jon Nƶdtveidt (Dissection) is a hero of mine and he was an accomplice to brutally murdering an innocent man for no reason⦠Got that or do I need to break out the crayons and construction paper?
Black metal concepts are steeped in heritage, war and history; namely of the European consortium. There are a lot of white people in Europe. A lot of these white people are proud of who they are and where they come from like everyone else. Sometimes a white black metal band out of Scandinavia for instance will write an album dedicated to the history, heritage, traditions, spiritual practices or lore of a particular region. Oh boy⦠Or Hell forbid he be a white black metal artist who doesnāt agree with Marxism and happens to write an album with a song or two dedicated to the idea of nationalism, because any rational human being knows that he shouldnāt do that because thatās racist! Bu****it. Roman came under fire and just went on about his business. Let the impressionable ones lose their s**tā¦
Drudkhā music is som**hing that youād never want to deprive yourself of if you love black metal. Right now, Iām listening to their as of yet unreleased new LP, āShadow Playā, and what a fu***ng gem. Another triumph out of one of the international sceneās most respected projects. If youāre like me and youāre a sucker for the notion that black metal should always be meaningful and artistically viable, then youāll undoubtedly be a sucker for Drudkh.
Iāve talked to a couple of real deal NSBM guys. Aryanwülf to be specific, and letās get som**hing clear, most of these dudes arenāt in the business of creating beautiful dark art for the world to behold. The guys I chatted with are simpletons with incurable tunnel vision who operate fueled on ideals formulated from stereotypes and misinformation, and their black metal is geared mainly towards the message of the music. Theyāre not like Drudkh, Hate Forest, Horna, Taake or Marduk whose sole focus is and always has been the realization of a respectable artistic vision for black metal. Their contrarietiesā worldview pertaining to race relations is a rather stupid idea of how things work. Love me some Nokturnal Mortum though⦠Drudkh - check āem out. Youāre clearā¦
Experience āThe Exileā from āShadow Playā by Drudkh right here as presented by Season of Mist:
https://youtu.be/2OII3LsDjgc?si=pK0gMOBOhYZTcYjz
~Jeger