We’ve grown accustomed to doom and black from the Siberian ice, so it comes as no surprise that the frost doesn’t undermine the desire to play these deadly genres even across the Bering Strait. Druj come from Anchorage, the capital of Alaska, and they certainly don’t inject any trace of warmth or empathy into their death doom. The interpretation is dry, essential but not approximate at the level of recording and execution: the conceptual reference to the Sumerian translation is not a first, as well as the sound coordinates of Druj are not, but the ingredients to make Chants Of Irkalla an enjoyable work obviously for those who are accustomed to a certain compositional harshness are not missing. Ziggurat Ablaze, the long opening track, leaves no doubt as to who the tutelary gods of these North Americans are, who feed on the brutal sound of their compatriots Evoken, Nile and Incantation, grinding their influences to produce a dark sound, with frighteningly low tones and slowed down just right, which is a perfect example to use to explain to someone what death doom is in its most authentic sense. Another magnificent track is Invoke, with a ritualistic aftertaste and crossed by a buzzing and threatening guitar melody, but it is the album as a whole to exhibit a convincing sound in all its aspects and with all the credentials to make you converge the liking of the fans of both genres represented.

2018 – Godz Ov War Productions