For some reason a couple of the bands that have acquired the label melodic black metal have really strayed it, including un-proportional amounts of keyboards, way too many Goth influences and a exaggerated use of female vocals (nothing against the ladies!); and that’s why I was sort of “worried” when I read a couple of reviews about “Scripture of the Woods” before actually listen to it… big mistake, because Dragobrath plays with a raw black metal that includes melodic sounds but they never really let go of the powerful black basic ingredients that made bands like Emperor legends on the genre.

Hailing from the Ukraine (I haven’t use a lot the whole “hailing” intro so I though it would have been properly used with this band), this two man outfit, mainly Synevir composing the songs and playing all the instruments, follows an understandable mentality when composing for Dragobrath, to make raw black with traces and thin layers of melodies, it sounds simple but it’s so hard to actually hear a band pull this off, it sort of reminds me of the way Immortal develops their harmonies in “At the Heart of Winter”, dark, brutal but very ear catching.

Scripture of the Woods has that energy and evil “magic” that can only be found in the underground black scene, accelerating at moments to drive you into insanity and slowing things down the next in order for the dark atmospheric tunes to take effect and dim that energy into desolation, just to bring you back into a faster attack that includes not only face ripping riffs but also melodies, and that is were Dragobrath excels, when they combine the crudeness of black metal with nicely done, well deployed guitars that are not placed just to create “heaviness” but that can take within catchy and meaningful rhythms.