apanthropy

Draugveil
Cruel World of Dreams and Fears
independent release
Released: 6/13/25

Rating: 80/100

“When viewed through the lens of the singular artist in the multi-instrumentalist role, ‘Cruel World of Dreams and Fears’ is a solid record and an enjoyable listen, a great first effort for a younger artist. In terms of how it lays within the entirety of the current scene, it does, at times, feel a bit average. While there are some excellent stand out tracks and some great riffs and riff interactions at work, the excess of filler tracks and rather irritating production qualities on the clean instruments does drag it down to some degree.”

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1 – Knight Without a Name
2 – Moonlit Resurrection
3 – Griefmarch
4 – My Sword Points to the Past
5 – Wolves Feast on Forgotten Dreams
6 – Etched Oath
7 – Soiltear
8 – Beneath the Armor I Rot
9 – Vortex
10 – When Silence Became My Kingdom
–

Draugveil is the project of one Yevhen Konovalov, a young musician of Ukrainian origin, whose debut effort, rather abruptly, became an intense talking point within the black metal community at the time of its release. The cover art was a point of contention in itself; the artist with long blonde hair, in corpse paint, wearing armor, laying amongst a bloom of roses with a sword became a meme within an instant. Then the comparisons to another artist of Ukrainian origin, Këkht Aräkh, became rather heightened. There were also accusations made that the entire thing, from the cover to the music, was a product of AI or was at least processed with some degree of AI.

To be fair, the album cover is definitely original. It’s an odd image, sure, but it does fit the content of the record in a manner that is far superior to many other bands in the genre. Looking at the cover art, one should know what to expect from the record without ever having to actually hear it. As it is, ridiculous album covers are quite common in black metal. For example:

and

Really, we could do this all day.

The comparisons to Këkht Aräkh are reasonably grounded, but the final musical delivery varies quite a bit. While Draugveil and Këkht Aräkh are both visions of singular individual artists, and the content they write about is fairly close in proximity with one another, the actual sonic execution and composing are quite different in several manners. Këkht Aräkh is a more ‘poetic’ type of delivery, as seen in the use of extended ambient instrumental pieces on Pale Swordsman or spoken word passages on Night and Love, whereas Draugveil is a more frontal, riff-forward approach to composing, where there’s less emphasis on the ambience and atmosphere, and more focus on rhythm and sonic fluidity. While both explore a rather minor offshoot of conventional black metal – ‘romantic’ black metal – Draugveil perhaps has delivered something more akin to traditional black metal than Këkht Aräkh was able to.

The argument as to whether or not AI is involved highlights a topic of growing concern. There are whole arguments available across several different heavy metal forums debating both sides of the claim. To speak informally for a moment, I personally do not think there is any AI involved in the musical side of things on Cruel World of Dreams and Fears. A seasoned musician could pick this entire album apart in a matter of a few days, but the actual structure of the tracks and their consistency and formality is too conventional for the rather bizarre and sometimes erratic end results of human-generated AI creations. There are some sound and playback issues that are a bit hard to ignore but that’s something to be discussed further on.

The growing presence of AI in the music industry is something to be discussed on its own, due to its depth and unfortunately increasing scalability and involvement in everything from album art to sound production. It’s a subject that is worth exploring, but it deserves its own space simply because it’s become an enormous issue to the artists who actually write and create the music itself.

Superficial components aside, Cruel World of Dreams and Fears is a noteworthy debut effort by a young artist and multi-instrumentalist, encapsulating a spirit of forlorn longing, grief, and loss through a proto-typical black metal palette that doesn’t devolve into the realm of depressive suicidal black metal, nor does it feel the need to overemphasize its primary emotion. With ten tracks clocking in at slightly over half an hour, it’s a rather short record that doesn’t overstay its welcome, giving more depth of character to the individual songs themselves and allowing a great repeat listening experience.

Opening with ‘Knight Without a Name,’ the central sonic narrative is comprised of a somber and depressing main riff in which the entire song revolves around. The primary riff itself is a hook, its interval sequencing is dreary and melodic, melancholic yet vibrant and present. The track breaks into an extended sequence of tremolo-picked minor chords and power chord-heavy verse segments before terminating on clean, echo laced guitars.

‘Moonlit Resurrection’ and ‘Griefmarch’ are both textbook modernized raw black metal tracks that follow relatively conventional songwriting structures. The strength of these tracks lay in the composition of the songs through the flow of riffs each song presents. At times, somber melodic sequences of minor chord dominated rhythm lines are the primary sonic delivery, other times, simple cyclical lead melodies compliment rhythm phrases to create something unique yet grounded and familiar.

‘My Sword Points to the Past’ is where the first major sound issue for the record makes itself present. The interlude is just one simple minute of piano, but the tone and the playback are rather rough. There’s a graininess to the clean parts of the album, as if the input levels were too high during recording.

‘Wolves Feast on Forgotten Dreams’ opens with clean guitars and as mentioned, these sound out of place. The composition is perfectly fine, just the tonality feels way off. Once you make it past that point, a solid black metal track that’s mid-tempo, elaborate, and dense unveils itself.

The second half of the album holds some excellent tracks, keeping the record from going stagnant. ‘Etched Oath’ is a ripper with great layered melodies, prime atmosphere, and a veritable flowing black mass of riffs. ‘Vortex’ features a hook heavy primary riff that showcases a simplistic single-note melody, the driving rhythm during verses coupled with an epic feeling chord progression and the recurring motif of the central melody really ties the song together and creates a proper end to the record.

There are two more instrumentals in the second half of the album – ‘Beneath the Armor I Rot’ and ‘When Silence Became My Kingdom’ – and again, the sound feels off in comparison the rest of the instrumentation. While both feature excellent composing, perhaps things run on a bit too much in terms of instrumental interludes.

The production leans into the rawer side of things sonically but it plays well in terms of mix and volume. Guitars are gruff but clear and character filled. Percussion has a snap to the snare and sharp tones to the toms, bass is relatively weak but still provides one of the better sources for low end. Vocals are conventional and perched within the center of the mix, flanked by the guitars.

When viewed through the lens of the singular artist in the multi-instrumentalist role, Cruel World of Dreams and Fears is a solid record and an enjoyable listen, a great first effort for a younger artist. In terms of how it lays within the entirety of the current scene, it does, at times, feel a bit average. While there are some excellent stand out tracks and some great riffs and riff interactions at work, the excess of filler tracks and rather irritating production qualities on the clean instruments does drag it down to some degree.

Even with the controversy, at the end of the day, the marketing…or perhaps, anti-marketing behind this album was simply a genius move, accidental or not. For several weeks, the album was plastered all over social media and digital print. It was argued over, belittled, praised, torn down and built up, and to a degree, still is and probably will continue to do so for some time in the future, especially if the project continues to be productive.

Overall, Cruel World of Dreams and Fears is worth a listen if you’re a modern black metal fan who prefers the rawer side of production values, it’s an interesting record that’s worth the half hour investment. Even with some of its tonal flaws, the quality of the composing and the fluidity of the tracks should be praised as a solid example of a solo artist creating above-average material.

Band: Draugveil

AJK