Druzhina was created in the end of August 2006 with the song ‘Les nuits au bord de la liberte visqueuse’. Some rehearsals took place in Geneva, Switzerland, and soon the track was recorded in SAE Institute with our ally from a local studio performing studio bass. This song was never released as a single, and a chance to incorporate it towards a broader concept appeared in June 2007.
Having 3 members: Pavel Ruban(Russian; guitars and the sound/production aspects); Charles-Guillaume Méla (French; Piano, Synths, Guitars, French Vocals), Alexey Chernyavskiy (Russian; drums, Russian Vocals), the only efficient option for accomplishing this was recording in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The album was recorded in June 2007, and this time involved a full recording process as well as guest musicians including a female vocalist, violin player and a danish studio bassist taking care of all the bass tracks, except for “Les nuits…” Grand Piano was also used as a duo element with violin on the ending track.
After DRUZHINA has been incorporating it’s ideas, ideals and musical inspirations into what seemed reasonable common grounds, the first full-length album name was established: “Echoes of Distant Battles”. It was mixed and mastered by Pavel Ruban in Copenhagen, and after some discussions with SoundAge Productions from Moscow, Russia ( a label that has cooperated with bands like Arkona, Rossomahaar and Pagan Reign ), it was released on the 7th April 2008, under the banner of SoundAge Prod.
A year has passed and inevitable inner changes have occurred and it was decided that a new album was to be recorded, having a much more stable ground on both ideological and musical levels. An incorporated concept, illuminated upon prototypes of ancient Russian tales, “bilini” and orchestrated as folk-black-metal. A new location was chosen for the composition/recording of the album’s main parts, while Tortion studios was the polishing touch in recording some additional elements for both albums.
Bjerget – a village north-west of the Danish peninsula was chosen and portable studio equipment was transported to an isolated house in the middle of fields; that ensured an effective outcome of the album.
Due to many factors the release process was delayed, but finally throughout determined work, “Kosmonoetika” arose in the second half of 2009, followed by some late reviews for “Echoes…” and an interview for the Russian webzine, Dark City 51′st edition.
Striving towards a folk-orientated metal genre with accents on the brutality and the fusion of acoustic, classical, atmospheric and psychedelic genres: changes should always be expected, and silent voices of the new era are distantly heard…
