Drudkh are likely the most popular of Ukrainian black metal bands and for a reason as Roman Saenko is so prolific, his main project already with 11 albums and a 12th coming in 2022. I find Drudkh totally boring and self-repeating after 2007. For nostalgic reasons only I like Autumn Aurora the most from their discography, even if the production sounds as if everything is made of marble.

I reviewed this in my 9th issue. Paganland are one of my top black metal bands, I absolutely love everything they've done with the exception of the split with Тіні Забутих Предків. This one is black metal par excellence, Nazi to the max like half of Ukrainian metal bands but probably their tightest and most well-rounded album.

I like Paganland so much that I have to include their second album as well to this list. This one is in my opinion their most patriotic and hymnal album, with the best synth work and vocals. It is not as black metal grounded as Galizier and maybe not as strong but still stands out in their discography.

Lilita Arndt's debut The Shadow is an almost perfect example of black metal done correctly and beautifully, with no filler and an old archaic sound directly connected to their early Norwegian releases. I was so impressed with this album that I interviewed Lilita in my last issue, and Bertrand also got in touch with her for his latest issue of Urgewalten.

Consisting of guys from a bunch of other bands, Stryvigor recorded one extremely impressive debut album, then a somewhat less impressive EP, and then a pretty standard second album (Шлях завдовжки у нескінченність (Lifelong Journey) ), going into a faster direction. This album is still their best in my opinion.

This is objectively far from Nokturnal Mortum's best work but it has a sentimental and nostalgic value to me and captures a lot of the magic of the first black metal bands I ever heard. The production is thin and probably the band are embarrassed by this but I still think it's a fine release. Later NM never interested me so much.

Releasing just one album in 2004 Goliard was an exceptional black metal band following directly in the path left behind from Emperor's first two albums. They even include a cover of Emperor's I Am The Black Wizards. They are marked active on the Archives but more likely they have long died. A good and recommended album for those who can find it.

I remember getting the cassette version of this from Barbarud Hrom's Pussy God Records in 1998 or so! This very well may have been the very first Ukrainian metal release I ever heard. It is far from super but it has a feeling to it that I still enjoy, a nice organic production and aesthetically it hits all of the right registers. Another piece of Ukrainian nostalgia!

Yet another Nazi, anti-semitic black metal band, Dub Buk killed it on a few of their releases, including this one. Not being a terribly big fan of this band overall, I include it only for historical reasons, as a "kvlt" item but much more than that. The sentiment is also quite valid - Русь понад усе! Can't argue with that!