Track Listing
1. Bloody Sunday 2. Victory reel 3. Death of a gael 4. Rocky road 5. Ossian's return 6. Spancill hill 7. Children of lir 8. Ride on 9. Susie moran 10. Exiles 11. Horned god Year: 2002 Label: Hammerheart - Offical Site |
Cruachan - 'Folk-lore' - By C. Diamantis
This is the third album for the folk � metallers from Ireland and once again they keep the quality of their releases at very high levels. While many of the so-called folk metal bands out there completely fail to grasp the real meaning of folk music this band seems to have found the perfect recipe for mixing two very different styles of music, heavy metal and traditional Irish music. Their use of traditional instruments like tin whistle, Irish flute or the recorder gives at their songs another dimension which brings them even more closer to the feeling of folk music. In this album the metal elements are more apparent than in their last (The Middle Kingdom) but that doesn�t change the final result much. There�s a diversity among the songs which makes the listening of this album a very interesting experience. There are up-tempo songs (like the Rocky Road To Dublin or Bloody Sunday), ballad - like tunes (like Susie Moran or Ride On) and mid-tempo songs (like Death Of A Gael). The common characteristic of all the songs is the strong emotions they transmit to the listeners and which become totally overwhelming during certain songs. Most of the lyrics draw inspiration from the history of Ireland (both recent and ancient) and from the Irish folk-lore (as is apparent from the title of the album). The only song which doesn�t belong to the above categories is Susie Moran, an extremely emotional song, which is dedicated to the grandmother of two band members. Each of the lyrics of the songs are explained in the booklet of the album, which is very useful especially to those not from Ireland because it allows them to understand more things about the stories the songs tell. Another thing that adds to the final result is the participation of Shane Mac Gowan (a very famous folk artist in Ireland) who sings in two songs (Spanchill Hill and Ride On) and also was the co-producer of the album along with Denis Buckley. Especially his singing in Ride On is an outstanding performance which makes this song my favorite in the album. So, if someone likes folk � metal, or folk music generally then they have found their next favorite album. I hope this band gets the recognition they deserve. I believe everyone should try to listen to this album because it offers something different in heavy metal and because unlike many others I think that this band really love what they do. Metal Obsessive Grade: 80% |