Track Listing
1. Graven idol 2. Dark song 3. Autums's ablaze 4. Journey's end 5. Solitary mourner 6. Bitter harvest 7. On aistear deirneach Year: 1998 Label: Misanthropy - Official Site |
Primordial - 'A journey's end' - By C. Diamantis
This is the second album from the �pagan� metallers from Ireland. After their amazing debut album, �Imrama�, the expectations for this album were extremely high. Fortunately, Primordial managed to produce yet another extremely good album. While the band uses celtic tradition as a source of inspiration their approach is very different than that of other �celtic� metal bands (like Cruachan, who are equally good at what they�re do). Most of the bands of this style give more attention to the folk part of their music (using traditional instruments, more melodic music, ancient tunes), Primordial choose the hardest path. They give emphasis to the metal part of their music, use just the regular rock instruments (guitar, bass, drums) and manage to create an atmosphere which really amazes the listener. They also use some traditional instruments, but they aren�t the ones that dominate on this album. The music itself is extremely sad and melancholic on this record, something that the band explained in later interviews was due to the problems they were facing at that time. The music is mostly slow, quite melodic but does include some outbursts, mostly expressed by the black vocals the singer of the band uses. It�s apparent that the band hasn�t forgotten the black metal roots of their music, though they became more melodic and less extreme. There are two songs that need to be mentioned especially. The first is �Dark Song�, a song that even if it was alone on this album, would surely make the CD worth its money. In this song Primordial use an ancient poem, written by the Irish pagan poet Amergin Glungel. Totally acoustic, this song is a journey to ancient Ireland, and while hearing it the listener can�t fail to imagine gatherings of druids and beautiful landscapes. If a song has ever managed to capture the true spirit of ancient Ireland, then it�s �Dark Song�. Just perfect�The second is �Solitary Mourner�, a mostly �a-capella� song (no music, just singing or better in this case reciting), so dramatic that it hovers on the edge of despair. Its title perfectly describes the feeling of this song. Someone has said somewhere that it�s easy to include keyboards in your music and thus create �atmosphere�. The really hard thing is to manage to create atmospheric music with the regular rock instruments. Primordial choose to follow the hard way and for this they earn my respect. As a band from my country said in one of their songs, the future belongs to the brave�Will you dare to follow Primordial on their journey? Metal Obsessive Grade: 85% |