Irish Metal

Primordial – Redemption at the Puritan’s Hand Review

Primordial – Redemption at the Puritan’s Hand Review

By Angry Metal Guy on April 27, 2011 in 2011, 3.0, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Epic Metal, Irish Metal, Metal Blade, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, Epic Metal, Folk Metal, 14 comments

I guess it was bound to happen, eventually. One of the bands I used as the pillar of consistency in my eyes, several times I might add, has kind laid an egg on this one. Primordial has been a band to look up to for a very long time, for me, having never produced what I consider to be a mediocre record, they’ve soldiered on in relative obscurity up until 2007’s utterly superb crowning glory in To the Nameless Dead. Normally when a band has a “post-great album slump,” it happens because of pressure to produce, but it has been all of four years since Primordial released a record and so I can’t even blame the label, on this one. This one just loses me in the middle (trust me, I’ll explain).

Cruachan – Blood on the Black Robe Review

Cruachan – Blood on the Black Robe Review

By Angry Metal Guy on April 16, 2011 in 2.5, 2011, Black Metal, Candlelight, Folk Metal, Irish Metal, Black Metal, Folk Metal, 4 comments

So, like them or not, Cruachan has been around since the early 1990s doing their Celtic folk metal bit with varying success. Their most widely well-regarded record is the album Folk-Lore from 2002, but there was at least a little love for the band’s blending of Gaelic folk music and metal. For me, the band has always had an air of ‘amateur’ about them. While bands like Primordial and Skyclad produced unique music at a high level, there’s always been a seed of a good idea with Cruachan, but an execution problem. So, how does Blood on the Black Robe live up to the legacy of the band?