Well so far we've failed, in my view at least, failed utterly to find a decent Irish metal band, so I'm turning to that font of all things Metal, The Batlord, who suggested these guys, whom I must admit I didn't even know existed, even though they come from my home town. Formed in 1993, Primordial became the first Irish black metal band and have since added touches of folk and of course celtic music to their sound. The album I'm going to look at, for no particular reason, is this one, their third of currently seven, with a new album due later this year.
Spirit the earth aflame --- Primordial --- 2000 (Hammerheart)
Interestingly --- and this had no bearing on my choice of album, as it holds true for nearly all their albums --- this has only eight tracks on it, though half of those are over seven minutes and two are over eight. A rolling, deep drumbeat takes us into the title track, one of the shorter ones at just under two and a half minutes. Squealing guitar joins the melody --- and it is melody; this does not sound like black metal, and in a good way --- before the vocal comes in from Alan Nemtheanga, and I'm surprised and delighted to hear he is not a growler, nor a screamer, but that I can very easily listen to his voice. He sounds defiant and angry, but that's about it. Soft jangly guitar and what sounds like keyboards though none are mentioned opens “Gods to the godless”, with a strong powerful guitar and thrashing drums, Ciaran MacUllaim racking off the riffs and Simon O'Laoghaire taking drum duties. It's another fine melodic piece with a lot of power and a very dark but completely intelligible vocal from Alan.
Ah, now he ramps up his vocals into a real black metal scream, but it's not quite as jarring as it could be, and he soon returns to his “normal” singing voice. You can definitely see the influence of celtic music and lore on this track, though from what I can see Primordial shy from bringing in the obvious whistles, uileann pipes and other instruments associated with Irish music. Refreshing, though I actually think their music could benefit from same. Sort of a reel on the guitar there from MacUiliam, the drums pounding slowly in counterpoint as it all builds up to a big finish. With a scream from Alan we're off rocking through the last minute or so, and I'm mightily impressed. “The soul must sleep” comes in on a gentle acoustic guitar and uses a quote from French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, spoken rather than sung, as the atmosphere in the song builds. A chugging, grinding guitar takes up the melody as the intensity increases before the music settles into a galloping beat that pulls it along.
All through the song Alan more or less speaks the vocal, making it kind of like Shatner doing celtic black metal --- now there would be a record! There's a real wall of sound being constructed here, and it's very effective as the song goes on, layer after layer being added until you're left with something really quite special. The last two minutes or so of the song are completely instrumental, MacUiliam taking us home on a punchy guitar line, and into the longest track, “The burning season”, which clocks in at almost nine minutes. This song seems to sing of human sacrifice and ancient rites, with the opening lines
”Bring the women/ And children before me/ Let us make rivers of their blood/ Bleed for me...I wish it so “ A hard, hammering guitar introduces the song with an ominous tone, before being joined by the drums as the first two minutes are taken in completely instrumental. Alan's vocal is much clearer and higher in his role as the chief druid or whatever he's supposed to be here, and the song rocks along on a sort of romping rhythm. Primordial seem to be another band who can play a long song and yet make it seem quite short; as we hit the seventh minute I'm surprised to see that we've come so far so quickly. Mark of a good song, and a good band.
Hard guitar bites through from a fade-in as we head into “Glorious dawn”, again taking the song two minutes in before any vocals are added. There is a sort of “druids' chorus” I guess you could say, with male vocals singing in unison before Alan begins to sing, which is not until the third minute almost, and is dark and growly this time. You can still make out what he's singing, but this time he sounds I guess like a proper black metal singer. Like all of Primordial's songs, or all on this album so far anyway, this song has a great sense of drama and power to it, and you can almost see the high priest standing in the stone circle invoking the ancient gods. There is some confusion here about guitarists: Wiki says there are two, citing Feargal Flannery as the other one, but
EM maintains there is only one, and doesn't even include Flannery in the extended list of bandmembers, so I'm not sure who to believe. But if that's one man on the guitar he certainly creates one hell of a soundscape by himself!
The only instrumental on the album, “The cruel sea” is relatively short, just over four minutes, and rides on a very celtic-sounding guitar and rolling drums like crashing thunder, the tune itself like some ancient Irish lament. I feel the use of uileann pipes would really have helped here, but Primordial, though they are said to use them on other albums, don't seem inclined to include them here. The tune sort of reminds me of “She moves through the fair”, and I wonder if there are elements of that traditional song in there somewhere? Halfway through the booming drums fade out and MacUiliam takes the tune solo on acoustic picked guitar, almost like a bard strumming a lute in a forest somewhere deep in the heart of Ireland. The sound that follows that is very like uileann pipes, but I really think it's the electric guitar making it. The susurrating drums are back to help the piece to its conclusion, and take us into the closer.
“Children of the harvest” is another long song, the second that runs for over eight minutes, and pounds along nicely on hard angry guitar and thundering drums, that vocal chorus or choir returning, and again it's three minutes before the vocal comes in, as Alan tells the sad myth of the Children of Lir. Cursed by their jealous stepmother to spend a thousand years as swans, the Children of Lir wandered ireland until released from their spell. The song of course is steeped in anger, despair, impotence and disbelief as the luckless children travel the land in search of redemption. A great basis for a song by an Irish metal band, and carried out with enthusiasm, talent and pride.
TRACKLISTING
1. Spirit the earth aflame
2. Gods to the godless
3. The soul must sleep
4. The burning season
5. Glorious dawn
6. The cruel sea
7. Childen of the harvest
Finally, after days of fruitless searching, an Irish band that doesn't make me cringe and wish I was English or Scottish or Welsh. What, American? Are you insane?? Primordial have a great slant on ancient Ireland and its myths, and if there is such a thing as Celtic Metal, then they're proponents of this for sure. Despite their being labelled as black metal, apart from the odd scream or dark growl from Alan Nemtheanga I don't see it, at least on this album. The themes are certainly not really those you would find in that subgenre, although they do speak of ancient pagan gods, so there is that.
But as a band from Ireland, and more, a band from my home city of Dublin, and even more, just down the road in Skerries, I'm glad to say Primordial have finally given me something to be proud of when it comes to Irish metal.
And it only took an American to unearth them for me.
Thanks, Batty!