Cruachan have been around for over 20 years, and are well known but I confess this is the first time I’d listened properly to any of their albums. Straightaway I realised I was in danger of overusing the word “rousing” but this adjective sums up well Cruachan’s brand of Gaelic folk metal.
In there are the fiddle, flute, whistle, bodhran, mandolin and the standard range of metal instruments. They’re all used so a healthy mixture ensues. We have epic tales wrapped in epic music, which can have us dancing round the imaginary maypole one minute, and bludgeoning us with ferocious heavy metal fury the next. “Wrap the child in linen and let the sacrifice begin”, announces the singer on the title track. Actually it’s less singing than raucous shouting but it adds a raw and natural flavour. One thing I did appreciate about this album was that it’s serious and close to its Irish roots, unlike by way of analogy some of the German bands who trot out their strange and sometimes artificial brand of mediaeval metal.
While the range of instruments made me think in passing of Eluveitie, the ambiance bears similarity to Moonsorrow, especially on “Prophecy”. But in amongst the epic tales, there’s space for an Irish traditional song “The Marching Song of Fiach MacHugh”. It’s still going round in my head with its fiddles, whistles, flutes and a bit of metal in there. I struggled with “Beren and Luthien”, a difficult song with a harsh atmosphere. Whilst I didn’t expect unmitigated jollity as this is the mythological and tale-driven world of glorious deeds, sacrifices, war and death, I preferred the flowing mix of pipes and metal such as there is on the instrumental “Gae Folga” or the whistling flutes, pattering drums and growly bass on “The Arrival of the Fir Bolg”. The power and energy never let up, even if it’s in the form of an acoustic ditty and flute, which we get on “The Sea Queen of Connaught”. For the most part though, it’s intensely dark, black and fiery with those pipes and tunes taking us into the midst of pagan Celtic lands.
Although I am no expert on Cruachan’s work, this is about what I expected. At the higher quality of end of the folk metal spectrum, “Blood for the Blood God” is rousing fare.
(8/10 Andrew Doherty)
Leave a Reply