I’m still undecided on whether it’s a good thing or not, but I don’t think I’ve ever fallen down quite so many research rabbit holes in the course of a review, as I have reviewing this album. In fact, I’m still vaguely struggling with the album as a whole, never mind the side quests of folklore it’s sent me on.
“Ah, folklore. Folk metal right?”
I mean, yes. And also somehow no. There’s plenty of folklore in this album, but not in the way you’d expect. Folk metal bands – and other bands that focus on a specific concept, such as folklore, history etc – tend to settle down in a niche: think Amon Amarth, Vikings and rowing pits; Orphaned Land, dramatic Hebrew monologues and biblical tales; Nile and Ancient Egypt. Foretaken have taken a somewhat different approach. Almost every track on Triumphs, with the exception of I am Vengeance (a fairly straightforward Naglfar cover, with a guest appearance by The Black Dahlia Murder’s Brandon Ellis), references a tale, character or mythos from a different corner of the earth. A kind of anti-concept album, if you like. I say almost every track, because The Labors and His Riastrad both have Irish roots (the American spelling of ‘labours’ is an interesting choice here given the distinctly non-American inspiration), and assuming Devil o’ the Sea refers to the Orcadian Nuckelavee, there’s also some heavy Celtic influence there.
As for the rest of it, Revenant of Valor (see above regarding spelling) pulls from Beowulf, Demon Queller tells tales of the Diyu, the ten courts of hell in Chinese mythology, The Wraith that Weeps is based on Mexican folklore about a vengeful ghost called La Llorona (“The Wailer”). The Serpent King’s Venom explores Persian tales of a mythological Shah, and A Tyrant Rises as Titans Fall is fairly straightforward Greek myth and legend.
In short, it’s a lot. Of course, not everyone will want to explore this album in this sort of depth: if you do, I will say that having access to the lyrics helps enormously with this, and I will give Foretoken credit for including them in the press pack. But if you don’t particularly care about all of this, how does Triumphs stack up in the “just an album” sense?
Well, the first thing to point out is that if, like me, the press release’s mention of “subtle and captivating use of traditionally Scandinavian, Southeast Asian, and Middle Eastern instruments for atmospheric depth” reeled you in, you may be disappointed. I’m sure said instruments are in there somewhere, but I’m on my fifth listen, and I have to be honest, I don’t hear very much in that vein. There’s certainly no carnyces, mizmars, haegeums or Aztec death whistles (google the sound of that last one at your peril) here that I can hear, which frankly is more the pity. There’s something traditional, presumably Southeast Asian, towards the beginning of Demon Queller, but without any further information on the subject, that’s about all I can say.
Leaving all of the above aside, it’s a competent slice of death metal, that’s mostly melodic with lot of tech bits, plus some symphonic, black and folk elements. There’s nothing wrong with it, but honestly there’s not really very much that’s remarkable here either, particularly if the mythological aspect passes you by – which I think it quite easily could do on casual listening. Fans of death metal may find more to love in this album musically than I did, and there are a lot of musically similar bands out there whose fans will no doubt appreciate Triumphs as it perhaps deserves to be appreciated. For myself though, the promise of epic mythology and unconventional instrumentation didn’t quite land. The mythological content here is fascinating, but there’s very little in the music itself to convey the depth and complexity of the subject matter(s) to anyone that’s not paying really, really close attention. And I mean very little to the point where it’s almost incongruous. Why would you create an album as lyrically rich as this one, presenting the listener with detailed tales of gods and demons that many won’t have come across before, and not let any of that atmosphere seep into the sound of the music itself? The more I listen to this album, the more the disconnect between the two is almost impressive in its own right. I mean, it kind of all comes together if you’re listening to Triumphs in front of a PDF of the lyrics, with entirely too many Google tabs open (like I have been), but ultimately I suspect that those interested in the mythology and stories will feel somewhat let down by the music, while those who are more interested in the music may or may not appreciate – or even care about – the mythology under the riffs.
(7/10 Ellie)
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