Being a big fan of folk/Celtic metal, I decided to check this CD out. Though Mael Mórdha are by no means a typical folk metal band (if they can even be categorized as such), this is an excellent CD. Things start out with a nice keyboard into, An Tus, which leads into the first song, Wind of One Thousand Winters, a mid paced traditional metal song, with some thrash influence in the guitar playing. The guitar sound is thick and fairly distorted, the riffs are crunchy, and the vocals are clean and heavily accented.
Next is The Serpent and the Black Lake. It is slow paced with a dreary atmosphere, and the keyboards often carry the melody over the guitars. It does have one brief section which can be considered folkish, featuring an Irish whistle over the guitars. The song ends with a nice keyboard solo. Overall, it can be described as a doom metal song.
The next song Cluain Tarbh begins with acoustic guitar and Irish whistle, but this folkish introduction soon gives way to a heavy palm muted chugging guitar riff, over which there are sometimes folkish panatonic low pitched leads. This chugging guitar riff is played by the rhythm guitar for most of the first half of the song, but the frequently changing leads and vocals prevent the music from sounding monotonous. The pace eventually picks up a bit, and the Irish whistle once again makes numerous appearances in the second half of the song.
Next is I am the Wenchs Bane, which begins with violin sounding keyboards. This almost sounds like it could be a My Dying Bride song with clean vocals. Keyboards are present throughout the song, over dreary, doomy guitars. The next song, The Man All Hate to Love is very much the same. It is a slow paced doom song with very slow guitar playing and keyboards complimenting the guitars throughout the song. There is a great solo where the keyboard mirrors the guitar starting at about a minute and a half into the song. At this point, the tempo does pick up a bit, but things do slow down again at about 4:50 into the song. Clocking in at 10:15, it is the longest song on the CD, never getting boring, with plenty of time changes, riff changes, Irish whistle, and solos.
Track 7, Pauper of Souls, is, much like Wind of One Thousand Winters, a somewhat thrashy metal song, though yet even a bit faster paced that the aforementioned song. There is a nice instrumental slower passage about a minute and a half into the song, but the beginning of the song certainly makes for a contrast from the two previous songs, which are essentially slow, gloomy doom metal songs.
The closing track, The Realms of Insanity, begins with an all-keyboard introduction, and the drums and vocals join in over the keyboards before the guitars finally make their appearance well over a minute into the song, and at first are only complimenting the keyboard melody, before the keyboard and guitar mirror each other in a cool single note riff, which leads into a heavier, faster paced, more guitar driven passage. It is one of the strongest tracks on the CD, and is a fitting closing track.
This album is certainly not pushing the envelope in terms of musical extremity. However, it is very well written and well executed. The instrumentation is top notch. The keyboards which are present nearly 100% of the time, are very interesting and never repetitive. Sometimes they are in the forefront, and at other times they simply augment the guitar riffs. The keyboard solos, which are quite numerous, are very good as well. The guitar riffs are traditional heavy metal with some thrash elements (lots of chugga chugga palm muting), or very slow doom riffs that serve to accompany the keyboard. The bass is hardly audible, but this in no way detracts from the music, as there is so much going on with the guitars and the keyboards, and the arrangements are very progressive. I hesitate to label this a folk album, since to me folk metal is black metal-ish. This has no element of black metal in it, though the occasional flute and Irish sounding panatonic riffs definitely do add a folk element to the music. If I had to label this, I would call it complex and progressive traditional, sometimes doom-ish (in a TRADITIONAL doom sense) heavy metal with an Irish twist. If you are looking for anything akin to black metal or death metal, stay clear of this album. But if want to hear a complex, well executed, original traditional metal album, this may very well be something you want to hear.
Next is The Serpent and the Black Lake. It is slow paced with a dreary atmosphere, and the keyboards often carry the melody over the guitars. It does have one brief section which can be considered folkish, featuring an Irish whistle over the guitars. The song ends with a nice keyboard solo. Overall, it can be described as a doom metal song.
The next song Cluain Tarbh begins with acoustic guitar and Irish whistle, but this folkish introduction soon gives way to a heavy palm muted chugging guitar riff, over which there are sometimes folkish panatonic low pitched leads. This chugging guitar riff is played by the rhythm guitar for most of the first half of the song, but the frequently changing leads and vocals prevent the music from sounding monotonous. The pace eventually picks up a bit, and the Irish whistle once again makes numerous appearances in the second half of the song.
Next is I am the Wenchs Bane, which begins with violin sounding keyboards. This almost sounds like it could be a My Dying Bride song with clean vocals. Keyboards are present throughout the song, over dreary, doomy guitars. The next song, The Man All Hate to Love is very much the same. It is a slow paced doom song with very slow guitar playing and keyboards complimenting the guitars throughout the song. There is a great solo where the keyboard mirrors the guitar starting at about a minute and a half into the song. At this point, the tempo does pick up a bit, but things do slow down again at about 4:50 into the song. Clocking in at 10:15, it is the longest song on the CD, never getting boring, with plenty of time changes, riff changes, Irish whistle, and solos.
Track 7, Pauper of Souls, is, much like Wind of One Thousand Winters, a somewhat thrashy metal song, though yet even a bit faster paced that the aforementioned song. There is a nice instrumental slower passage about a minute and a half into the song, but the beginning of the song certainly makes for a contrast from the two previous songs, which are essentially slow, gloomy doom metal songs.
The closing track, The Realms of Insanity, begins with an all-keyboard introduction, and the drums and vocals join in over the keyboards before the guitars finally make their appearance well over a minute into the song, and at first are only complimenting the keyboard melody, before the keyboard and guitar mirror each other in a cool single note riff, which leads into a heavier, faster paced, more guitar driven passage. It is one of the strongest tracks on the CD, and is a fitting closing track.
This album is certainly not pushing the envelope in terms of musical extremity. However, it is very well written and well executed. The instrumentation is top notch. The keyboards which are present nearly 100% of the time, are very interesting and never repetitive. Sometimes they are in the forefront, and at other times they simply augment the guitar riffs. The keyboard solos, which are quite numerous, are very good as well. The guitar riffs are traditional heavy metal with some thrash elements (lots of chugga chugga palm muting), or very slow doom riffs that serve to accompany the keyboard. The bass is hardly audible, but this in no way detracts from the music, as there is so much going on with the guitars and the keyboards, and the arrangements are very progressive. I hesitate to label this a folk album, since to me folk metal is black metal-ish. This has no element of black metal in it, though the occasional flute and Irish sounding panatonic riffs definitely do add a folk element to the music. If I had to label this, I would call it complex and progressive traditional, sometimes doom-ish (in a TRADITIONAL doom sense) heavy metal with an Irish twist. If you are looking for anything akin to black metal or death metal, stay clear of this album. But if want to hear a complex, well executed, original traditional metal album, this may very well be something you want to hear.
