Mael Mordha - Gealtacht Mael Mordha

Published March 04 2007

*=Staff's pick	Atlas Of Sorrow Godless Commune Of Sodom* A Window Of Madness Curse Of The Bard The Struggle Eternal Gealtacht Mael Mordha Minions Of Manannan

Genre	Gaelic Doom Metal	Rob	Vocals
Tracks	7	Gerry	Guitar
Runningtime	45 Min.	Anto	Guitar
Label	Grau Records	Dave	Bass
Release	16 March 2007	Shane	Drums
Country	Ireland	Rob	Keyboard
Similar artists	Cruachan, Týr, Skyclad

Mael Mordha formed in the beginning of 1998 and Gealtacht Mael Mordha is their second full-length album and also the first in a four-album deal with German Grau Records, so I guess that someone has faith in the Irish band. Mael Mordha is a band that play doom metal flavoured with their heritage and influences but never that it overthrows the metal in their music.

Atlas Of Sorrow opens the album as a ten-minute epic in a modest tempo, and even if it is doom, it has some folk influences in it with the melodies and the sound of the flute. Although, in general it feels like Mael Mordha is struggling with the songs and it is hard to find any momentum in this that creates any flow. Even though I am not too familiar with this kind of metal, there are comparisons to be drawn toward the band Týr from the Faeroe Islands, who also play pagan metal with lots of native influences in the music that often moves in mid-tempo or slower.

When Mael Mordha picks up the pace and go for a more aggressive approach this is most worthwhile, but unfortunately that happens to seldom and in too short passages. With these parts, Skyclad is a good comparison, as you find similarities in how the songs are build in those parts and even if it don't really measure up, it sounds like something I could easily want more of. In Godless Commune Of Sodom the band bring out all of the best they have. After a slow start it kicks into action and this is the type of things that I want more of. Mael Mordha scores high on originality but that only gets you so far when the songs aren't good enough.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
4	8	4	4	5

Summary
4 chalices of 10 - Thomas