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Primordial - Redemption At The Puritans Hand

Published June 12 2011


*
=Staff's pick

No Grave Deep Enough
Lain With The Wolf
Bloodied Yet Unbowed*
God's Old Snake
The Mouth Of Judas*
The Black Hundred
The Puritan's Hand
Death Of The Gods*


Genre Epic Heavy/Folk/Black Metal
Alan Nemtheanga
Vocals
Tracks 8
Ciáran MacUiliam
Guitar
Runningtime 64 Min.
Micheál O'Floinn
Guitar
Label Metal Blade
Pól MacAmlaigh
Bass
Release 23 April 2011
Simon O'Laoghaire
Drums
Country Ireland
-
Keyboard
Producer -
Similar artists Bathory, Enslaved, Mael Mórdha

Irish epic metallers Primordial have been around since the late eighties and released their first demotape back in 1993, but it's during the last ten (or so) years they have made a reputation for themselves developing and fine tuning their very own style of heavy metal music.

So what about the new album then? Oh my! I can hardly begin to describe the mighty and majestic sounds of the beast that calls itself Primordial. Picture two huge mammoths fighting each other on a mountaintop when there is a blizzard of snow around them. The heaviness and the thick atmosphere is hard to fathom if you're not acquainted with the bands music.

Primordial mixes all sorts of genres from traditional heavy metal to black metal and Irish folk music in a blender and out comes a sound that is quite unique. You've heard all their influences before but not pretested like this. The music is so emotional and deals with life, death, sorrow, mythology and all in between. Where there is darkness, there is also light. Yeah I know, it sounds cliché, but I can vouch that it is all but that.

The bands vocalist Alan Nemtheanga's voice is probably one of the best out there. It's something you seldom hear, a voice that is both epic and frail at the same time. And that's just his clean vocals, he also has a roaring growl that is out of this world.

Most of the songs are very varied in their structure consisting of dark acoustic interludes, repetitive riffing, unusual drum rhythms, soaring melodies and a lot more. They change from slow and doomy to fast and all out black metal-ish speed. You really need to hear this band to fully understand the epic proportions of their music.

It's fair to say that Redemption At The Puritan's Hand isn't as catchy and direct as the bands two previous albums. It actually took me a while to dig into it and I wasn't that impressed at first. But after a few spins it all fall into place and yet again Primordial have blessed the world with another piece of unique metal mastery.


Performance
Originality
Production
Vocals
Songwriting

10

10

7

9

9

 
Summary



9 chalices of 10 - Christoffer


Related links:

www.primordialweb.com
www.myspace.com/primordialofficial