In the Halls of Our Ancient Fathers

lista zespołów Folk black Celtachor In the Halls of Our Ancient Fathers
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Nazwa zespołu Celtachor
Tytuł płyty In the Halls of Our Ancient Fathers
Type Demo
Data wpisu 27 Sierpień 2010
Wydawcy Self-Released
Gatunek muzycznyFolk black
Tylu użytkowników posiada ten album4

Tracklist

1.
 Nemed's Wake
 02:24
2.
 Rise of Lugh
 05:53
3.
 In the Hall's of Nuada
 05:06
4.
 A Warning to Balor
 03:49
5.
 Rider's of the Fomor
 05:46
6.
 The Son's of Tuireann and the Blood Fine
 06:25
7.
 The Wavesweeper
 06:41

Total playing time: 36:04

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Celtachor



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Artykuł @ gletscherwolf

10 Listopad 2010
Review: CeltachorIn the Halls of Our Ancient Fathers, Release date, 2010

With the virtual tsunami of new bands of the last few years, especially in the Black Metal sphere, one sometimes needs a stimulus to discover new worthwhile outfits. This was the case for me with the first full length album of Irish Folk Black Metalists “Celtachor”. If not a review of it had been requested, it might have taken quite a while before I would have stumbled upon them myself. But to say so, I am not unhappy with this course of events, as Celtachor is certainly worth listening to.

This band from Ireland’s capital Dublin, is indeed quite new on the scene. Having been formed in 2007, “In the Hall of Our Ancient Fathers” is only their second release so far, a 2008 demo having preceded it. Being so new, there are certainly some things about their music that could be perfected in the future, but as the guys for sure deserve a positive approach to their effort, I will keep to that.


General Remarks About the Music of Celtachor

As has been stated by the band itself on their official myspace webpage, Irish/Celtic mythology is a central element in their music. For those not in any way familiar with such matter: Ireland has a very rich medieval history and an equally elaborate mythology, which in many respects rivals the better known Nordic/Germanic mythology. As the island nation of Ireland has seen a historic development rather isolated from continental Europe, its mythology is distinctively different from it. With nowadays so many bands lyrically elaborating on Nordic themes, that one can almost dream the main characters of it, it is kind of refreshing to for once hear something else. Given the richness of the source the band is also not likely to run out of material soon.

Those who had hoped however to find typical Irish elements in musical part of Celtachor’s songs will however be disappointed. Unlikewith bands as Waylander, Mael Mordha and othesr these typical Irish flavors in the instrumental part are missing. Even in the vocal part you won’t find the heavy accent so common to some other bands from the country.

Their music is generally judged to be Folk Black Metal and there is much to say for that. But the Black metal side of it is rather a-typical, being mixed with influences from a set of other metal genres, most markedly Doom, but those listening more carefully cannot escape to sniff a whiff of Trash also, especially in the vocal part. Folk elements are present, but rather piecemeal so.. Celtachor does not involve any traditional instruments in their music, and the folky sounds are either keyboard generated or created within the general atmosphere of the songs.

To put things short: Musical fundamentalists, either in the Black Metal or in the Folk, sense might not find the band’s music really to their liking as it is rather versatile in its make-up. As lyrical content is very central in their compositions, the instrumental styles have been molded to best fit this. As I am not dogmatic in either way, on me it makes a pleasant and natural impression.


Line-up, Sleeve Design, Production and Release

Celtachor at present is a four piece outfit with a traditional line up of vocals, bass, guitar, drums and keyboards, with some additional programming to create the folk instrument parts. The central places in their music are taken up by guitarist David Quinn and vocalist Steven Roche, the two founder members, with keyboards, (Roche), in a more supporting role and drum and bass forming a rhythm section in the traditional way and hardly ever taking the foreground, (Even within their relatively short history, the rhythm section of the band has already been replaced in its entirety once).

The album scores high with me for its sleeve design, a wonderful, elaborate black and white, depicting three heavily armored heads of warriors of old, with the equally nicely done logo of the band under the head of the central figure. The whole is bordered by a square of traditional old Irish ornamentation. Some older and much more established bands could take an example from this!

This release was auto-produced by the band, and as is often the case with new bands in such there are still quite some flaws, but that is kind of forgivable for now. A special difficulty in producing Celtachor’s material for certain must be the a-typical qualities of the voice of vocalist Steven Roche. His is far from a conventional black metal voice, lacking both the real growling and the shrieking characteristics that are associated with it. In fact the peculiarities of his voice would make him a more likely vocalist for trash metal: Raw, voluminous and rather monotonous. With such qualities one would mostly choose to mix the vocals in somewhat less prominent, but given that the lyrics play such a central part in the music of the band they had to be very much in the foreground. I must say I needed time to get used to the result, and I am probably not the only one in this.


The Tracks

The starting track of the album, the rather short “Nemed’s Wake” is what for the sake of convenience is called by most others an “Intro”. Solemn, slow keyboard work, with only some lamenting wail and no intelligible vocals. The track certainly does what it is meant for; Creating an atmosphere of times long gone now. Follow up “Rise of Lugh” shows you immediately what Celtachor’s sound is about: Prominent raw vocals, on a background wall of distorted guitar supported by a “D-train” rhythm section. Only here and there, in transition parts, are some keyboard produced, wind-instrument like sounds to be heard, underlining that the folk elements in the band’s music are only meant to enhance the atmosphere of old with which the lyrics deal. Quite pleasant overall and were it not for the raw and rather threatening sounding vocals, not even grandma and grump would run away immediately.

Song three, “In the Halls of Nuada”, has a well thought over intro part. Quiet wind instrument contemplation which after a while abruptly gets overwhelmed by a giant wave of distorted guitar. The sound wall behind the vocals in the main part of this track is less dense and more variable than on the previous one. By now you will be getting used to the raw and rather unchangeable voice of Steven Roche, and it is a matter of like it or not, with not much choice in between. The overall guitar work on this effort can’t miss reminding you somehow of trash metal. The shorter “A Warning to Balor” that follows now, basically continues on this track, with the instrumental part containing even more elements of thrash and standard heavy metal, but vocals being grinding and dominant as ever.

No. 5 “Riders of the Former” brings some variation, at least in its intro, but soon goes on in the now familiar way, with a sound wall, resembling that of the second track and a dominance of the vocals which makes you wonder whether it is not time for some more fundamental variation. The band itself seems to have realized that and with “The Son’s of Tuireann and the Blood Fine” the now urgently needed change of pattern comes through. Especially in the first part it is much more melodic than any of the other tracks, with more use of folk elements. Also a more organic blending of the vocals and the instruments is achieved on this track. In my opinion by far the best song on this album and a clear indication what exactly the potential of Celtachor is.

As has not been unusual in the history of music, the longest track, also the one with the longest –guitar- intro part is left to the last. Although “The Wavesweeper” is distinctively different from its predecessor, it continues the line of more versatility in comparison with the first part of the album and the in my view necessary better blending in of the vocals in the total sound is further achieved. Unfortunately no folk elements are featured in this song, as in my opinion they would have made the total composition richer.


Conclusions

Celtachor have pulled of their first full length album with satisfactory result, and they have proven that they are not just another clone in the very numerous black metal family, but have much more style influences present in their arsenal. For sure the songs leave much that can and has to be improved with future efforts of the band. Especially the peculiar vocals of Roche, which seem to have not much bandwidth, will need thorough attention in production of new material to reach a state where they form a natural whole with the music. Somehow, I think that it can be done and I am looking forward to new releases of the band. For this effort they get a 16.5 out of 20 from me.


Gletscherwolf, November 2010

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