Throughout the years of following bands/artists within the Irish Metal scene i've witnessed or encountered some fantastic musicians,one in particular has continously caught my attention with his work in bands such as Nautilus, Dunmharu & his current project Scáth Na Déithe, for me anything Cathal Hughes has been a part of always strikes gold in my opinion,the excellent Virulent Providence is no different, once again as with previous Scáth Na Déithe releases the compostion is bleak and harrowing and gives an account of The Great Hunger of the 1840's being passed down from generation to generation as a stark reminder of the horrors that took place during that period of time.
Three years on from the absolutely fantastic The Dirge Of Endless Mourning we're once again offered more Irish Folklore but this time it's much more bleak,harrowing and tragic and a hell of a lot more epic, a story divided into two tracks spanning 40 minutes,staright from the off Virulent Providence Pt.1 delivers a barage of blisteringly fast riffs combined with an emotion and atmosphere not present on previous offerings, the relentlessness for the opening six minutes is somewhat over bearing(like it should be) when telling a tale so tragic there's a momentary atmospheric section for about two minutes then gradually builds up to an absolutely epic crescendo before going into some dream like sequence where it feels like some long lost memory until it gets resurrected and the tale still remains.
The Beat of a Bodhran is heard rumbling in the background at the beginning of the Virulent Providence Pt.2 adds an extrmely foreboding atmosphere to the story, the dirge-like essence is almost like something not far removed from Funeral Doom,it's crawls and meanders miserably while adding a somewhat hypnotic atmosphere like you're been dragged through some nightmarish scenario that's neverending, the vocal delivery is filthy and nasty while maintaining an abundance of emotions,the time changes throughout flow seamlessly between extreme relentlessness to emotional atmospherics while switching between torturous Black Metal shrieks to visceral Death Growls,when it's drawing near it's end you can hear that Bodhran with an acousitic guitar coming to the fore before going back in a dirge-like seqence to carry this tragic tale onto another generation.
If you're after something bleak,harrowing,full of atmosphere and a tale full of horrific and tragic stories would definitely recommend Virulent Providence, this album is on a whole different level to previous releases and should not be passed up,also this is not any favouritism on my account as i've always being a massive fan of Mr.Hughes work in the past,this release confirms to me that he's like some sort of modern Seanchai(Irish/Gaelic Storyteller/Historian),while still been harrowing and bleak there's also something beautiful about the essences of this release,like memories been brought back to life and shared with those who never knew.
RATING: 9.5/10
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