Saturday, 18 February 2023

Scáth Na Déithe "Virulent Providence" Album Review


   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.

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Monday, 6 February 2023

Death Feast "Risen From The Tomb" Album Review


   Every so often you're made aware of new bands who like to delve deep into the old school sound from the mid eighties we all know and love,recently thanks to the fine people at Haloran Records for contacting me about doing reviews for bands on the label ,this is when i became aware of Thrash/Death/Black Metal Fiends Death Feast and have had the pleasure of listening to their excellent third full length album Risen From The Tomb let's get into the finer details of this magnificent opus.

  The eerie atmosphere of the intro The Initiation sets a tone not far removed from something from a Hammer Horror movie adding a nice homage to Old Horror movies,this is synonymous with what the band are well known for, as soon as you hear the guitars on Crossing The Fire you know you're about to delve into some evil and nasty old school riffage, this is a real headbanger of a tune and along with the intro sets the tone of what's to follow brilliantly, Banish From Monastery is full of riffs for days combined with lo-fi tones reminiscent of Sarcófago, time for some total Metal worship with the brilliant Commandments Of Metal obviously this is about spreading the word of Metal all across the world,we treated to some elements of Speed Metal throughout this track with subtle reminders to the legendary Venom, all the superlatives i've being describing so far get pushed to another level with the rip roaring majesty of Devoted Assassins were the hounds of hell are unleashed with unrelenting fury.



   Things get that bit more relentless with the hauntingly disturbing Hell Funeral the atmosphere is extrmely foreboding and does a fantastic job maintaining that unnervingly dark homage to horror while also having a very chaotic element to the overall sound, an abundance of mayhem is another prevelant theme running throughout this releases ,this becomes abundantly clear on The Evil Crown, the mayhem evloves into chaotic territory with the excellent title track Risen From The Tomb the lo-fi Guitar tone harks back to the Obsessed By Cruelty era of Sodom and has some extremely evil undertones, as soon as the bell chimes ring loud on Volcano and the Guitars roll along like a funeral procession you know you're about to get some old school mayhem that delivers with raw,evil and chaotic fury, The Blood Pact(Outro) sounds like some french horror movie and leaves a very disturbing finale to porceedings leaving you wanting even more chaos and mayhem.


 Overall Risen From The Tomb is a really enjoyable and worthwhile listen, if you like Hammer Horror, legends of Horror like Cushing,Price,Lee,Ingrid Pitt combined with homages to old school bands like Sodom,Venom,Celtic Frost and Sarcófago this is definitely an album for you,the production while having a very lo-fi approach still has a slight modern fell to it,also the musicianship is second to none,with razor sharp leads,extremely evil sounding vocals and a rawness and primitiveness stepped in the old school traditions of metal.

RATING: 9/10



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