PRIMORDIAL – The Gathering Wilderness

Ireland has definitely produced some very good popular music – Thin Lizzy, Gary Moore, Sinead O’Connor, The Corrs and others – but there are very few huge all-out Metal bands hailing from Ireland. Primordial is one, and definitely a band out of the ordinary. The band is often compared to Opeth, not so much because of the music, but more because of the burning aspiration to sound unique. And the band’s sort of Celtic influenced Doom/Death/Heavy Metal is definitely one-of-a-kind. If you insist on musical references, however, maybe Bathory, Borknagar, and the previously mentioned Opeth can be indeed be listed. The band’s very folklore-istic approach, though, makes these Irishmen something uniquely themselves.

This latest effort definitely has some good music to offer. The opener, “The Golden Spiral,” has a tremendous groove, and although it’s very simple in its structure, it definitely justifies its length at just below 8 minutes. The title track is very atmospheric and features choirs and a very beautiful acoustic intro section, while “The Song Of The Tomb” and “Tragedy’s Birth” are the most aggressive tracks, and also feature the best sounding clean vocals on the album. The band has not been blessed with the best singer in the world, but on these tracks, his voice manages to create a great atmosphere, like at 1:50 in “The Song Of The Tomb” where the Viking-style chants make for an awesome effect.

These aforementioned tracks also stand out as the best ones on the record, as some of the other material tends to sound a bit anonymous comparatively. The band seems to have focused a too much on atmosphere and too little on songwriting. This, for some, may be a compliment rather than a criticism, as the album works very well for those evenings when you just want to turn off all the lights and travel somewhere far away without caring for song titles and the relationship between verse and chorus. Thus, this album has to be recommended for the open-minded Metalhead.