Review - Albannach - Eye of the Storm
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Artist: Albannach
CD: Eye of the Storm
Bonnie says: Albannach sometimes describes their music as primal, and their album Eye of the Storm unquestionably has a rawness and passion about it. Also quite a lot of exuberant drumming and copious amounts of - Screaming? Yelling? Vocalizing. I really enjoyed this c.d. but I will say that it might not be for everyone.
I almost want to describe Eye of the Storm as Celtic hard rock, or Celtic heavy metal, and even though that’s not exactly right, it may be as close as I can get. If you like Celtic music, and you like Godsmack, this band will rock your freaking world. (Or perhaps I’m the only person who finds that particular musical flavor combination irresistible.)
Albannach isn’t your typical trad song playing group, but make no mistake, this is music inspired by Scotland and it’s history, written and performed by Scots. Listening to this album is like listening to a movie soundtrack, from an extraordinary film. There is a real feeling of progression and story telling from the first track, The Uprising, to the last one, Fallen Heroes, but the continuity and flow never turns into boredom or lackluster similarity.
There is a wonderful contrast between the beautiful voice of singer Jacquie Holland and the defiant lyrics of the song Scotland is Her Name. Telling someone to *bleep* off has never sounded so good. This track was a stand out and possibly my favorite.
A few songs do seem to get a little messy, because there is so much going on, but the majority of the time everything pulls together and just works.
Absolutely check out Albannach if your taste runs to intense drumming, rebel songs, and well written, stirring lyrics.
*Completely gratuitous, but this band rocks some tartan, I’ve seen pictures. And, to-die-for scrumptious Scottish accents, hello!
Mike declares: All the way through, I had a hard time deciding whether or not I really liked this CD. There’s such a fusion, and sometimes confusion, of styles going on that at times it is mind boggling, and at other times it is perfect, when everything comes into balance. I don’t necessarily like the almost constant impression that at any moment a drum-beating tribe of cannibals might leap from their jungle hideout and eat me, put perhaps that’s just my general aversion to being eaten showing through.
Listening to The Uprising puts me in the mood to watch Underworld. I’m not sure if it’s the bells, the various other dark sound effects, or the background choir notes, but something about the song really evoked that frame of mind.
Rebel King is my favorite track on the disc. It’s a very simple composition compared to everything else, but it really is pleasing.
I’m going to file this review under Celtic Rock, but that’s hardly a true description. This CD is really Celtic Trad-Tribal-World-Fusion-Contemporary-Spoken Word-Rock…. and I probably left out some.
If you want more info about Albannach, you can find it at www.albannachmusic.com, and you can pick up a copy of the CD there as well.
