Label : Black Bards Entertainment
Review by Luisa Mercier
The Czech band Cruadalach has just published its debut and it is a crushing mix of folk elements and metal which will please the lover of metal with traditional elements. Jan Radalf Vrobel provides the vocals, supported by Petra and Ales at the backing choirs. The band is quite large, including also folk instruments like bag pipes, shawms and more traditional violin and cello. Their presence is clearly perceived throughout the record, they are not just a decoration, but instruments with a role equal to guitars and drums. Listen for example to “Signal Fires” in which the violin duets with the guitars or the intro “Dubh” in which the folk element is the only one present. The bag-pipes lends an Irish feeling to the atmosphere. Even though the band is from Eastern Europe, the influence on the music is mainly drawn from Scottish and Celtic music. The result is an effective mix of metal riffs with death influences and folk music. Band from Eastern Europe lately have been delivering quite good works and I think they can bring new life to the metal movement which sometimes lacks a bit of ideas. Cruadalach are no exception.
Rating – 80/100
Tracklist
- Dubh
- Rage Starts Here
- Nezlomní
- Living with Pride
- Blejanje Na Mjesec
- Signal Fires
- Cruadalach
- Morrigan
- For My Bleeding Friends
- Hear Our Voices!
- The Promise
Line Up
- Jan Radalf Vrobel – Vocals
- Aleš Ax Cipra – Guitars & Backing Vocals
- Ante Mortem – Guitars
- Petra Ewenica Jadrná – Bag pipes, shawms, recorders & Backing Vocals
- Hanka Honey Slanarová – Violin
- Filip Škrdlík – Violoncello
- Lazarus – Bass guitar
- Michal Rak – Drums and percussions
Links
MySpace * ReverbNation * Facebook * Site