Primordial - Where Greater Men Have Fallen (2014)320

Primordial is an extreme metal band from Skerries, County Dublin, Ireland. It was formed in 1987 by Pól MacAmhlaigh (bass) and Ciarán MacUiliam (guitars). Their sound melds black metal with Irish folk music.
The band's roots stretch back to 1987 when Pól and Ciarán first began playing together with Pól's brother, Derek. The band (who were called Forsaken for a brief period) initially played a rough, hybrid mix of early, primitive thrash and death metal (playing covers of Death, Sepultura and the like).

Vocalist Nemtheanga joined the band after seeing an advertisement for a singer in Dublin specialist Metal store The Sound Cellar in 1991. According to Primordial lore, the ad was pasted over no more than 2 hours after it being put up.

Upon Nemtheanga's joining the band, the band started to pursue a darker direction citing influence from Bathory, Celtic Frost and the emerging Greek and Norwegian black metal scenes.

Primordial was the first black metal styled band to emerge from Ireland with the release of their Dark Romanticism demo in the early summer of 1993 (Cruachan were also active at this time combining black metal with folk music). The band initially came to the attention of Lee Barrett from the UK label Candlelight Records but he failed to move on signing the band, so after a live soundboard recording from Dublin from 1994 was sent to Cacophonous Records (Cradle of Filth, Bal Sagoth, etc.), the band signed with them for the release of their debut album Imrama.

Although their debut album, Imrama, was characteristic as being in a more melodic black metal musical direction, they gradually came to refine their sound with A Journey's End, which included the use of mandolins and whistles and a more epic style. The two subsequent releases, The Burning Season and Spirit the Earth Aflame, showed the band's reflection of cultural geist and emotion, woven into an amalgam of black, Celtic, and folk metal musical styles. They have toured with various metal bands in the extreme metal genre, including Norwegian black metal band Immortal.

They released their dark fourth studio album Storm Before Calm in 2002, but the band's fifth album The Gathering Wilderness turned out to be a much darker and bleaker record than any Primordial had made before, providing the listener with a rawer sound as well. It was chosen as album of the month in Terrorizer Magazine and appeared in lots of top lists of the year 2005.

In January 2006 the band played their first US show alongside Thyrfing and Moonsorrow at the Heathen Crusade metalfest in Columbia Heights, Minnesota.

The band's sixth album To the Nameless Dead, was released on 16 November 2007 with universal praise for its raw sound used from the first or second recordings. In November and December 2010, the band entered Foel Studio in Wales to work with producer Chris Fielding once again. The resulting album, Redemption at the Puritan's Hand was released via Metal Blade on April 22, 2011. In July 2014, Primordial announced their eighth studio album under the working title Where Greater Men Have Fallen. It will be released November 25th 2014 in the US and November 24th elsewhere.


Primordial At





2014 Where Greater Men Have Fallen


Tracklist:

1. Where Greater Men Have Fallen
2. Babel's Tower
3. Come the Flood
4. The Seed of Tyrants
5. Ghosts of the Charnel House
6. The Alchemist's Head
7. Born to Night
8. Wield Lightning to Split the Sun

Label: Metal Blade Records


Over the band's illustrious career, Primordial has always made sure to take time when it comes to writing albums, resulting in some of the best records ever made by a black metal band outside of Norway. If there's any downside to this, it's that the band is constantly competing with itself to match previous efforts and churn out another slab of greatness. New album "Where Greater Men Have Fallen" will certainly fit in well with past releases in the eyes of fans, but newcomers might be left wondering what the fuss is about.

The title track gets things underway and is a real stand out, containing all the things that have made Primordial a great band to many metal listeners. It's extremely dark and somewhat eerie, yet remains a lively affair throughout, complete with a real anthem of a chorus, earning positive comparisons to previous songs such as "Empire Falls." It's unquestionably one of the best songs on the album, which is not always a plus when it comes to the opener.

"Born to Night" is another track which longtime fans will especially enjoy. It takes a while to build up but eventually turns into a real stomping beast, though coupled with a majesty which only Primordial seems to be able to bring to extreme metal. After this we get the closing "Wield Lightning to Split the Sun," which is frighteningly bleak, whilst retaining an epic tone throughout. These qualities craft two very good songs and a solid end to the album.

There are some other flashes of excellence on display. "Babel's Tower" is a solid doom laden song which is very good, though arguably outstays its welcome, whilst "The Seed of Tyrants" is probably the most furious song on the record, beginning with a shout of "Traitors!" and exploding into a blistering black metal song that never lets up. However some other tracks contain some great moments which the rest doesn't live up to, such as the battle cry guitars of "Come the Flood" and the crushing riffs of "Ghosts of the Charnel House."

All in all, it's a good album, one which fans will be pleased with, however there isn't enough here to rank it as high as some of Primordial's previous work, despite some similarities. While there are some very, very good songs here, several of the tracks are rather unremarkable as a whole, though they still remain better than the standard many other bands have set for themselves. If you're a long time fan of the group, or the style in general, there's no reason why you won't enjoy it, but those seeking to become fans might want to check out some of the older material instead of starting with "Where Greater Men Have Fallen."



Genre: Black
Subgenre: Celtic Folk / Pagan Black Metal
Bitrate: 320 k
Size: 134.40 MB
8 files