Feb 092020
 

 

Well, I did manage to complete Part 2 of this column in time to get it on the site before my NCS time ran out today. However, I did have to make a few compromises because of the shortness of time. For one thing, I had planned to present four full releases, but replaced one of those with a couple of tracks from a record that isn’t yet released. For another, I wrote much less about the first release below than I had wanted to. So it’s another case where the music will mainly have to speak for itself, with my role limited to (hopefully) inducing you to listen.

SCÁTH NA DÉITHE

I reviewed this Irish band’s debut EP in 2015, acclaiming it with words such as these:

“Structured with plenty of twists and turns into new regions of a phantasmic soundscape, this EP is never dull despite the length of the two longest songs. The time passes before you know it, you blink yourself out of a doomed reverie, and you wonder where you are.”

Continue reading »

Apr 012015
 

 

On April 27, Svarga Music will release the second album by Ukraine’s Paganland. Entitled Fatherland, the album is dedicated to Ukraine’s ongoing struggle against Russian encroachment to the east, while remaining rooted in Carpathian traditions. Today we bring you a premiere of the new album’s second track, “The Voice of the Carpathians”.

Though the band’s pride in their homeland and anger at the actions of its larger neighbor may have inspired the music, you don’t need to be politically engaged to be moved by it. “The Voice of the Carpathians” is blood-pumping, soul-stirring metal that feels genuinely heartfelt, and it’s easy to be caught up and carried away by the drama and the intensity of its fervor. Continue reading »