Band:	Primordial
Album:	The Gathering Wilderness
Style:	Black metal, Celtic folk metal
Release date:	February 07, 2005
A review by:	Undercraft

01. The Golden Spiral
02. The Gathering Wilderness
03. The Song Of The Tomb
04. End Of All Times (Martyr's Fire)
05. The Coffin Ships
06. Tragedy's Birth
07. Cities Carved In Stone

Primordial is back, after 3 years with almost no news from the band, they pulled this new album "The Gathering Wilderness" out of their sleeve. These Irish Metalheads always have delivered a particular Metal style, while not completely Folk or Celtic, they emit a epic vibe in every song, also, the band is not Black Metal definitively, although some shrieks can be heard throughout the album, the music that Primordial plays is definitively something unique and this album, is with no chance of doubt, a masterpiece.

The artwork and whole artistic concept of the album is simple, yet strikingly attractive to the eye. The black & white cover with the golden letters is just extraordinaire, the inside booklet is also astonishing; every detail has been taken care of, the result, a visual work of art.

But musically, the album has so much to offer also, sound wise the album is a cauldron of surprises, one after the other. Maybe the thing that stands out more is the fantastic vocals of A.A. Nemtheanga, he's very versatile when it comes to molding his voice according to the song, he can sound very dramatic, or very aggressive, he can grunt, growl or shriek, his clean voice is as good as his harsh one, just fantastic.

The album starts with "The Golden Spiral" a great opener song with awesome drumming, almost tribal sounding, a wall of guitars surround the song at all times, while vocals are dramatic and omnipresent. "The Gathering Wilderness" is a hymn to nature, an excellent song filled with mystic moments and calm parts, violins and acoustic guitars contribute to give to the song its fantastic atmosphere. "The Song Of The Tomb" speeds things a little, this up-tempo song is as great as the previous ones, again I listen with awe the vocals.
Vocals reach their dramatic peak in "End Of All Times (Martyr's Fire)" is just amazing what this guy can express with his gifted voice, "The Coffin Ships" is lengthy song (almost 10 minutes) and it has different moods and atmospheres, a multi-song in one track, here we get a "weepy" way of singing by Mr. Nemtheanga. Last two songs are also lengthy, but nevertheless, amazing, acoustic guitars, Black Metal shrieks and tribal percussion on "Tragedy's Birth" and Doomy feel and excellent songwriting on "Cities Carved In Stone".

What else can I say about this album, I can say this: is almost perfect, every detail, every song, each page of the booklet, the production, the musicianship, the songwriting, the creativity, each detail has been polished to the max. Definitively the best release of the year so far.