Cruachan - The Morrigan's Call review
| Band: | Cruachan |
| Album: | The Morrigan's Call |
| Style: | Celtic folk metal |
| Release date: | November 17, 2006 |
| A review by: | Jeff |
01. Shelob
02. The Brown Bull Of Cooley
03. Coffin Ships
04. The Great Hunger
05. The Old Woman In The Woods
06. Ungoliant
07. The Morrigan's Call
08. Teir Abhail Ru
09. Wolfe Tone
10. The Very Wild Rover
11. CuChulainn
12. Diarmuid And Grainne
Damn lately the chance was not really on the side of Cruachan. When they finally found the way to sign with a good label to release their long awaited album, "The Morrigan's Call", this label found the way to disappear (and by the way, this is one more time a proof that the music market is not so good nowadays). Later and after some delay, the German label AFM records decided to release the album so now, be happy fans of Celtic music, our favorite Irish Metal combo is back and you'll finnaly be able to find their new album.
"The Morrigan's Call" follows the traditional spirit of the music of the band. Don't expect anything really new in this release, Cruachan just follows the road of their previous album, "Pagan". You can expect flute, violin, catchy choruses dancing music and epic melodies. It's good Irish Folk Metal but it's not so surprising too. Cruachan is a good band, the musicians proved it one more time with this release which doesn't suffer of a lot of problems, except maybe that it seems that it is a bit like a routine for them.
But nonetheless the songs are cool, "The Great Hunger" for example is really catchy with a beautiful line of violin, when "Shelob" is fast and full of rhythm. The opposition between the cute voice of Karen and the death one of Keith still works, no it's ok really. We even have a cover of the "drunken" Irish songs "The Very Wild Rover" (I prefer the one that Tyr did this year however). "The Morrigan's Call" is a good album, but I will never say that it's their best release. If we have a majority of good things on this release, some songs are a bit average too and not so catchy.
And here we are with the "The Morrigan's Call the last album of Cruachan? One more time with the band, we're in front of a pleasant release but when you compare it to "Folk-Lore" this is clearly not better. Without any real evolution in its music Cruachan just released a good album which is unfortunately a bit basic on a side. The fans of the band will probably be happy, but the ones who want something new and exceptional will maybe be a bit disappointed.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 6 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 7 |
Written by Jeff | 05.01.2007
Comments
Comments: 7
Visited by: 78 users
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| Sekhmet Electric Witch Posts: 1144  |
Well, I didn't really expect anything new, but I'll get it all the same because some plain old Cruachan without much originality still remains really good folk metal 
---- I wish I had a mental survival kit...
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| Music4TheSpirit MetalForTheSpiri Elite Posts: 4934  |
I quite agree with you on pretty much everything, though I think the production was very good. What i think that is "wrong" (not really wrong maybe uncomfortable would suit better at least for me) was the fat that the album is like too accelerated, and it seems like the use the same beat all over the album. The doomy "The Great Hunger" and the thrashy "The Bull Of Cooley" were the more interesting pieces for me. A bit disappointed that they didn't bring anything especially new, since I consider them to be one of the leading bands of the folk metal scene. But yes surely it's an enjoyable release.
---- In this days we seem to be limited by scientific knowledge "I'm a good man... while that don't interfere with my interest" Anonymous , taken from the low moderm and post-moderm consciences
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| Ernis 狼獾 Posts: 6815  |
Sad, their Irish in "Teir abhaile riu" is rather awful....they have english accent.....well....compared to Maire Brennan's pure Ulster Irish pronounciation, this is....well....sad.....however....it leaves a punk impression.....
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| Stalker Lone wanderer Posts: 2705  |
WTF? I didnt listen to this album until now... Wtf? Music is not folk metal at all. There are no celtic folk melodies familiar with Cruachan, ok, there are some, im not deaf, but its mostly the raping of various string instruments such as violins in some songs, but not in a folk metal way, more like Avantguarde stuff or something like that... And where are the bagpipes damn it?? Not even a flutes, anything, just violins... Sounds kinda boring, when you know previous material. Well, this is album I believe I wont come back to... Sad. I dont know which way will the new album take, but I hope it will BE folk metal, not just signed as folk.
---- 
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| Uirapuru Liver Failure Posts: 2955  |
Not a great album. Its ok, but like the previous I didnt get much into.
----  ---- member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62026  |
I agree nothing new, even band over write them selves but why its so good? maybe metal as not being so called true metal can work and warm up almost boiling topic as lyrics in a centuries.
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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