Primordial - Exile Amongst The Ruins review
| Band: | Primordial |
| Album: | Exile Amongst The Ruins |
| Style: | Black metal, Celtic folk metal |
| Release date: | March 30, 2018 |
| A review by: | ScreamingSteelUS |
Disc I
01. Nail Their Tongues
02. To Hell Or The Hangman
03. Where Lie The Gods
04. Exile Amongst The Ruins
05. Upon Our Spiritual Deathbed
06. Stolen Years
07. Sunken Lungs
08. Last Call
Disc II [Limited Digibook]
01. Stolen Years [Instrumental version]
02. Dark Horse On The Wind
03. The Foggy Dew
04. Babel's Tower [Rehearsal Demo]
05. Come To The Flood [Rehearsal Demo]
06. Ghosts Of The Charnel House [Rehearsal Demo]
The low-key, reflective "Stolen Years" and suspiciously danceable "To Hell Or The Hangman" painted Exile Amongst The Ruins as an unusual progression for Primordial, but in truth the band's typically bleak and battering black metal remains largely intact. Rather than the stylistic approach, it is the band's ineluctable presence that has shifted gears, diminishing somewhat from the overwhelming aura Primordial has always projected.
Backing away from the thick, doomy pall that molded Where Greater Men Have Fallen and focusing on the brand of mood-heavy black metal that seems to ooze from the ground wherever the band treads, the album feels more dreary than wicked, more personal and somber than portentous of climactic destruction. "Nail Their Tongues" opens the album with a mid-paced, blackened heavy sound, a haunted, wretched number full of venom, and "To Hell Or The Hangman" has a wonderful hypnotic urgency borne of the driving rhythm's chemistry with this druidic blackened flavor. Many savage riffs and vocal lines erupt from time to time, but quite early on it is apparent that Exile Amongst The Ruins does not have the aesthetic power necessary to drive each song to fruition.
Exile Amongst The Ruins isn't quite as bombastic, enveloping, or bloody-minded as what we've gotten used to hearing from Primordial. Compared to Primordial's past releases, the production of Exile Amongst The Ruins is flat and confined, leaving many of the songs without the vast, epic atmosphere and expansive volume that Primordial is known for. As a result, while the album sounds like Primordial, it doesn't always feel like Primordial. Exile Amongst The Ruins sounds a lot more like a band recording in a studio than the usual elemental, natural, "primordial" entity whose unknowable might permeates the group's older works, and that does make the album less magical.
Moreover, the strongest tracks are not only the two first released ("Stolen Years" and the aforementioned "To Hell Or The Hangman"), but somewhat experimental for this band; excellent tracks both, some of my personal Primordial favorites already, but rather odd tentpoles for the album, given the dip in quality suffered by the middle of the record. In order to make up for lost spirit, Nemtheanga delivers some of his most thrilling and powerful performances to date, howling like a wolfman and searing his lungs with truly wicked screams. Lurking at the end of the album, "Sunken Lungs" picks up the pace with a crushing, up-tempo howler that serves as an excuse for the band to go wild over a simple skeleton. Nemtheanga wails while Simon O'Laoghaire does his best Brann Dailor impression; the tune closes with a soulful solo and a peremptory slamming of chords before "Last Call" drags the album back into darkness.
Nonetheless, the songwriting simply isn't as electrifying as Redemption At The Puritan's Hand, nor the atmosphere as bold and thunderous as Where Greater Men Have Fallen. Still distinctly Primordial, but rather like Primordial with a cold.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 6 |
 | Written on 18.03.2018 by I'm the reviewer, and that means my opinion is correct. |
Comments
Comments: 24
Visited by: 286 users
| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62283  |
This revive don't help me know how it will sound, can not wait
---- 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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| Malignar Posts: 285 |
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| Kuroboshi Posts: 1208  |
Written by Malignar on 19.03.2018 at 06:33 This is exactly what I feel. Which means I end up not listening to them more than once or twice per year.
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6117  |
In my opinion Primordial peaked in 2007 with the incredible "To The Nameless Dead". All releases after that album leave quite a bit to be desired.
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| VclavTesa Posts: 1 |
Man, so glad to read this review! I had to write a review for a magazine I´m contributing to in my country and as a long-time fan, I almost felt a bit guilty that I don´t dig it as much as I would like to. This ?C´mon it´s Primordial, you can not criticize Primordial!" still teasing me back inside my head. This quote ?while the album sounds like Primordial, it doesn't always feel like Primordial" sum up my feelings like nothing else! So this is really relieving to read, thanks! 
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| Sinterklaas1986 Posts: 5  |
One of those bands I would like to love. Their songs quickly become dull though..
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| ScreamingSteelUS Editor-in-Chief Admin Posts: 6077  |
Written by [user id=168442] on 21.03.2018 at 20:02 A score of 7.8 hardly constitutes not liking the album. I admit to being underwhelmed by it, certainly in comparison to Where Greater Men Have Fallen or Redemption at the Puritan's Hand. I don't consider 7.8 an unfair rating; not as strong as the last several albums, yet still a praiseworthy release from a great band. Even if I hated the album, I'd still (1) reserve the right to review it; and (2) consider it my responsibility as a reviewer to share my honest opinion. As far as Babymetal is concerned, I would very much enjoy seeing you attempt to explain and defend your points, but that would not be particularly relevant to the album or review at hand. Babymetal has nothing to do with Primordial, nor does the fact that I like one bear any significance on my appreciation of the other. I could just as easily argue that the fact that you like Helloween must mean you aren't a proper Burzum fan. And if you want to talk about yelling as opposed to singing or growling, what is it that you think Nemtheanga does?
---- "Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader I'm the Agent of Steel.
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| Karlabos Posts: 5768  |
Written by [user id=168442] on 21.03.2018 at 20:02 Wow... There is a lot to this post: (v) Personal attack to the reviewer (Pointing out a previous fact not related to the review in hand) (v) Neglecting freedom of speech (saying people shouldn't talk about what they dislike) (v) Contradiction (Saying people shouldn't talk about what they dislike while doing the exact opposite) (v) Racial discrimination ("asian shit") (v) Argumenting the reviewer is wrong based on his opinion on something totally unrelated Let me guess: You are an internet critic?
---- "Aah! The cat turned into a cat!" - Reimu Hakurei
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| Cynic Metalhead Ambrish Saxena Posts: 7650  |
Written by Karlabos on 22.03.2018 at 05:07 He's "ponderer" in BlueBeary body.
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| nikarg Staff Posts: 7508  |
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| ScreamingSteelUS Editor-in-Chief Admin Posts: 6077 |
Written by nikarg on 22.03.2018 at 12:22 Nearly two years to this very day and I'm still paying the price... :
---- "Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader I'm the Agent of Steel.
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| BlueBeary Account deleted |
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6117 |
Written by [user id=168442] on 21.03.2018 at 20:02 Dude, unclench.
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| nikarg Staff Posts: 7508 |
I've listened to it three times since yesterday and all I have to say is: "Spot on review man".
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| tears_of_sin Posts: 7 |
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| Dark Cornatus Powerslave Elite Posts: 4330  |
I thought this album was a step up from the last two personally. It's not as mindblowing as To the Nameless Dead sure, but it's all good music.
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
A step up from their previous two albums. A really good album this is. EDIT: What Dark Conatus said.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| Zap Posts: 3589  |
Nah, it's better than the last one but not as good as Redemption. Maybe repeated listens will change my mind though.
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| Redel Moderator Posts: 2306  |
I really do not understand how the reviewer derives a "dip in quality suffered by the middle of the record". For me, Upon our spiritual deathbed is by far the best song here. This is Primordial how I like Primordial, melodies overwhelming, perfect Primordial pace, carrying it out just smoothly. The final 2 minutes of this song make the album for me. The title track is my second favourite track from this album. It may appear a bit lengthy at times. But in fact it is just building up the tension for the excellent final minute of the song. Stolen years and sunken lungs are also great. Please could you explain where you see the "dip in quality suffered by the middle of the record", I am really curious.
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| ScreamingSteelUS Editor-in-Chief Admin Posts: 6077 |
Written by Redel on 29.04.2018 at 00:30 There's not much I could explain, exactly. "Where Lie the Gods" is a pretty good song, but not on the level of the preceding two, and the title track and "Upon Our Spiritual Deathbed" just don't grab me all that much, in part due to the production issues I talked about. They're not bad songs, but rather long for not being especially interesting, and when they're wedged in between the blocks of "Nail Their Tongues"/"To Hell or the Hangman" and "Stolen Years"/"Sunken Lungs," the effect is heightened; these three tracks are book-ended by what I think are the two strongest songs on the album, so of course I feel that there is a dip in quality at this point in the album, but that's all it means. It's not as though I consider them bad songs.
---- "Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader I'm the Agent of Steel.
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| Redel Moderator Posts: 2306 |
Thanks for caring to explain and for the quick reply. It is always interesting to see how different the perception of an album can be between people. For me, the title track and "Upon Our Spiritual Deathbed" are everything else but wedged in between something here. They rather comprise the core of the album. Without them the album would just be a compilation of several largely unrelated songs, in particular with respect to the awkward and hard to digest To hell or the hangman. Well, in the end, this is probalby just opinions and taste, man....
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| Cavernous Posts: 29  |
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| Darkside Momo Retired Elite Posts: 9096  |
Nice review, as I definitely agree with with the "production problem" - it's not that bad tbh, but there's a little something indeed. And while I absolutely love "To Hell or the Hangman" (my, what a fantastic song), count me with the people impressed by "Upon Our Spiritual Deathbed" 
---- My Author's Blog (in French)  "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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