Band:	Ruadh
Album:	1296
Style:	Atmospheric black metal, Folk metal
Release date:	April 2023

01. Guardians Of Scotland
02. Sack Of Berwick
03. Toom Tabard
04. Rise Of The North
05. King Of Scots
06. The Treaty

You can take our lives, but you'll never take our metal.

Ruadh certainly don't rest on their laurels, producing their fourth effort since forming five years ago, pushing themselves with each subsequent record with bigger and broader concepts, alongside a more encompassing sound. Against this background comes 1296, perhaps the band's most ambitious record to date, and, while I am an Englishman, I'll try to judge the album fairly... what's that? A missed note? 1/10!

Much like Dave Mustaine and Lars Ulrich, England and Scotland (Dave as a ginger must be the Scot in this example) have a long history of fighting between them, with the period of history circa 1296 ripe material for a Sabaton, I mean, Ruadh album. As the band delve deep into the rich history of the Scottish lands, they bring to life the strife and turmoil through a rich combination of orchestral elements and their well-honed folk black metal aura.

This combination of more grandiose sounds alongside Ruadh's blackened folk roots, is, on paper, a combination that could work, with the folk elements playing to the band's roots while the black metal side of their sound adds to the orchestration's potent power. Tracks like the triumphant-sounding "The Treaty" are an example of how all these elements can be channeled and combined into one heavy-hitting sound. The choice of concept fits well with the decision to add in grandiose orchestral elements, with the opening "Guardians Of Scotland" setting the scene and ushering the listener into the 1296 experience, before "Sack Of Berwick" slams into the listener and knocks them off their feet when they're least expecting it.

It seems, however, that Ruadh are so focused on the concept and idea of making a grandiose record in both sound and theme, that they neglect the black metal grounding of the album, leaving 1296 to be an album that aims high, but falls short in its roots. "Toom Tombard" has some nice orchestral flourishes, but it lacks much on the black metal side of their sound to really take advantage of this extra element the band have woven into their music.

It is unfortunate also that, for all of Ruadh's grand vision and design, 1296 is undermined by a somewhat poor mix. The balance between the band's black metal sound and the orchestral elements is such that the latter takes centre stage and pushes everything else to the fringes of the fringes, or, in the case of "King Of Scots", it pushes the volume of everything up in the mix as a means to compensate.

Ruadh should definitely be commended for aiming high with their vision of what 1296 was going to be, building upon the conceptual foundations of Eternal. While it doesn't quite hit the mark, it by no means completely misses the target, instead leaving listeners hearing the album and perhaps wondering what could have been.