Gutter Anthems

Enter the Haggis | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 24, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: United For Opportunity
• ASIN: B001QWFU2O
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #110,578 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Over the past three albums and five years, Toronto's Celtic rock band Enter The Haggis has found itself at the center of a grassroots success story ever teetering on the brink of mainstream success. From playing Celtic festivals to headlining them, and from the festival circuit to selling out multiple nights in rock venues, ETH has blazed a path with heavy and almost constant touring up and down the East Coast, to Canada, the West Coast and back again, winning over success one fan, one town, one region at a time.

The band has made waves in the musicality of the genre, landing Billboard and iTunes World Music charting as well as major television appearances on shows like Live With Regis And Kelly, A&E Breakfast With the Arts and PBS' popular program Out of Ireland, with its multi-influence style of Celtic rock. It's the kind of overall sound and devotion package that has created not only die-hard fans, but Haggis Heads that follow the band from gig to gig.

Alternating between upbeat rock numbers with sing-along choruses and slower, more introspective alt pop songs, the band plays progressive and lyrically driven music that's strongly rooted in Celtic tradition - from the storytelling to the bagpipes.

We like to experiment musically, pushing the boundaries of what people think of as Celtic music, said vocalist and guitarist Trevor Lewington. Some of our grooves, melodies and lyrics are quite different from other bands that we play with.

For instance, Suburban Plains, one of the songs on the band's new album Gutter Anthems, mixes an African-inspired drumbeat in 5/4 time with tin whistle melodies and lyrics in English and French. The Death of Johnny Mooring combines a fiddle melody with Rage Against the Machine-inspired riff-rock. There's a fiddle solo in the song in which fiddle player Brian Buchanan uses distortion, wah pedal and whammy pedal on the instrument. Béla Fleck's done that with a banjo, but fiddle might be a first.

It's been a long time coming though, and Enter The Haggis has definitely been reworking its music and building success over the past several years. 2004's release Casualties of Retail (United For Opportunity), not only stretched the limits of Celtic rock musically, but topically as well with straight-shooting socio-political tracks such as Gasoline and Congress. 2006's Soapbox Heroes, produced by four-time Grammy award winner Neil Dorfsman (Sting, Dire Straits, Paul McCartney), hit number two during its July release on the iTunes World Music chart and later marked the band's Billboard debut when it landed at number eight on the World Chart there. 2007's Northampton (Live) was recorded over four sold-out shows in one weekend at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, MA, and was a testament to the band's focus on touring, fan participation, and its regional stronghold in the Northeast U.S.

Now, the band's seventh studio album, Gutter Anthems, is Enter The Haggis' most cohesive record to date, yet one that makes the band's eclecticism shine. Songs like opening track The Litter And The Leaves with its upbeat tempo and rousing anthemic chorus see the band embracing a jig-punk direction ala The Dropkick Murphys, while tracks like Did you Call Me Albatross? embrace the more traditional feel of tin whistle and fiddle throughout. Noseworthy and Piercy and The Death of Johnny Mooring find the band embracing its Canadian roots in true tales from the homeland. There's also a marked little guy vs. the world theme, derived from the trials of being an indie band trying to make it in the current music industry climate.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fix me another serving of haggis, April 29, 2009

By 

D. Ryan - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gutter Anthems (Audio CD)

Enter the Haggis is one of those bands that somehow makes everything work. Scattered throughout all of their CD's are all kinds of tracks from all kinds of genres. The interesting thing, for me, is that I was not necessarily a fan of many of these genres, until Enter the Haggis. They have this way about them in that they craft music that anyone can listen to and get stuck in their head. The more you listen to it, the more interested in it you become. With their latest dish, ETH shows that they know what their fans like the best from their previous releases, while at the same time, they still throw caution to the wind and try some new sounds with great results.

After a nice intro that sounds like a celtic version of something U2 would open an album with, ETH hits us heavy and hard with what should (in my opinion) be their next great live anthem, The Litter and the Leaves. Craig blasts the bagpipes with all his might and the results should lead many listeners, like me, to turn this song on many times while driving with the windows down. Now that the band has the listener's attention, they start to really show their talent.

Rather than trudge through a description of every song, which I think would take away from some of the surprise of the album (and become a little boring to read), I will make a few comments. After the very Haggis opening to the album, the band begins to add more ingredients to their bowl of haggis by trying new sounds and new genres. From the folky sound of Cameos, to the rocking sounds of The Death of Johnny Mooring (which lead my fiance' to come up with the nickname of Rage Against the Haggis), this album has it all. Even the instrumentals are so good and well crafted that I didn't notice that there were no lyrics until a few listens. And that's the beauty of it. ETH can let their songwriting and instrumentals speak for themselves.

But to truly get a taste for what the boys from ETH have to offer, one must see the band in their natural habitat: the stage. For as good as their music is on the album, it finds a new life on the stage and shows its true emotion. With the addition of these fifteen selections to their library, ETH is ready to wow even more listeners than even before. Maybe this petition to see this band live is out of place, but please take my advice and get to know these songs from the CD and then go sing along with the band on their next tour stop. Few bands (I think) are just as good on the stage, let alone better, than they are on the CD. Enter the Haggis is one of them.

In the end, this is another classic ETH album that will please old fans and should go a long way in making others warm up to them. Very well done.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Warning: highly addictive!!!, April 17, 2009

By 

Paula J. Reynolds "I know what I like" (Ithaca, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gutter Anthems (Audio CD)

I've had this for a month now, and it is still as addictive today as it was the first time I heard it. An excellent, interesting, intelligent album that rocks -- what's not to love? Looking forward to experiencing these songs when they are touring! Check out their website at www.enterthehaggis.com

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haggis Perfection, April 14, 2009

By 

B'moose "B'moose" (CT (USA)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gutter Anthems (Audio CD)

With "Gutter Anthems" Enter the Haggis achieves what most Indie bands would give their collective eye teeth to own: a stunning tour de force which in this case effortlessly combines such seemingly disparate genres as Celtic rock (they're Enter the Haggis, eh?) American folk/ western, traditional rock and yes, dare I say, pop. No fewer than eight of these songs have true radio potential. "Sea of Crutches", "Lights and Cars", "Suburban Plains", "DNA", "Real Life/ Alibis" -- any of these is hundreds of times better than most of what passes for pop music on the radio these days. Amazon does not have sufficient superlatives for "Gutter Anthems" as it is not just the best of artist/ best of genre. It is the best of any genre this Toronto quintet have seen fit to include on the CD. It is the rarest of Indie gems: a CD which reaches to a broader audience while satisfying the fan base who've been with the band all along. This could do it for them. This CD deserves to do it for them.

If there is any justice at all in the music industry, "Gutter Anthems" will be the album that breaks Our Heroes into the Big Time, "Sea of Crutches" will be their first top 40 hit, and NOBODY who's been listening for the last ten years as the band honed their playing and writing skills would dare claim "sell out."

Yes, I am a Haggis Head. And I've never been more proud of it.