Customer Reviews

Middle Kingdom

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The most amazing thing about Cruachan is its originality. Granted, there is a whole genre of similar bands, but how many Celtic folk metal bands do YOU know of? Cruachan combines traditional Irish instruments (flutes, goatskin drums, etc.) with more modern instruments (guitar, drums, keyboard, etc.) and does it extremely well. Not only do they use the traditional instruments, but the subject matter of the songs also concerns Irish folklore and history. Also quite interesting is the fact that the band includes an explanation of what the songs mean in addition to the lyrics along with the CD. Musically, Cruachan is not only original, but they also have a female lead with a beautiful voice who greatly enhances the listening experience. Personally, I became hooked on Cruachan by listening to their song entitled The Middle Kingdom (check out Cruachan's website for song clips). It begins by sounding like something out of the Middle Ages and is eventually skillfully combined with guitar. Now, I don't want to confuse you. Cruachan is Celtic folk metal, but it is not metal in the sense of Sepultura or In Flames. I would call it rock, but folk rock would mean something like Jim Croce, which Cruachan is not. I think the closest description would be light metal, since the music does include some screaming (by the male vocalist) and some fast-paced tracks, but if you are generally not a metal fan, don't let this deter you. If it means anything to you, my mom, who grew up listening to The Beatles, is a big fan. This CD is highly recommended, whether you listen to the fastest thrash or the lightest rock.

The 11 year old down below obviously doesn't understand the point of this CD. He says that the quiet songs are lovely. He should have bought Enya! This CD is about Celtic Mythology which is great because this band is actually from Eire. It is about mixing Medieval, Classical, Celtic and Black Metal. The 11 year old probably listens to pop and wasn't expecting such Heavy music. Another thing, people keep calling Cruachan "Celtic Rock" which is a lie. This is not rock, this is true Black Metal mixed with ancient Celtic music. The mix couldn't have been better, and this is a brilliant CD.

Other bands to check out in this genre:
Waylander
Geasa
Brian Barr
Heol Telwen

And of course, the companion piece to Celtic Metal, Viking Metal.

The blending of soothing, melodic celtic instrumentals, clean female vocals and gaelic lyrics, bonded with deliciously tight drum beats and guitar riffs is certainly worth your while!

The opening track is a traditional Highland Bagpipe peice with some percussion picking up later on, which then fades to the second track, an ambient celtic peice oozing with vibe.

The rest are an assortment of some VERY catchy tunes with awesome male/female counterpoint vocals! Metal never sounded this good, now theres no going back.

I recommend this to anyone who likes Celtic Music, or Viking Metal.

This is a celtic METAL album, so complaining that some of the songs are metal is simply asinine.
Anyways, the music is very good. It is a blend between heavy metal and celtic folk, with a touch of death metal blended in. The instruments include almost everything celtic or metal from tin whistles to guitars and uillean pipes (spelling withheld :) ).
If you are expecting metal when you buy a metal album, rather than folk, then you will like this. Otherwise you won't.

For those of you looking for a band like lets say Ensiferum or Borknagar Cruachan's Middle Kingdom is not the best place to look. The music on this album is at times straight folk and a few songs have a little bit of metal intertwined into the mix. What seperates this album from straight folk is that the music that they play is not 'authentic.' Although they use the same exact instruments that the only celts used the music that they play differs slightly from the music that was played in the olden days. The female lead singer has a very strong voice and is reason alone to listen to this album. Her voice combined with the archaic instruments creates a visual backdrop of the lush green country sides found in England and Scotland, probably in Ireland too but I have never travelled there. Cruachan is one of the few bands that can actually conjure up images through the use of simple instruments and song, however what sets them on on even higher plateau is that these images coincide so perfectly with the subject matter and with their intent (and album covers). It might have been nice to have some more metal like other Cruachan releases had, but Middle Kingdom is still a very good album.

Cruachan's first album (now OOP) was an unusual combination of black metal and Irish traditional music. This album shows a major evolution in style. Although the metal side is still there, it's a bit more subdued and the folksy elements are even stronger. The addition of a female vocalist is one reason for this (her singing is quite lovely, as opposed to the death-metal bellowing on the first). On the whole, the style is much more melodic, much more folksy, and even a bit more adventurous, musically speaking. I don't think this is the sort of thing that will appeal to traditional Celtic fans, but for folks who like Celtic rock like Horslips, Tempest, Wolfstone, etc. and would like to see a harder approach to the genre, Cruachan's a winner. Fans of prog metal may also enjoy this.

Although I own CDs by a number of folk-rock and folk-metal bands, Cruachan definitely has their own unique sound. Their first album (Tuatha Na Gael) is a very dirty sounding black metal with Irish influence (sometimes acoustic whistles, etc. on top of the metal, sometimes the very distorted guitar plays Irish sounding melodies) and predominantly black/death-metal growl vocals. This, their second album (although quite a few years later) sees the arrival of singer Karen Gilligan (who's voice reminds me of early 80's new wave chick rock singers, but not in a bad way), bringing quite a different sound. Although there are distorted guitars and a few instances of death growl vocals, overall this is their least heavy album - later albums tend to be more of a balance between both sounds. The other thing that sets this apart from their other albums is a lot of noticeable keyboards (although I don't see them credited on the sleeve) - I don't believe Cruachan use keys much elsewhere. (Much of the keys are a rather effective harpsichord sound.)
Overall, the effect is a metal/hard rock mixed with Irish instruments and melodies mixed in quite frequently. It almost has a punkish feel too it at times - they seem to be influenced by stuff like the Pogues somewhat. Although I'd probably recommend The Morrigan's Call to someone seeking a taste of the band, I really like this album among their work and it sits nicely in their catalogue (sometimes it's good for a band to have a different slant to their various albums!).

A winning album cover attracted by curiousity. The quiet songs are lovely and the female voice most beautiful. However, when the heavy metal tunes numbered over three, I gave it a thumbs down. Half of the Cd is great but the other half wracks my nerves.