PRIMORDIAL - How It Ends
Metal Blade Records
This Irish black metal act has been around for three decades. I've been a huge fan of them for the last two. For those of you who are also fans maybe you would agree that throughout their career the band has never put out a bad album. They were the vanguard of pagan folk and epic sounding black metal that added a touch of melancholy doom as well as traditional heavy metal style. And as far as their early releases being a search for a hill to stand upon. I've always said that their fifth full length, 2005's The Gathering Wilderness, was when the band patented a formula sound which they would carry on with to this day.
Now of course PRIMORDIAL would vary in their formula producing albums that were sometimes epic, harsh and powerful. As well as others that were sorrowful odes to the struggle for a cultural pagan pre-Christian Irish identity. Which brings us to this their tenth full length. Now whether it was the band prowess or us fans who set the bar so high. Perfection is the only acceptable outcome when it comes to what PRIMORDIAL produces now and in the future. If there is a future of course and with a title like How It Ends one would wonder. I haven't read any interviews by em so I don't know.
Be that as it may How It Ends seems to have a few things absent from it. First off PRIMORDIAL are now a four piece since guitarist Michael Flynn is not on this recording. Now sure with studio over dubbing you can fake it. But sound-wise it does seem like his musical contribution from the past is clearly missing here. Something else which seems obviously lacking is the vocal performance by A.A. Nemtheanga (aka: Alan Averill).
Now overall A.A. Nemtheanga is still pushing a powerful vocal performance. But aside from a handful of cuts on this ten song album he comes across as just delivering what's needed instead of being inspired. Musically there's some great things on here. Songs like "Ploughs to Rust, Swords to Dust", "We Shall Not Serve" and the finale "Victory Has 1000 Fathers, Defeat Is an Orphan" are stand outs. The rest come across sounding overly drawn out as if strolling along to fill space. Plus, and only a fan can spot it, there's some song recycling going on here.
So with all of that said sure I can find an excuse or two for this album not being up to par. First off it's been five years since their last one, 2018's Exile Amongst the Ruins. Secondly A.A. Nemtheanga is doing quite well with his doom metal side project DREAD SOVEREIGN. And third if this is the band's swan song then why try to end it with perfection when just fore-filling an obligation is so much easier.
https://www.metalblade.com/us/
LISTEN HERE:
https://primordialofficial.bandcamp.com/album/how-it-ends
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