CELTACHOR
'In
The Halls Of Our Ancient Fathers'
(Self-released)
Everything
about this band gives away their intention to pay homage to the
Celtic myths and history, just take a glance over the band's name and
that cover art, this is as straightforward as it gets. No complains,
Ireland has been really instrumental to raise awareness to the pagan
metal genre, with bands such as Cruachan and Waylander leading the
charge in the said style, achieving critical praise in the process.
Both of those might need to watch over their shoulders for the
competition, as Celtachor are boldly making their claims known with
these songs. Yes, 'In The Halls...' has been given a rather rough
production that damages the impact to some extend but that is to be
expected from a demo and can be easily taken care of on future
recordings. What's best about the band, however, is that they've been
able to resist the much despised 'folk metal' syndrome, tin whistles
or not, and have given the songs 'a fist in the air' (mid-tempo
Bathory, anyone?) quality and that unmistakable vibe of genuinely aggressive
metal, dissimilar to the one that gets clueless youngsters starting
to wave plastic swords and check each other's butts in smelly tents. Yup, no love for
the uber-corny folk metal here but plenty of respect for the pagan
one of Celtachor. Bearing in mind that this is almost two years old
by now, I'm sure the band has further honed their craft and I for one
am looking forward to the next offering. [6,5]
(Vladimir Petrov)
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