Ask anyone to name their all time favourite Irish metal bands and Primordial will likely sit near the top, if not at the very summit of the list. Formed three decades ago but with roots that date back further to when they were known as Forsaken, the Dublin based act have only ever made the barest minimum of changes to their line-up over the years, their most recent move seeing them return to operating with four members after nearly twenty years as a five-piece.
The band’s tenth full length studio release How It Ends (Metal Blade Records) comes five long years after previous album Exile Amongst the Ruins, and if you were wondering why it’s taken them so long then the record’s whopping sixty-six minute running time should give you at least some indication.
Driven by an underlying theme of resistance, every inch of How It Ends is possessed of a uniquely Irish rebellious spirit. Irish poet Joseph Mary Plunkett, a writer and revolutionary executed for his role in the Easter Rising insurrection of 1916 serves as inspiration for the defiant surge of “We shall Not Serve” while the band were stirred by stories of transported Irish convicts and Australian outlaw Ned Kelly for the moody “Pilgrimage to the World’s End”.
Opening with the title track, the burly curtain-raiser begins with an almost funereal quality, but really gets going when Simon O’Laoghaire‘s drums enter the fray. With lyrics like, “Who dares to sing out of tune and rewrite the refrain?”, vocalist A.A.Nemtheanga (aka Alan Averill) calls for the outsider artists and rebels who stand up for causes not necessarily endorsed by the state.
A churning seven and a half minute monster, the quite magnificent “Ploughs to Rust, Swords to Dust” kicks off with another patently Primordial rolling drum intro before Ciarán MacUilliam‘s guitars kick in and the pace picks up. After opening with three seven minute-plus songs in a row, “Traidisiúnta” (“Traditional”) is a short but powerful and atmospheric instrumental before the methodical crawl of “Nothing New Under the Sun” explodes with brooding inevitability, the impressively versatile Nemtheanga dominating the track with total authority.
Written about the Gaelic god of beasts and wild places, the band’s traditional influences really shine through on the uplifting “Call to Cernunnos”. Another standout cut straight from the top drawer, this formidable slice ebbs and flows to perfection while allowing bassist Pól MacAmlaigh his turn in the spotlight.
Clocking in at close to nine minutes, “All Against All” opens with a menacing swing before hitting its stride with surges of raw energy and rhythmic grooves while “Death Holy Death” is a lumbering but purposeful slow burner that takes its time but is worth every minute.
Album closer “Victory Has 1000 Fathers, Defeat Is an Orphan” takes its name from an old saying meaning that when something is successful, many people will claim to have been involved. But when something fails, those same people will immediately distance themselves. A cynical truth for sure but one that suits the song perfectly as it pulsates with a muscular exuberance.
Sprawling black metal with traditional Celtic and doom metal leanings, Primordial bristle with a passion and fury like no other but show just as much restraint when necessary. Faster songs are given room to breathe with sombre or atmospheric interludes while more predominantly downcast pieces pile on the aggression. Nemtheanga’s clean vocals improve with every album but its the consistent high quality of each different vocal technique which impresses the most here.
Mature and deliberate, yet aggressively passionate, How It Ends is another Irish masterclass in extreme metal.
Buy the album here:
https://www.primordialofficial.com
9 / 10
GARY ALCOCK