The Kings of Irish Folk Metal

I promised some picture, but since Henna didn't send them to me yet, I'll replace them with some taken from the bands' Myspaces.

We pay the ticket and enter the lair underneath the surface of Temple Bar. In such occasions, the club suddenly transforms: you come from the terrible streets of temple bar on saturday night, packed with italians, spanish and french people (Henna would say "but mostly germans"), drunk or going to get drunk, and enter this underworld with tall (!!!) long haired stout Irish headbangers, with T-shirts of every possible metal band, from Iron Maiden to Korpiklaani and even Apocalyptica and Moonsorrow.
Runecaster had already started playing and a hammering 1/16 bass drum beat welcomes us. The band features 4 members, whose leader sings, plays guitar and the tin whistle when appropriate. Ok, the band does not show great excellence in arrangements or complicate riffs and structure, but good will and cheerful metallic power. The leader is actually the whistle-bodhrann-mandolin player of Waylander, and Runecaster may be just a side project in which he is the leader.
We arrived a bit late, so I listened only to a few songs from this band, anyway the feeling was good even with all the sound problems, mics, etc. Folk metal bands must have some problems when playing live: they usually have more instruments than musicians and switching is difficult: acoustic guitar are replaced with clean electric guitars; Bodhrann and flutes are difficult to amplify.
The face-body painting was funny but very in tema. At first I thought the drummer had huge blue nipples!
Then the band stops playing and leaves the stage. The "filling" music starts playing: Whiskey in the jar! But the song stops: Runecaster are given time for another song!
Good performance, but finally, after some Flogging Molly, the unofficial protagonists of the night
: Waylander!!!!

Their entrance is a bit weird since the guitarist-singer of Runecaster is still there... with his tin whistle! The bands enter, they have body painiting of the same colour as Runecaster and they look cool.
Check them on Myspace!
They start with a song with a silly name: "Walk with honour" (or actually "wok wid onow") but quite cool. The singer is not that good with clean vocal but has a good growl, the groove is fast and chaotic, the band shows complete carelessness for mistakes - but this is the unifying theme of the night - just as I would imagine celtic music; Irish lads, you know.
Their part on the stage is short but impressive. Without too much seriousness they sweat on the stage - hell, everything was hot and wet that night and no oxigen for anybody!
I liked the MANLY and AGGRESSIVE attitude of the band, but their overall cheerfulness. They even let a crazy men in the audience sing a few lines. All Eamon Doran's was on fire when they played their last song "Born to the fight", which they played slightly longer than the original, for, like, 8-10 minutes? Whatever, it was great.



It is time now to introduce the main band of the night, and the main delusion: Cruachan.

This is from their Myspace:
"Cruachan combine modern rock /metal with traditional Irish music, but there is a lot more to them than just that: elaborate classical pieces, ancient medieval tunes etc. They also use real instruments rather than relying solely on a keyboard or sampler. The use of these instruments also adds an element of curiosity in live shows due to each member's ability to play a variety of instruments. Some of the traditional instruments they use are: Tin whistle, Irish Flute, Bódhran (an ancient hand-held goatskin drum), Uilleann pipes (or elbow pipes, like the traditional bag pipes, but instead of blowing, a bellows is used to pump air into the bag), Harp, Bouzouki (originally a Greek guitar, it has been adopted into Irish and Scottish music) Cruachan's original metal style could have been classed as Black metal, but the band have now opened up to other styles of metal and rock, although the black influences are still evident and the whole ethos is still there. Cruachan consider themselves as modern day bards or storytellers. They tell the old Celtic myths and legends of their proud past like the ancient Fili did before them, or the tales of hardship and rebellion that Ireland endured, through the medium of music "


Indeed they have many pros: they really use all those instruments widely and not just en passant for intros like most of folk metal bands. They started in '93 to play black-folk metal, which is quite early: Bathory released their first real Viking metal album, Hammerheart, only in 1990, and in '93 Varg Vikernes was imprisoned, closing a stage of black metal.
But for some reasons, the gig just wasn't right.
John O'Fathaigh's mic (Tin Whistle player) did not work at all and he was clearly pissed off/embarassed. I didn't almost hear the bozouki too. The Bodhrann was neglected most of the night, but Cruachan didn't use it at all if I remember correctly. Keith Fay is not a "guitar hero", but his growl is strong and dark. I think his guitar was out of tune, or he was using minor chords, which do not blend that well with happy Irish fiddles. The overall effect was grotesque.
The first impact was very negative, but with the following songs the band gets better: Karen Gilligan pops on the stage, and the band plays what seems to be a famous masterpiece: "Ride On". The melody is now milder, the female voice is well alternated with Keith's vocals; good song, the audience loved it.
The last song(s?) gave more credibility to the band, that unleashed all its Black power and rage, without Karen and Irish stuff and I really enjoyed this part. Just pure evil chaos, for the extreme headbangers. Then, without even say "bye" (did they? I didn't notice) they left the stage.
In conclusion, I think the band sounds good in studio, but didn't live.
Keith wore a quite ugly/funny leather armour, and all the members looked more pissed than amused (unlike Runecaster and Waylander!); technical problems made their gig less enjoyable; their extreme nationalism was a bit annoying. I mean, it's ok, they play Folk Metal with Irish roots, so you expect them to sing about Brian Boru, Cuchulinn, Irish legends etc. But the Irish flag on the stage, dedicating the first song only to Irish headbangers (and there were several foreigners that night), saying that Ireland was the only western country to ever have a famine... I mean, it was just a bit excessive.


But I don't want to be over-criticising: the overall feeling of the night was very relaxed, careless and pagan. The place was packed, especially since such bands which would be called "weird" in Ireland; the bands were very sensitive toward the audience.
All in all I think Irish folk metal is still rawer than, say, the Scandinavian one. I never saw them live, but bands like Lumsk, Korpiklaani, Fejd, show much more attention to details and arrangement; I appreciated the harsh look and sound though, and I think it is very appropriate to Irish music.
So, Irish Metal, see you soon!

Munin says hi.