PRIMORDIAL - Storm Before Calm [re-issue]

Submitted by Mathias_Bloodaxe on Thu, 14/07/2011 - 1:25pm

Primordial is perhaps one of Ireland's best exports in the extreme metal scene. With a brand new record - Redemption at the Puritan's Hand - released this year, in February they also re-issued their fourth album, Storm Before Calm. Dubbed by vocalist A.A. Nemtheanga as "the album that got away", in many respects, it has now seen the light again, remastered and with new and improved cover artwork.

The songs themselves are exactly what I would expect from Primordial, and despite being new to the band myself [having only listened extensively to their To the Nameless Dead album], I can tell there is a definite improvement in the sound upon listening to some tracks from the original release. A whole new level of fullness has been added to make this a really enjoyable listen. Despite the changes [which are quite mild] it still keeps true to Primordial's sound, which can only really be described as black metal with Irish folk influences.

The epic introduction of 'The Heretic's Age' sets the album off in its rightful pace and prepares the listener for what is to come. 'Fallen to Ruin' has to be one of my favourite songs from this album, and the performance throughout is absolutely solid. 'Fallen to Ruin' brings out the folk influences by starting off with an acoustic guitar playing a folky [sic] melody before building up flawlessly with additional guitars and kicking in to the inevitable extreme distortion.

'Suns First Rays' is an awesome song, but the first 15 seconds do not do it for me. It only seems to kill the mood from the previous track, 'Cast to the Pyre', which ends on an epic fading chord; only to come into what sounds like a playoff, as bands do at the end of a set, but with feedback blaring at the same time. As probably the only thing I dislike about this record, they've done pretty well in that regard, and the rest of the song more than makes up for it.

The album is full of energy, even when it goes into an acoustic instrumental such as 'What Sleeps Within', which features only acoustic guitars, and what can be best described as a Celtic drum, making for a nice break between the extremes. Fading out with drums rolling, it goes to the final piece, 'Sons of the Morrigan', which is apparently inspired by an old Irish poem called "The Tain". The tale being considered an epic, even after centuries of existence, it's certainly an inspiring topic for a song.

Any current fan of the band would have surely heard Storm Before Calm already, and for those who are interested in checking the band out, this is a good starter album. This re-issue comes with a live DVD of their performance at Summer Breeze in 2004, so this definitely makes it a re-issue worth picking up.

 

Album: Storm Before Calm [re-issue]

Release: February 14, 2011

Track List:

  1. The Heretic's Age
  2. Fallen To Ruin
  3. Cast To The Pyre
  4. Suns First Rays
  5. What Sleeps Within
  6. Hosting Of The Sidhe
  7. Sons Of The Morrigan

Bonus DVD track listing:

  1. Gods to the Godless
  2. A Journey's End
  3. The Heretic's Age
  4. The Soul Must Sleep
  5. Sons of the Morrigan
  6. To Enter Pagan

Visit: www.primordialweb.com

Tags: