SouthSideoftheSky
The very wild rover
Cruachan are a totally unique band that mixes traditional Celtic music and Irish Folk (Rock) with Metal music. The styles of Metal involved are themselves very varied and ranges from traditional Heavy Metal to Symphonic Metal to more extreme forms of Metal. Cruachan has been around since the early 90’s and they have a pre-history that spans back to the 80’s; they were the pioneers of what has become known as Celtic Metal. However, this label somewhat disguises how diverse and eclectic the band is.
Compared to the previous album Pagan, The Morrigan’s Call is of a higher sonic quality; it is better produced and more layers and details become apparent in the sound. There are also more keyboards with harpsichords in particular giving the music a medieval sound. Otherwise there are a plethora of traditional Celtic string, wind and percussion instruments that provides a very interesting sound together with the ordinary Rock/Metal instruments; guitars, bass, drums and vocals.
The vocals are well-balanced between male and female lead vocals and between clean and growling vocals. I am normally not a fan of growling, but there is not that much of it here and when it is present it fits and it balances the other vocal elements well. Compared to Pagan, there are more of those pure electric Folk Rock elements that were also present on the brilliant Folk-Lore album. The Great Hunger has a heavy riff that sound like it comes from a classic Black Sabbath album but with fiddles added to great effect.
Like Pagan, The Morrigan’s Call was also an album that required several listens before I began to fully appreciate it. On the first few listens, the music here might sound somewhat disjointed, which is particularly true of the open track Shelob which mixes extreme Metal growls with a cheerful folky melody with clean female vocals. Over further listens, however, intelligent arrangements start to reveal themselves and The Morrigan’s Call is another grower. I now think it is as good as Pagan and in some, but not all, respects even better!
Cruachan is a much underrated band that deserves much more attention from both Metal fans and fans of Folk Rock and Prog Rock. Highly recommended!