One of Ireland's oldest black-style metal bands present us with their first CD. And it's a good CD filled with quality ideas, although the metal aspect of everything tends to have lost it's appeal. The lyrics are great as with most other Irish bands, and the opening track is presented in Gaeilge, which is always nice.

The first track, which in reality is an intro, is the obvious standout. As a matter of fact, it's the perfect combination of power and atmosphere. It starts out with a simple acoustic guitar, which is thus augmented with the addition of the same instrument, although electrical. Drums kick in, and Naihmass starts with a spoken part. The music then drops off a bit, and kicks into a much more powerful bit, with Naihmass eventually screaming out the last few lines. Well done.

Sadly, the music that follows this truly impressive track is not quite as good. It gets boring after awhile actually, although some of the sections are really good stuff. Slow and at times doomy black metal filled with synth, clean vocals, and some more upbeat sections. The vocals are great though, and with some additional work on the music, these two forces could combine to create a CD that would crush most of the other opposition.

As a citizen of the bands country (Rugadh mé i gCorcaigh), I at times find myself with a soft spot for it's bands. No matter how miserably they may fail with a release, nationalism tends to get in the way when I listen to them. I thus truly enjoyed this release, despite the fact that the music got boring at times, and have a feeling their upcoming CD will be a true standout. Others may just find it average though.

© 1997 brand