Celtachor - In The Halls Of Our Ancient Fathers

Self Released 2011

1.Nemed's Wake 2.Rise Of Lugh 3.In The Halls Of Nuada

4.Riders Of The Fomor 5.The Sons of Tuireann And The Blood Fine

6.The Wavesweeper

Celtachor don’t place themselves in any ‘known’ genre, choosing to describe themselves as ‘Irish Mythology’, musically influenced by Black Metal, Doom and Folk Metal. All three genres accurate as opening track ‘Rise Of Lugh’ will testify. The guitars are Black Metal in nature, with a slight groove added but with a real raw and natural sound. The song jumping from the harshness of the BM to the more doom orientated heavy riffing, Irish Whistles used effectively and almost acting as leads in place of the expected guitar leads. The whistles are typically Celtic in sound and composition and are a great accompaniment to the guitars. ‘In The Halls Of Nuada’ opens up with more of the Whistles, guitars fading in slowly, creating an atmospheric intro to the song. Somewhat slower than the previous track, more groove is injected into the BM style riffing, giving a harsh yet melodic feel to the track, the sound becoming very epic in places.

‘Riders Of The Fomor’ starts where the previous track left off, the melody used again to create real atmosphere. This track doesn’t work as well as its predecessors, not flowing quite as naturally, stumbling along somewhat. There’s also a distinct lack of the whistles which is disappointing as this is the bands unique selling point, the whistles really make the band interesting and stop them becoming just another mid-paced BM band. Luckily, the whistles return on ‘The Sons Of Tuireann And The Blood Fine’ and when added, really make the track stand out, a different and interesting sound. However, when the guitars are at their most scathing, most BM they really get lost in the mix, the vocals and drums overpowering what are some really great, well written melodic Black Metal riffs. This lets the demo down because as previously mentioned, the mix of the harsh Black Metal guitars work really well when the whistles are added. Unfortunately when the whistles are added, they too overpower the guitars.

‘The Wavesweeper’ closes this demo, the pace being upped slightly in places which adds some welcome variety. There appears to be a hidden track as only six tracks are listed on the inlay, but a seventh track has been added to the disc (not sure if it’s an original song or a cover, certainly don’t recognise it). Doomier with a slight groove added, it sounds somewhat different to the six previous tracks, a real heaviness to the guitars not previously seen. There’s even some 70’s rock / doom sounding riffs added which don’t really do anything for the song. Sort the mix out and tighten things up and Celtachor could really stand out. It's nothing thats going to set the standard, but it does show signs of great potential!

6.5 out of 10