Release date: 24th April
It’s crazy to think it has been eight years since Cnoc An Tursa’s last album, The Forty Five – but for me personally, I’d rather wait a little ‘longer’ and get a polished piece of work, rather than a hastily thrown together “rinse and repeat” release that you’ll listen to once and not need to hear again.
A Cry To The Slain is one of those albums that needs a few listens to fully appreciate and take in. There’s so many beautiful little intricacies interwoven into the music that you seem to spot something new on every listen – this is truly masterful songwriting.
It’s difficult to pigeonhole them into a certain style; it definitely feels quite black metal-driven, but there’s also symphonic and maybe even a little bit of a melodeath vibe on the odd occasion, but if anything this works well for the band because it means you don’t quite know what to anticipate with each twist and turn that the album takes.
A personal highlight of the album for me has to be the mighty-sounding Alba In My Heart, and it’s no surprise that this track was chosen as one of the pre-release tasters because it really encompasses what makes A Cry To The Slain so great, with a thundering and relentless tempo, meaty vocals and some absolutely stunning melodies that pair beautifully with the more aggressive and almost-frenetic guitars.
To put things quite simply – A Cry To The Slain is awesome. Cnoc An Tursa have really outdone themselves with this album – needless to say, this has been well worth the wait to hear it.
You can read our recent interview with Reni here.
Support: Bandcamp
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