Mael Mórdha + Two Tales of Woe + Decayor | Live, Dublin

Early November, the clocks have just gone back and it’s a dark, cold evening in Dublin city centre. It’s a perfect setting for tonight’s gig – a homecoming of sorts for Gaelic Doom Metallers Mael Mórdha, who haven’t played the capital for what seems like an age. Support tonight comes from Donegal’s Decayor and Dublin/Kildare quintet Two Tales of Woe.

Decayor are a band who have gained considerable and deserved attention in the Irish metal underground over the course of the last year or so, thanks in equal parts to their EP/demo “Re-Ocurring Times of Grief” and their by now well-known live performances.

Their own particular brand of death doom is a perfect choice to get things going tonight. This reviewer arrived as their set opener “Veil of Despair”was already underway, the powerful delivery making an impact as soon as one entered the venue, although the band had apparently struggled with some initial sound problems.

Metal vocalists who can both growl with guttural ferocity and sing melodiously are a rare enough treat in the live arena. And I mean the ones who do it well, not just get away with it. Mikael Åkerfeldt springs to mind. And then there’s – well, erm, that’s usually it actually. Enter Pauric Gallagher, vocalist and guitarist with the Donegal Doomsters.

Most in the Irish metal underground will at this stage have picked up, or at least heard the aforementioned CD and be familiar with Gallagher’s vocal style(s), both techniques being displayed powerfully tonight. The clean vocals seemed ever so slightly more gravelish than on CD, particularly during middle track “The Sacred Heart Is Bleeding”, but it doesn’t detract from the performance.

Sound problems aside, the trio do not dissapoint, delivering the goods in a tightly sealed package, as is the custom with their rather regular ventures onto the stage, a regularity which has clearly paid off in terms of the band’s live performance.

The bass and drum solo run shortly into the intro of set closer “Weeping Willows” drags on a tad too long, but as this was due to technical problems with the lead guitar, drummer Gary Byrne and bassist Kevin McCloskey simply go with it until the guitar is sorted, and more power to ‘em. If all bands dealt as professionally with sound issues, we’d be blessed. All in all quite an excellent performance from Decayor.

Two Tales of Woe continue the doom-laden proceedings of the evening, with their trademark groovy sludge. They certainly don’t break the mold or exude originality - and they don’t for one second claim to. This is one group who proudly display their influencecs on their sleeve for all to see. Crowbar meets Corrosion of Conformity meets Sabbath… you know the deal.

And darn it, but it makes for good entertainment. The TTOW line-up on display on Saturday has gone through several changes in the not-so-distant past, ex-Era Vulgaris bassist Dave Buttner being the most recent newcomer to “the Woe”.

The current line-up seems to be the most comfortable in their own skin that they’ve been. They seem to really enjoy themselves on stage, and while not to the taste of all sections of the crowd, the Kildare/Dublin heavyweights are very well received by a sizeable proportion of the audience, album favourites “Religion” and “Final Resistance” going down particularly well.

However, most people in attendace at this gig, which was originally billed as an album launch, were there primarily for one band. It’s been a while since Mael Mórdha played Dublin and the palpable anticipation of the crowd before they made their entrance reflected that. Opening with forthcoming album opener “Through the Lungs of the Dead” set the tone perfectly.

The perfection with which the pummelling drum and riff attack at the beginning of the song mesh with the primeval tone of the hunting horn used by frontman Rob Buggle gets the blood flowing. The combination rouses a primal sense of - dare it be said - some kind of ancient tribal pride. Any proud Irishman would have to surrender themselves to it. The naysayers would call this “twee”, but this stuff works. It’s why Mael Mórdha have gotten to where they are today.

The band continue with “Winds of One Thousand Winters”, the simplistic doomhammer-of-a-riff (a C minor powerchord strummed slowly and repetitively) just after the quick-paced intro sounding particularly heavy and crushing tonight. Though “charging” is not exactly a verb which one associates with doom, it somehow fits with Mael Mórdha. And that is exactly how they continue through over an hour of Ceol Breatha Gaelach, as they call it themselves.

The atmosphere in the venue is electric and the crowd lap up the band’s performance. Other highlights include the crescendo of the title track of their first album “Cluain Tarbh”, set around the events surrounding the Battle of Clontarf, where Buggle balks the line “Victory prophesised on that day: Good Friday, 1014” just before jumping into the tin whistle solo (a concept that many might question, but again just works!). And of course, no Mael Mórdha gig would be complete without the obligatory “Deh, deh, deh… Deh-deh-deh-deh-deh-deh…Deh, deh, deh” refrain from the crowd before and during the long-established live favourite and set closer “Realms of Insanity”. Good times.

Like Decayor, Mael Mórdha battle with a few sound problems, most notably stand-in guitarist Dermot Frost’s guitar going out of tune after a few songs, but again, once sorted, this doesn’t really detract from the overall enjoyment of what prooves to be a fantastic night of Irish doom and metal. All that awaits now is for Grau to announce a release date for Mael Mórdha’s 3rd album “Manannán”. Here’s hoping it’ll be sooner rather than later.

Muiris Ó Fiannachta ::: 16/11/09