Old Season (ROI) | ‘Archaic Creation’
Ahh Old Season. Where did it all go right? There have been precious few bands in the Irish metal scene that have had a totally positive response from day one, but the minute Karnayna dropped their more doom death style and injected a huge dose of epic atmospheric metal exquisiteness to become Old Season, the reaction has been universal acclaim from their large crowd of devotees.
“Volume One”, their long awaited first album, was plagued by a subdued mix, where vocals and keyboards lay buried, thus depriving the album of its two strongest points, and a major sticking point for the hugely anticipated “Archaic Creation” was always going to be the production.
Thankfully, all possible fears are soon waylaid when crowd favourite ‘Meet Me On The Battlefield’ starts off much the same as the debut did (with ‘And Sands She Turned For Time,’) with that gorgeous, atmospheric introduction, culminating in a heartfelt and melancholic keyboard and guitar rocker, only this time around, with perfect marks to the production. Vocalist Frank’s pipes are crystal clear, and set exactly where they should be in the mix, with the guitars and keyboards sounding wonderfully full and rich.
The most immediate thing that strikes the listener is the unbelievable tone the guitars show off, it’s absolutely captivating to listen to, and comparisons simply have to be drawn with “Volume One.” It just beggars belief how much change there is in the sound, and it makes listening to “Archaic Creation” an utter pleasure.
Lyrically, the album is a hundred percent Irish, in the Primordial vein of pride in one’s homeland, and fighting the good fight; good rousing stuff. And it’s the kind of thing Old Season do so well in the live setting, transferred onto CD; equally as stirring. It’s hard not to get enthralled by something so powerful, particularly when the vocalist is easily the best one in Ireland. You simply couldn’t have anyone else in Ireland singing this stuff; it would take the magic away.
As regards the packaging, again it’s a quality looking digipack release, very subdued (as previously with “Volume One”,) aiming for a more enigmatic design rather than a standard in-your-face metal assault, choosing instead to use pictures of nature – ‘the rebirth of a forgotten season’, as stated in the inner sleeve. Strangely enough, the cover doesn’t lack from having no artwork; the barely-there logo and title suit the music within down to the ground, it looks nice and archaic.
For bad points, there really aren’t any of note. There are a few occurrences of backing vocals used to give certain parts of songs extra kick, as in ‘Murder,’ but for the most part, they’re not really needed. Frank’s voice can carry the song easily enough without needing another vocal line behind him. It’s a very minor criticism though, and no doubt will come down to a personal preference for the listener. As will the use of swearwords in ‘Forever Damned’ - it just seems like it cheapens the song.
For most albums, there is usually one standout track that rocks above all the others; on this album there are several heavy hitters that count as the album highlight, and as such it’s hard to pick which one is the very best, but at the minute (and no doubt this will change with repeated listens, and indeed with different listeners), ‘At The Hollow’ is the standout song on the album. Everything works to beguiling perfection there, and it’ll be the track to watch out for when the band play live.
In conclusion, there’s nothing much that can really be said to detract from “Archaic Creation.” It’s just awesome from start to finish, majestic and rousing with a massive sense of all things epic, and it’s going to make Old Season an even more powerful force in the gig setting. International acclaim has to surely follow once this one gets spread about, and it’s an exciting time to see one of Ireland’s best bands get better and better.
4.4 - Dónal McBrien ::: 01/12/09
Thumped
Metal Ireland
Fastfude
December 2nd, 2009 at 12:07 am
It’s Prowler Donal, not Murder
Agree with you about the swear word in Forever Damned, disagree with the backing vocals comment though, I think they lift and colour the songs and probably could’ve been used more even. Good review, though I thought the departure from the “doom laden” aspect of their sound was noteworthy, the direction of songwriting is a good bit different than volume 1 to these ears. Crackin record all round anyway!
December 2nd, 2009 at 1:19 am
Great review of a great album.
I’m on the fence with the swearing. It sticks out, but does it make it unnecessary, or just effective. Time will tell, I suppose.
I wouldn’t really call the extra vocals, backing vocals. It’s more of a layered effect, than actual backing vocals. Most bands do it to great effect with guitars, Mourning Beloveth for instance, so why not do it with vocals if it adds an extra dimension to the tracks. I think it works perfectly on this album and shows the different ranges that Frank can deliver. Kinda makes me wonder how it might have sounded if one of the the other vocal tracks was to the fore. Rob Halford has used this technique for years.
The one gripe I do have is Franks pronunciation, at times, of certain words on the album. ‘These’, ‘that’, ‘those’ and even ‘doth’ come out as ‘deeze’, ‘dat’, ‘doze’ and ‘dut’. It’s a classic Irish habit, and it’s only at a few noticable occurrances, but is the only minor flaw of an excellent CD.
Maybe the foreign metal community will embrace it.
Still though! Irish album of the year, by a country mile.
December 2nd, 2009 at 2:45 am
Blinder of an album indeed. Seems to get better with every listen. Prowler, Forever Damned and Meet Me On the Battlefield are the stand out songs for me.
The swearing in Forever Damned definatly doesn’t take away from it, if anything it adds to it I think.
Great album start to finish.
December 2nd, 2009 at 9:42 am
I think the swearing stands out like a sore thumb actually - it doesnt exactly ruin the song or anything, but it’s mad out of context given the rest of the album. It just doesnt feel right in that instance.
Otherwise great.
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:01 am
Ha ha, nice one Ade! I was inevitably *always* going to confuse Murder with Prowler!
December 2nd, 2009 at 2:52 pm
4.4?? Donal you Philistine!
It deserves at least a 4.6
I love this album. I didn’t on the first listen however but it’s really grown on me and I think everything about it stands head and shoulders above the first one now.
At the Hollow is indeed the stand-out track followed by Prowler but you could listen from start to finish and be completely hooked.
Glad to see others had a problem with the swearwords thing too. It’s just completely out of place. Shame.
December 2nd, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Glad I’m not the only one thinks that the swearing on Forever Damnded weakens it a lot, but fortunately not enough to ruin the song for me. Cracking ablum. Standout track for me is The Mission, purely for the epic outro!
December 2nd, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Crunch, if there had’ve been a Mortals Of Mettle style ‘woah-oh-oh’ section, I’d have given it 4.6.
December 2nd, 2009 at 7:58 pm
That’s fair enough Donal. Will have to see what these new songs can do live at Winterfest.
I forgot to say too that my only real gripe with the album is that I find some of the guitar work a bit too Maiden-esque. You don’t notice it after the first few listens but for someone listening to it for the first time it would stand out and possibly take away from the originality of the sound. Its possibly the sound/tone as much as the writing but it’s a minor thing. Overall the guitar work is great.
December 2nd, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Good review, fairly on the ball! Excellent album. One of my favorite releases this year. Meet me on the battlefield, Prowler, At the hollow and A Soldiers Song are the standout tracks for me.
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Savage album. I have almost wore the CD out at this stage. Production is such a leap forward. As for the swearing? Don’t be such a faggot, it sounds grand. Wollybrain.