Primordial Redemption At The Puritan's Hand

Primordial Redemption At The Puritan's Hand

(Metal Blade Records)

By: Chris Davison

I came to the Primordial party a little late, with my hat at a jaunty angle and my party-trumpet sounding pretty echo-ey and vapid among a hall packed with long-standing fans of the Irish crew. It was christmas 2005 – and I had just gotten myself a nice gift from Mrs. D – the deluxe edition of The Gathering Wilderness. As a fan of all things epic, that was an album very much down my alley – all long, mournful, fierce songs that resounded long after they had finished. The follow up, the none-too shabby To The Nameless Dead, was also a rather brilliant platter, though not quite as impactive as its predecessor had been. It has been with no small amount of trepidation that I waited for Redemption At The Puritan's Hand - a whole 4 years since their last album – to land in my inbox courtesy of The Dragon of M87. Could they possibly make their run a hat trick?

Actually, early indications were “no”. Massively disappointed, I initially found this album a throwback to the earlier days of the band – a more perceptible influence from Bathory and other more modern Black Metal sounds, particularly in the drumming, which from time to time goes for that shambling, almost punk influenced beat so beloved of lo-fi necro types, combined with feelings that I had heard all of these tracks before. I gave it a couple of listens, then told myself that I would leave it a week or two before going back to review it. In that time, however, I gave myself further opportunities to soak up the subtleties in the music, and I'm rather glad that I did. Of course, it's not that the predeceasing two albums were instant-hit-hook-laden opuses in themselves, but there are further hidden depths to Redemption... that make it a more challenging listen. The interplay between interweaved guitar tones and washes of sound paint mental images of startling complexity and colour. The closing sections of the title track, for instant, may indeed veer off into what blog-o-nauts might be tempted to term “blackened ambient,” though for me that would reduce the soundscape to a monochromatic experience.

Elsewhere, the hearkening back to a more aggressive Primordial, as was the case in Storm Before Calm, is evident. This aggressiveness, when combined with the length of the songs – as always with Primordial, there are no two-minute thrashers here – adds an extra emotional dimension to the music. The especially visceral “No Grave Deep Enough” adds teeth-clenching fury to their sonic palette, with more furious vocals than we have heard from the band in a decade. The production, as ever, is a delight, with the complex interplay between the instruments being handled perfectly. There is so much to hear here that it was entirely a possibility that the band would be drowned out in a muddy mess of noise and clattering cymbals. Their knack for epic song-smithery is also once again on display, with no trace of filler here. It's all prime Primordial, in their ever so slightly Celtic tinged epic metal.

There may be no massive departures from the templates set by their two mighty predecessors, but in some respects, the very slight tinkering with a formula that ain't broken is a mighty relief. If at first hearing this doesn't grab you, then don't worry – the magic is still here, it just needs a little more exposure to do its thing.

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Clearing some debris...

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