Included in the liner notes of Irish band PRIMORDIAL'S "To The Nameless Dead" is an exposition on the album's main theme, blood-and-soil nationalism. I happen to share a facination with questions of "What is it that makes a people believe a land is theirs, that nameless men and women who become nothing but statistics would give their lives defending or attempting to acquire land?" To those interested in a more historical overview, I recommend the books "The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe" by Patrick J. Geary and "Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism" by Benedict Anderson. To those more interested in exploring this theme aurally through majestic, thrash, folk and black-inflected metal, however, PRIMORDIAL's new album is a good place to start.

Dramatic, if rather generic titles such as "Empire Falls, "Heathen Tribes" and "Traitors Gate" give a hint as to the bombastic music and era-spanning themes contained within. The guitars are thick and pounding, but the menacing dynamics in the percussive build-up to tracks like "As Rome Burns" help the band earn their overwhelming air of gravitas. The vocals are aggressive but melodic, maintaining command of the music without descending into either exaggerated ultra-death or faux-operatic clichés; this is serious music for serious times. The album's overall proto-pagan ethos reminds me of "Primitive" by KILLING JOKE, but the blast-beats of "Traitors Gate" and the Celtic undertones of "Heathen Tribes" mark this beast as its own distinctively metal class of Hibernian fauna. Musical ancestors include BATHORY, CANDLEMASS and CELTIC FROST; yet the group's molten intensity goes deeper than influences, as is suitably reflected in their name: PRIMORDIAL.

- Shragge

OFFICIAL SITE: www.primordialweb.tk

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