Cnoc An Tursa: The Forty Five

Cnoc An Tursa are back with another set of songs drawing on Scottish history, music, and culture. For many listeners, the musical style will be familiar. The band blends black metal with Scottish melodies in ways that are often engaging and exciting. If there's a risk to these genre overall, it's that the music sometimes runs in multiple directions and doesn't blend influences as organically as they should. To me, Cnoc An Tursa does a better job keeping things in check than other bands. If they have one drawback, it's that the music occasionally drags on for too long or that it starts to sound a little too similar from track to track. I liked the Scottish materials much more than the black metal material, mostly because the former had more life than the latter. The black metal material sometimes just fell flat. By the way, if you're wondering who the "Charlie" is on track 2 and 4, it's Charles Edward Stuart, known to most people as Bonnie Prince Charlie. This album tells the story of the Jacobite Uprising, a period in which Charles tried to take the British throne from George II. Frankly, I don't remember the whole story but there's plenty of heavy metal inspiration in that epic tale of warfare and ambition. Overall, I admired Cnoc An Tursa's ambition here even if the album wasn't always as engaging as it could have been.

Track Listing:
1. Will Ye No Come Back Again
2. The Yellow Locks of Charlie
3. The Standard on the Braes o' Mar
4. Wha Wadna Fecht for Charlie
5. Flora Macdonald
6. Sound the Pibroch
7. Fuigheall
8. The Last of the Stuarts

Added: April 10th 2017
Reviewer: Carl Sederholm
Score:
Related Link: Band Facebook Page
Hits: 1701
Language: english

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