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Interview

Cruachan Discusses Next Album And Folk Metal

Folk metal has become a hugely popular sub-genre over the last fifteen years. Bands like Korpiklaani and Finntroll have experienced commercial success and become regular performers at festivals across Europe. But to truly understand folk metal, one must go back to the roots and see why folk music itself is perhaps just as metal the genre it became fused with. Tales of misery, oppression and violence seem tailor made to be adapted to metal music and yet it wasn't until the nineties that this came to be, when Skyclad released their first album, "The Wayward Sons Of Mother Earth." Shortly after this, a young man from Dublin named Keith Fay took this idea and ran with it, embellishing the folk side and becoming a major architect in the sub-genre we love today, with a band of his own named Cruachan.

Fast forward to 2020 and Cruachan are as strong as ever, having finished their acclaimed "blood trilogy" with "Nine Years Of Blood" in 2018 and now looking at recording their next album, as well as performing no less than three sets on this year's 70000 Tons Of Metal cruise. It was on board this floating festival that I had the pleasure of meeting up with Keith Fay to discuss the history of the band, the genesis of folk metal and how it got to its current form. You can watch the interview in full below.

Diamond Oz: As we discussed before we started filming, you played last night/early this morning. You’re one of the hardest working bands on this ship as you’re performing three sets, including one in the pub. What can we expect from that set?

Keith Fay: Well we said to Andy when he asked us to do this, that we’re going to recreate a typical Dublin pub on a Saturday night, where all the tourists go. So it’s going to be all the rebel songs, the drinking songs. “Come Out Ye Black & Tans,” and all that kind of stuff. We’ve done a couple of covers of these throughout our career like “Rocky Road to Dublin” and “Ride On,” that type of thing, so we’re doing the proper acoustic version as they’re meant to be heard. It should be good. We’ve printed out booklets so the crowd can sing along. We’re a bit worried because so many people have said they’re coming along but that Ale & Anchor pub can hold maybe a hundred people and we’re expecting at least a thousand. We’ll see what happens!

Oz: Well right now you’re still promoting the latest album, “Nine Years Of Blood,” which is part of the “Blood trilogy.” Now that the dust has settled, how do you see that album in particular as part of the Cruachan catalogue?

Keith: The “Blood trilogy” was interesting. We did the first one on Candlelight Records from the UK, we see that as kind of a rebirth for the band, it was bringing us into the new era of metal and that kind of thing. We’ve been playing folk metal for twenty seven years but folk metal’s only become popular in the last fifteen years so we needed to do something a little bit fresh, a little bit new and that’s where “Blood on the Black Robe” came from. Then we did “Blood For the Blood God” on Trollzorn Records and “Nine Years Of Blood” on Trollzorn. They’ve been fantastic for us, the likes of playing festivals like this. We didn’t do this type of thing fifteen years ago. But we’ve just signed a new record deal with Despotz Records, the biggest metal label in Sweden so things are going really well for us right now!

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Sepultura Posts Second Album Trailer

The age of "Quadra" is almost upon us: On February 7th, Sepultura will release their new album via Nuclear Blast. An impressive album that immerses the listener, drawing them deeper into the concept, with its energetic and thrashy tunes.

Today, the band has released the second in a series of trailers, which focuses on bassist Paulo Xisto Pinto Jr. and his personal challenges in the studio during the production of "Quadra." Check out the video below.

"Quadra" will be available on Limited Edition 2 CD Digipack, 2 LP Vinyl, 2 LP Vinyl Picture Disk, Earbook, and CD.

"Quadra" is Sepultura's fifteenth studio album, which presents a thrilling and brutally honest concept around the Portuguese word quadra. Everyone grows up in a different quadra, shaped by rules and definitions. We are all determined by these concepts, our relationships, our careers. Our whole lives.

The tracklist reads as follows:

1. Isolation
2. Means To An End
3. Last Time
4. Capital Enslavement
5. Ali
6. Raging Void
7. Guardians Of Earth
8. The Pentagram
9. Autem
10. Quadra
11. Agony Of Defeat
12. Fear; Pain; Suffering More...

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Bodysnatcher Premiere New Music Video

A new official music video for Bodysnatcher‘s latest track “Never Homesick” has premiered online and is streaming via YouTube for you below. The single is one of the thirteen songs featured on the band’s new record “This Heavy Void“, out in stores next Friday, January 31st, through Stay Sick Recordings.

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Abysmal Dawn Premiere New Song "Hedonistic"

Abysmal Dawn‘s follow-up to 2014’s “Obsolescence” will officially land in stores this April. Entitled “Phylogenesis“, the album will receive its release on April 17th via Season Of Mist. A first track from it called “Hedonistic“, is streaming via YouTube for you below.

Abysmal Dawn share the following statement regarding the record: More...

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Varials Premiere New Music Video “South Of One”

Varials frontman Travis Tabron has announced he's leaving the group just as the band were gearing up for another round of touring. In other news the group share the below video of their song “South Of One” which finds Counterparts singer Brendan Murphy guesting.

Varials shared the below statement on the matter: More...

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Jasta Premieres New Music Video “Parasitic”

Hatebreed frontman Jamey Jasta premieres the below video for his song “Parasitic“. Paul McGuire helmed the clip, which was captured during Jasta‘s ‘Jasta & Friends Tour‘ back in August, 2018. That trek among others saw him joined by Howard Jones (Light The Torch), Dino Cazares (Fear Factory) and Kirk Windstein (Crowbar).

States Jasta speaking of this video: More...

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