Primordial – Where Greater Men Have Fallen

Out of the Soup, Rises a Beast

It’s enormously tough to stay relevant in music for any long period time. Tastes change, bandmates change, labels go bankrupt, or you are just plain sick of the music life. Most bands can barley make it last over a year.

In the case of Primodial, they have been broadcasting their Celtic infused black metal for almost three decades and have no end in sight. Their eighth full length album Where Greater Men Have Fallen, released through heavy metal goliaths Metal Blade, sees the band bring it in a way you wouldn’t expect this late in their careers.

At fifty-nine minutes for eight songs, this album is no easy listen. The title track on Greater, which starts the album off, is no less than eight, head banging, minutes long.  From the outset you can hear how this band has really made a name for themselves in crafting long compositions — not just songs. From the outset of Where Greater Men Have Fallen, you are dragged in. You don’t even hear a single lyric till almost a minute and a half, but it feels like you speed through it. The build is well composed, a theme through out the album, making each section of the song an event. Creating a sense of anticipation that gives their music an extra dash of drama.

The second song of the album, “Babels Tower,” is much more of an anthem than the title track. This song is much slower, not that this song is underperformed because of how slow it is. It creates that contrast between the two that every metal album needs. Records like this are investments, and Primordial makes the effort to make a contrast to give the listener the chance to breathe.

The lead singer of this band – Alan Avrill – is fantastic on this album. His vocals are absolutely beastly from cover to cover. He delivers a haunting yet tone filled yell that really adds to the tension of this record. He could show the kids a thing or two.

The third song on the album,  “Come The Flood,” begins with another well crafted intro. The band behind Alan- Ciáran MacUiliam, Micheál Ó Floinn, Pól MacAmhlaigh, Simon Ó Laoghaire – do an incredible job backing him up. This line up, you can tell from just listening to the album, has been playing music together for almost 13 years. As the song goes through its progressions it dips and dives like a rollercoaster. Taking you for a long ballad that seems to go through all the different emotions one might expect from a band like this.

Overall this album proves that even though these guys put out their first album when Bill Clinton was president and cell phones were only for the rich, they are still able to put out relevant heavy albums. Where Greater Men Have Fallen is yet another album that celebrates both the bands national Celtic pride and their heavy metal roots. Primordial proves that relevancy isn’t just in the music you write, it’s in the love of what you do.