Primordial – „The gathering wilderness“
Metalblade
Records – February 2005
Primordial needed three years to present the follow up album of "Storm before calm". And to get to the point… it has been worth the wait! Here we have a masterpiece, which at first run in the CD player sounds a bit difficult to digest, but if you take out some time and give it more runs, then you´ll experience an outstanding sound journey, supported by extraordinary lyrics.
The first song "The golden spiral" begins with the new
character of Primordial´s songs, which are typical for this album and can be
found throughout the whole CD: heavy, dragging guitar-riffs, dominating drums
and Alan Nemtheanga´s powerful roaring voice.
The title track starts with a promising violin/guitar-intro which increases
itself into an instrumental part until the vocals start, this time suffering but
aggressive with a strong Black Metal influence. The rotation between acoustic
and electric parts and also their combination in this song is really fascinating.
The third song "Song of the tomb" starts with a short drum-solo and
martial screams. Then the velocity is built up and the singing comes along. The
chorus is made of a catchy melody which will stick in your mind for a long time.
The following track "End of all times (Martyrs Fire)" clarifies why
Primordial are sometimes called a Black Metal band. The guitars sound rough and
unpolished, the sound is intentionally watered down, which causes the
imagination of an icy storm scene in my mind.
With a total running time of almost ten minutes "The coffin ships" is
the longest track on this album. It consists of a keynote which is repeated in
different versions. Alan´s clean singing creates a disconsolate mood which is
intensified because of using the violin.
The last but one song "Tragedy´s birth" starts with an
acoustic part and leads to a musical inferno.
Guitars and vocals are tortured like if there was a competition of which is
loudest, until in "Cities carved in stone" the velocity is regulated
down. This bizarr sound fits perfectly to the honest lyrics of this song.
The more runs you give that album in the player the more little details you will discover which make all songs unique. You will find things like little melody lines or drum rhythms which you cannot forget anymore, once you have let your senses taste them. This album will become a favourite for those people who take out the time to let the lyrics and sounds get to their hearts fully.
I would advise you to buy the Digi Pak version of the album, which includes a magnificant DVD about the recordings as well as some thoughts of vocalist Alan about the creation of this album.
Additional I´d like to mention, that the band photos in the booklet are taken by Caroline Traitler, which many of you might know from many fantastic concert photos in several magazines… so you can be sure that the booklet will spread the same magic as the music itself.
Recommendable track: “The Coffin Ships”
Review by Wiebke
Score: 10 out of 10 points