Irelands Darkest Era return here with their second album Severance. Here to firmly stomp their place into the Celtic Metal world. It’s crazy the amount of sub-genres the metal world has, what with Pirate-Metal, Metal-Core, Viking-Metal, Christian-Metal, Black-Metal, etc, etc, etc. the list goes on with varying levels of success and, at times, varying metals of stupidity. So how to Severance stand here on their sophmore release?
To be honest, this isn’t half bad. Thankfully darkest Era have stepped away from the folky/celtic sound we were expecting. we came in expecting flutes, fiddles and tin whistles which are welcome by their absence. What we are given instead is a gung-ho classic metal sounding album. Harking back to the days of early Bruce Dickinson Iron Maiden, the songs have that epic feel to them but with a more modern twist. Helped in no small way by the strong vocals of singer Krum and some fantastic production.
The album opens with the six minutes plus of track ‘Sorrows Boundless Realm and it is a perfect introduction to what lies ahead. Huge drums, duelling guitars and a heavy dose of boombast. It’s a feel that continues of the next couple of songs until you reach album stand out “Beyond The Grey Veil’. A slower affair to the other songs on this album but no less epic sounding. For the first time you are really shown the bands song writing credentials, it not all fret wanking and speeding through changes. It proves how much heavier a slow burn and build can be to the sound of a song.
‘Trapped In The Hourglass’ follows and it is back to business as usual. ‘The Scavenger’ has that familiar gallop of drums and guitar I always loved to hear in bands as a kid. The downright epic 8 minute journey/trek (depending which side of the fence you sit on when it comes to this type of music) that is ‘Blood, Sand & Stone’ closes the album and shows everything I both love and hate about this sort of music. It’s so over the top and ambitious that you can’t help but be impressed. The musicianship is fantastic, there is no denying that everyone in this band is stunning at what they play. You also know that with a band like this there is no studio bullshit. This is going to be exactly what they sound like live, it’s always the case, i’ve learnt myself over the years that there is no musician as dedicated as those who play this sort of classic metal.
All in all, if you are a fan of this sort of genre then you are going to love this as they are as good as anyone else doing anything similar at the moment. If you like fantasy, Game of Thrones, dragons, magic and rock, then you are going to dig this as it oozes that whole days of yore metal vibe. Everyone else is just not really going to get into this. It’s a genre that has a very dedicated fan base, the sort you see at festivals drinking from a horn, it will just leave everyone else confused.
