Name: Dalriada
Title: Igeret
Type: Album
Label: AFM Records
Folk metal. Just let the words reverberate around your brain casing for a while. What images does the phrase conjure up? Are you thinking of the glorious wordplay and clever song writing of Skyclad? Are you mentally raising a glass of Vodka to Korpiklaani? Or are you thinking instead of a dozen shit bands that have given up on producing melodic death metal and taken to wearing a leather vest and breaking out into the Polka every couple of minutes? Yes, folks (yukyukyuk) Folk metal is fast becoming the new black metal, which in turn was the new death metal, which in turn was the new thrash metal, which in turn...well, you get the drift. At the moment, the genre of violins and madrigals is at the fat, bloated stage where it becomes clogged up with also-rans and try hards. Is there room for another band in an already congested field?
It would appear so. Dalriada are Hungarian. There have been some notable players in the history of heavy metal from Hungary, but not many (any?) folk metal bands that I could bring to mind. Turns out I didn't like Igeret when I first started to listening to it. Indeed, it was in the car stereo when I took a colleague from work to the shops at dinner time, who pithily commented that it sounded like “the fucking Eurovision song contest”. This may not be endearing the album to you. There is something to his words; it is very well produced, some of the “ethnic” elements – accordion, fiddle and – yes, you guessed it – Polka beat could indeed find themselves in a 1992 quirky entry. Yet it's the very anthemic nature of the songs that save them. This is a monstrously upbeat, catchy slice of folky goodness. God, how I wanted to hate this. Yet even as I listened and observed that the female singer had a beautiful voice, I knew that I was going to end up loving the platter. It was irresistible. Something about how mysterious and beautiful the Hungarian language sounded when being sung by the siren-throated Laura Binder made me keep listening. For all I know, she could simply be reading from a washing machine instruction booklet (in which case, track 3 probably translates as: do not open door while drum is still spinning), but her voice – for my money the best I have heard in heavy metal – is utterly superb. The longer you spend in the company of Igeret, the more you will notice the clever turn of phrase from the guitarists, the occasional drum athletics and the clever integration of the traditional folk elements into the wider mix.
The production is, of course, magnificent – with the balance being perfectly maintained between the vocals (which are rightly given centre stage), and the other instruments. Special mention too to the keyboards, which are successful in that you hardly notice them. This is generally my acid test for the use of keyboards – if you can picture some anorexic knobber at the back of the stage fingering his Casio while you listen, then it's game over man; game over. Their cheery, infectious and – damn it – irresistible slabs of smile-inducing metal is tailor made for the summer festival circuit. Let's hope they come to a festival near me soon. If only to see if Laura Binder is as attractive as she sounds! (This last sentence proudly sponsored by Sky Sports).
http://www.myspace.com/dalriadahu
