The Irish sound?

[Circlepit]

I wasn't necessarily referring to an Irish sound as having tradition Irish music traits, it just so happens that there is an element of that too. I think that Norway produced a specifically cold sound that is identifiable,  Greece was mentioned too- that has no folk element whatsoever but is instantly recognisable.

I suppose what sets Ireland apart besides the trad elements that aren't prevalent in all the bands is the lyrical tone, content and overall sound. There is a certain mournfulness that the English death/doom/extreme and of the scale doesn't have.
Would somebody not from here be able to pick up on it though? I'm not sure.

[Pariah Child]

For me, that melancholy was the primary strand in the '90s through to present times: Dreamsfear to Death The Leveller. Graveyard Dirt to The Pale Fall. Thy Sinister Bloom, Geasa, Waylander. All different. Did regional accents help differentiate them internationally? Would those outside of Ireland really recognise them, relate to them or care?

Then you have SCALD. The Dagda. Epoch. Misfits (not mishits) one and all exploring their own preoccupations.

Not that I find national identity a particularly powerful or relevant selling point. ANUBI is my favourite band from Lithuania. Peers like POCCOLUS and HA LELA sound nothing alike. I don't like them more or less for the shared origin. But we join the dots, looking for meaning, whether a sequence or parallel even exists.

[Eoin McLove]

Melancholy is it perhaps, yeah. You can't bate a bit of misery.

[Necro Red]

In terms of the Irish sound, are there many bands popular elsewhere because they are Irish and have a different sound/identity Obviously Primordial of course

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Cruachan, even more so than Primordial, are popular "because they are Irish and have a different sound/identity." Most recently, I saw they played that festival in Mexico where the Pantera reunion premiered.

[StrangersWithGuns]

I would say the lack of recording studios plays into it too. Like there is maybe 3 different places a lot of Irish bands go and that definitely has some affect. And I think bands are hiding their accents less and less, some still try an American thing

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Plays into what? I think the general argument here is that there isn't really an "Irish sound" in metal, whereas all bands using a small selection of studios should tend to create precisely a specific sound, e.g. the Morrisound sound. Like when people started criticizing that every recording coming out of that studio in Dublin (edit: Trackmix, couldn't recall there) sounded good... but all the same. Only problem was that, in that case, the sound in question was already quite a generic one, so didn't capture anything particularly "Irish".

[Yung Led Zeppelin]

Honestly the closest thing to an "Irish sound" that exists is all the young noisy post punk bands trying to rip off Gilla Band. In the metal scene, not so much at all, I don't see any unifying thread.

Beats the living shite out of some of the copycat scenes you get on the continent, I can confidently say after putting in time over there. You at least get a nice mix here, even on a bill with bands all in the same genre. People seem more confident to do their own thing here, which is good cos there's fuck-all of us.

[Necro Red]

I do think considering how small Ireland is a lot of bands have their own sound, be it Mourning Beloveth or Coscradh etc. I'm not so sure you would call it an "Irish sound" though. I remember seeing Mael Mórdha years ago and thinking they distinctly sounded Irish. So, it really is having some kind of traditional component that makes a band sound Irish.

[blessed1]

@Eoin, what are the bands that would have  ,as you said in the opening post, goth pomposity?
I'd genuinely be interested in hearing them. I know you mentioned Geasa but I'm not really hearing too much goth stuff in their sound, for me anyhow.

I was listening to some Children Of Bodom the last day and I was thinking how Sweden and Finland really have an identifiable sound.
Bands like CoB and Nighwish and Ensiferum have this real folky, mournful melodic sound and some of their riffs wouldn't sound of place on each others albums. You can nearly feel winter in their music as well which is cool.

Sweden as well has that same kind of vibe going on with the melodic death metal bands.

I'm not a fan of Primordial, bar a song here and there, but I do think they sound very Irish and I would consider heir sound a trademark Irish metal sound at this stage.

[ldj]

I think there is definitely an Irish sound that could be noted for influence from trad music like 6/8 rhythmic strumming, occasional trad instrumentation and Irish history/folklore influenced lyrics.

Of course bands who use it to varying degrees, with Primordial it's there but used fairly subtlety, whereas Cruachan it's very much a large selling point of the band.

I'd say its hard for bands to do it now without automatically getting compared to Primordial, I did think Mael Mhorda where able to do it while very much having their own identity.

[Eoin McLove]

@Eoin, what are the bands that would have  ,as you said in the opening post, goth pomposity?
I'd genuinely be interested in hearing them. I know you mentioned Geasa but I'm not really hearing too much goth stuff in their sound, for me anyhow.

I was listening to some Children Of Bodom the last day and I was thinking how Sweden and Finland really have an identifiable sound.
Bands like CoB and Nighwish and Ensiferum have this real folky, mournful melodic sound and some of their riffs wouldn't sound of place on each others albums. You can nearly feel winter in their music as well which is cool.

Sweden as well has that same kind of vibe going on with the melodic death metal bands.

I'm not a fan of Primordial, bar a song here and there, but I do think they sound very Irish and I would consider heir sound a trademark Irish metal sound at this stage.

I think there's a clear goth influence on early Primordial. It may be a passenger coming in on the back of the Peace Peaceville Three elements they were inspired by or maybe it's a more direct influence. I can hear it up to, maybe, Calm Before Storm. Alan still used his old style of dramatic singing up to that point.

Arcane Sun were inspired by Fields of the Nephilim and you can hear it in the guitar tones quite clearly. The dramatic vocal delivery has elements of it as well.

Morning Beloveth were obviously influenced by Peaceville Three as well. Their sound changed with Formless and moved away from those direct influences. I'm not sure if they were taking direct influence from goth bands or not.

Geasa certainly have a goth influence on Angel's Cry. It might only be on that album that is in evidence, it is at least most prominent there. I don't know who John was influenced by in terms of goth bands but it sounds pretty clear to me that he was taking ideas from those quarters.

[open face surgery]

Playing in 6/8 will never be separable from Primordial. Must actually try writing a death metal riff in 6/8.

[StrangersWithGuns]

In terms of the Irish sound, are there many bands popular elsewhere because they are Irish and have a different sound/identity Obviously Primordial of course

Surely Cruachan is purely due to the irish angle. All the "irish" bands making waves in the indie scene lean heavily on the Irish angle. Look at the Fontaines DC. Whole gimmick is over the top irish and dublin in particular, singer is english, mayo member and a Spaniard.

[StrangersWithGuns]

Plays into what? I think the general argument here is that there isn't really an "Irish sound" in metal, whereas all bands using a small selection of studios should tend to create precisely a specific sound, e.g. the Morrisound sound. Like when people started criticizing that every recording coming out of that studio in Dublin (edit: Trackmix, couldn't recall there) sounded good... but all the same. Only problem was that, in that case, the sound in question was already quite a generic one, so didn't capture anything particularly "Irish".

Yeah thats fair, you can spot trackmix a mile away, can nearly hear what guitar and bass from there is being used.