Slane – ‘Follow Me’ (EP 2013)
Rating: 7.5/10
Release: 21 December 2013
Label: Independent
Slane has released a debut EP. A few things strike me at once. The very simple cover, I can appreciate a nice (simple) cover, but this one is a bit too simple in my opinion. The second thing and Russian band with English lyrics and album title. When I get to listen to this album, things cleared up a bit. These Russians don’t play their metal with Slavic influences, but it’s more of the Celtic kind. Nice flutes and the sound of hurdy-gurdy with Celtic rythms. Very nice, quite catchy and well done. Their music instantly get me moving in the first song ‘The Raven Song’. Great authentic elements supported by slow solid guitars and a low raw male voice.
In ‘Anangantios’ the flutes sound very ‘keyboardish’ to me, a pity, because this is great instrumental Celtic song.
‘Follow Me’ is more up-tempo, very nice catchy track, but again the whistle-sounds bothers me. And another small point of criticism are the vocals, I don’t find much tension in it, they’re rather predictable. The same goes for the last song ‘The Great Wheel’, a track which has a very nice slower piece and a gorgeous faster piece with catchy guitars.
The music of Slane is really great. The fans of Celtic bands like Eluveitie, Krampus and so on, have to listen to Slane too. The compositions are very nice with good Celtic melodies and sound. The metal is nice and solid too. When the flutes wouldn’t have this bit annoying keyboard-sound it would sound much more authentic. And the vocals could be more exciting. The rest of Slane’s music is very, very nice. I’ll hope they improve on these point, that would me make me anxious for their next album. Very promising début!
Tracklist
- The Raven Song
- Anagantios
- Follow Me
- The Great Wheel