Primordial

Ireland’s Primordial has definitely earned themselves a place on the list of revered doom bands from the British Isles. While carrying a distinction all its own, their fourth and latest album, Storm Before Calm, brings the emotion and tortuous sounds of My Dying Bride and Anathema together. Brooding and raging, Primordial explores philosophy and Celtic mythology, painting a turbulent and murky world of music and fantasy. The band has associated themselves with black metal throughout their development, but beyond a faint hint here there’s little indication of that on Storm Before Calm. The album is a closer companion to My Dying Bride’s The Dreadful Hours, but not nearly so bleak and hopeless. Passionate even at their most subdued, like in the acoustic, folk-ish instrumental "Sun First Rays,” Primordial has outdone themselves this time, creating a seven-song masterpiece.