Mael Mordha
Pantheist
The Garage, London
10 June 2011

Tonight support act Pantheist are celebrating the release of their new self-titled album, so unsurprisingly the set is built heavily around the record; swinging between latter day Emperor and early Candlemass, with an added does of proggy indulgence for good measure, Pantheist drag us through an oppressive gloom. Whilst certainly enjoyable up to a point, with some deliciously heavy riffs, it all feels a touch laboured in the end; songs are drawn out too long purely for the sake of being fashionably epic in scale.

Mael Mórdha are by comparison the very soul of brevity, positively blasting through a set dominated by punchy riffs set against the melodious whistles as doom metal headbanging meets traditional Irish tunes; it is not a cocktail many have attempted, especially when fellow countrymen Primordial execute it so peerlessly, but this evening the band are on top form and treat the select few to venture up to north London to a mighty fine show.

With no new album to promote, Mael Mórdha are afforded the luxury of being able to cherry pick favourites from all three records, and the result is a well-paced and action-packed hour met with rapturous appreciation. The lengthy intro tape gives way to ‘Cluain Tarbh’ as the band roar into life; despite the din of the monstrously heavy guitars, those tin whistles cut their haunting tunes through with ease as the old and the new of ‘Manannan’ and ‘Winds Of 1,000 Winters’ dance away. A dark heart pulses at the very core of Mael Mórdha’s bleak sound, but as the band bring proceedings to a close with a triumphant ‘The Gaedhalic Twilight’, you can’t help but be swept away to the shores of Eire by the power of it.

Review by Dominic Hemy