Celtic Legacy

Guardian Of Eternity

Written by: PP on 10/05/2008 13:41:58

The first thing I have to say about Celtic Legacy\'s newest album \"Guardian Of Eternity\" is that it arrived in what can only be described as the most amazing promo package I\'ve seen over the course of three or four years that I\'ve been receiving promos from bands and labels. Arriving in a full-colour A4-size booklet, the first impression of the package is majestic, incredible, and \'holy shit that must cost a lot to make per copy\'. Inside the package you find not only the band\'s biography printed into masterful artwork, but also a CD by the band, another CD by another band, a few stickers, brochures, leaflets and much more. I have to underline here that as a reviewer, receiving a package as great quality as theirs is almost comparable to Christmas, and a welcomed change from the usual plastic CD leaflets promos usually arrive in. In Celtic Legacy\'s case, I can say money well spent, because the package intrigued me to the extent that it made me listen to their record five, maybe ten times more than I usually do for bands that are unknown to me, which consequently opened the record for me much more.

The album opens with a majestic introduction track \"The Sentinel\", which is so full of class one could think it to fit perfectly into an upper-class dinner party or something - if they could tolerate heavy metal, that is. Following the minute or so that the track lasts, we are launched fully into the band\'s intriguing sound on \"Celtica\", which draws as much from Celtic punk as it does from heavy- and folk-metal. The soundscape is massive, the clean vocals echo across, and the folksy riffs demand you to pull out your best Celtic dance moves. \"Afterworld\", the second highlight track of the album, keeps the guitar/vocal interplay bright, while leaning more towards a Iron Maiden/Thin Lizzy-esque instrumental combination. It all sounds incredibly classy that it\'s hard to understand why the band isn\'t bigger than they are, considering how large the audience is that they are catering for. Fans of classic heavy metal will fall head over heels for this one, guaranteed.

And that\'s the theme most of the album revolves around: heavy fucking metal. Vibrato vocals, blazing solos, and a colossal sound are they key ingredients of the Celtic Legacy formula, and while this part sounds stylish and lavish on the record, one can\'t help but think that a slightly bigger injection of the Celtic traditional sound would do wonders for the album. The aforementioned \"Celtica\" is a great example - it is the funnest track on the album no doubt.

The title track of the album is clearly meant to be the masterpiece on the record, lasting over 11 minutes, consisting of several versatile arrangements, varying between Celtic sound, progressive metal, and heavy metal instrumentally. It does an excellent job at closing the album on a epic high note, similar to how it opened with, thus leaving the listener with a good impression of the record overall. The biggest afterthought of the album is the amazing technical proficiency of the five dudes in the band, and how they\'ve managed to fit that into a mold of Celtic-influenced heavy metal without having to resort to the empty prog-metal wankery most other bands in this genre do.

7

Download: Celtica, For Evermore, Guardian of Eternity
For the fans of: Iron Maiden, Thin Lizzy, Cruachan, Tyr
Listen: Myspace
Buy: iTunes

Release date 05.03.2008
Eternal Legacy Records

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