It is not a good sign when, partway through an album, you forget you are even listening to music and are suddenly like "What is that sound? Why is it so boring and stupid? Make it stop!" I am on record as hating Cruachan, but I had been told this album was better than their last one, the hideous The Morrigan's Call. I suppose those rumors were true, as this is not nearly as bad as that, but it is not anything in the vicinity of 'good' either. Tedious, boring folk parts meshed with simpleminded riffs and the least interesting vocals imaginable does not make for a good album. Having largely ditched the clean singing and female vocals, this sounds much more like Skyforger if Skyforger sucked (so, pretty much Kurbads). Nevertheless, this does nothing to contradict my opinion that Cruachan are a shit band, and you can skip it. In fact I urge you to do so.
