I have no idea how I have not crossed paths with Scotland’s Cnoc An Tursa (“Hill of the Standing Stone”) up until now. I know they haven’t been super prolific, with only 2 albums since 2013, but lawd, we have covered them here on their debut The Giants of Auld, and heck, we even interviewed them.
Throw in the fact that the members have been involved with Saor, arguably Scotland’s biggest black metal exports, and other bands I enjoy like Fuath and Ruadh, and I’m truly baffled that I haven’t been all over these guys.
As you have probably gathered, Cnoc an Tursa play a form of Scottish-themed, atmospheric, pagan/folk black metal that, of course, will appeal to Saor (though no pipes here, though there is a smattering of keyboards and acoustics), but also that very British/Irish/Scottish black metal sound played by the likes of Winterfylleth, Wodensthrone, and, of course, Primordial.
After the introductory number “Na fir Ghorma”, the album gets off to an absolutely rip-roaring start with “The Caoineag”, and I mean fucking rip-roaring. It’s one of my favorite album opening songs of the year (along with “Geisterflug” by Atronos) and just a downright, killer melodic black metal track that would have Vallendusk blushing. Throw in some raspy shouted vocals, nice pagan sways, an epic mid-paced bridge, and some female vocals from Karinne Tursa (she appears a few times on the album), and you have a fucking high bar for the rest of the album.
Now, the rest of the album is pretty solid, but of course, they never reach the perfect peak of “The Caoineag”. And truth be told, I had to force myself to stop simply playing that track over and over, and actually get to the rest of the album.
Tracks where Karinne Tursa appears, like the mid-paced “Baobahn” and the more urgent “Address to the Devil”, got my attention a little more, but there’s still a lot to like all over the album; the steady militant march of “Cailleach and the Guardians of the Seven Stones”, the sweeping majesty of “Am Fear Liath Mòr”, the Immortal/Abbath-ish gallop of “Alba in my Heart”. It’s all very clean, elegant, and enjoyable.
But still, my finger kept creeping towards the back button throughout. It’s not as bad as the 90s, when you heard one song on MTV or Headbangers Ball and rushed out to buy the CD only to discover that the rest of the album sucks. This is still a good album, with a great song on it.
