THE DELIRIUM HAS JUST BEGAN...

I have liked the TUATHA DE DANANN since my first approach but this album made me fall in love with their music. I can suggest starting from this album as "Brazuzan (Taller Than A Hill)" is a song that can immediatekly catch your attention. Hard and Heavy but with a very joyous flute riff it transmits energy and wish to dance even to me that I can dance not better than a potato in boiling water. It's light and easy but with many different moments including clean vocal choirs, distorted guitars, 12strings and fender piano as well as growling and distorted bass. This is the song that made me decide to suggest the band to PA. If you are curious about this band start from here.

The second track reminds to the first incarnation of the band and was probably written years before as "The Last Pendragon" was the band's name before turning into Tuatha De Danann (Should mean something like "the people of the Goddess Dana"). This is a prog- metal track that I can compare to Artension, specially for the excellent keyboard work. The celtic element, Braia's flute in this case, appears after about two minutes, but this is mainly a heavy song, except for the piano solo interlude.

"Abracadabra" is on the opposite side: starts with acoustic and 12 strings guitars supporting the flute. It remains mainly acoustic even though the obsessive drumming and the bass add a lot of energy. The melodic line is not too folky and is more like a Jethro Tull's song.

Even "The Last Words" starts acoustic and again there's a very good flute melody, more medieval than celtic. If it wasn't for the (good) low-pitched vocals I could think to Renaissance. This could be one of the song which has convinced the prog folk team to get them onboard.

"The Wanderings of Oisin" is a poem by William Butler Yeats. By coincidence I have recently reviewed an album of Angelo Branduardi that's totally inspired to Yeats (Branduardi Canta Yates), and Branduardi is the artist more close to Blackmore's Night that you can imagine. Probably it's Blackmore's Night that are close to Branduardi. Ok, let's get back in track.

The longest track closes the album. It's nice spotting that even this full length album, as the previous one, is shorter than the band's debut EP. This track starts "dark Celtic" but is full of prog elements. Try and see. Structured like an epic, with different sections but with smooth transitions so that it flows like a continuum. Years ago I fell in love with Marillion because of Grendel. Today I can say that this song is technically better. More original (less Supper's ready, I mean), better played and arranged also because apparently this band is more technically skilled than Rothary & co, even though listening to what Trewavas does with Transatlantic it's more likely that Marillion were easy by choice and not because of technical limitations. In some parts I also hear the influence of YES, and in particular of Anderson/Howe, let's say at around minute 7, before it becomes heavy again with a metal part with growling, screaming and heavy drums. It's like having Marillion, Yes and Arcturus in the same song.

Some blank seconds and there's a sort of ghost track, that's simply a reprise of Brazuzan with the band joking by playing the main theme with a choir backed by acoustic guitar, and the flute part sung by the growler is amazingly funny.

This is really a great album. I don't say that it's in my top 10 but I always listen to it with a lot of pleasure. Strongly suggested.