Cruachan - The Middle Kingdom (Re-release)
Karmageddon Media

file under heavy / power metal

Ferdi: Now that Hammerheart Records changed their name into Karmageddon Media, the Dutch label deemed the time right te rerelease some of their oldest titles. One of those cd’s is Cruachan’s ‘The Middle Kingdom’. The original was a run-of-the-mill metal-cd that mixed celtic folksongs with rock, and sold about 10.000 copies after its release in 1999. Time has not been very kind to its timid production: the spartan guitarsound, the emphasis on folkinstruments (flute, mandoine) and the terribly uninspired vocals courtesy of Karen Gilligan’s fragile-sounding vocal chords do not make this cd something anyone would put on for the sake of enjoyment.

Musically the band made the wise descision of making sure that there is enough variation on this ten song disc but that is not enough to save this effort from mediocrity: the cd fails to inject any excitement and, to make matters worse, sounds incredibly dated. In that respect it is a big shame that this is a rather heartlessly done rerelease: no remastering, no bonustrack, nothing. The only differency I found was that the booklet was printed slightly darker, which makes the lyrics harder to read. A rerelease that is inferior to the original? Now there’s a novelty. To conclude this review: ‘The Middle Kingdom’ is by no means an utterly bad cd but its entertainment-value is none existant. Diehard folkfans might want to give ‘The Middle Kingdom’ a try because of its high novelty-value, but other people are better off awaiting Elvenking’s latest effort.

Rating: 60/100 (details)

http://www.cruachan.cjb.net

Bestel nu bij

Cruachan - The Morrigan's Call (CD)

€ 14.99 € 9.99