GWYDION „Gwydion”

Art Gates Records, 2020

Music: Symphonic Folk Metal / Viking Metal
Website:
https://www.facebook.com/GwydionPT
Tracklist: 68:59 (14 tracks)
Country: Portugal

GWYDION was established in 1995 in the capital city – Lisbon. The band works with a break in 2015. They have released quite a lot so far, three demos and four full albums.

The music on “Gwydion” is folk-metal, often mixed with sharp, sinister black-metal. The lots of dancing, sometimes even ludic motifs and melodies appeard there. The compositions are dominated by a fast pace, an aggressive style referring to BM, but there are also more hard-rock or galloping fragments, also trance-like and slower, dark. Twice the album features songs similar to shanties. The closing disc “A Roda” is a beautiful, romantic ballad sung in Portuguese by a woman. The vocals are also masculine and English, rich in means of expression – strong, clear singing, growl, black croak, declaiming, squeaking in one place. And for this abundant use of backing vocals.

The most successful on the album are the four tracks of the ending: “Ale Mead and Wine” is a possessed dance. “A Battle” is an epic ballad full of momentum, “Hammer of the Gods” with a heart-touching melody, and the final track already discussed.

However, it is not enough for a seventy-minute work. The music was intended to be dramatic, full of temperament, but it turned out only partially. It is supposed to be mighty but it does not make an impression. It is full of lively melodies, but most often they do not make you mosh up.

It is strange, because you can feel the emotional involvement of the musicians in playing. In the long run, the listening to the latest work from a Portuguese sextet becomes boring. These sounds are a bit monotonous. In addition, something probably did not work out with the production of the album. Maybe it is the fault of my hi-fi player, or the cd that I have, but often, especially in aggressive parts, the dense sounds merge into one mass, there is no selectivity. Folk-metal fans from Lisbon came out on average with the newest opus.

Tracklist:
1.Stand Alone
2.The Bards
3.The Chair of the Sovereign
4.Hostile Alliance
5.Battle of Alclud Ford
6.Cad Goddeu
7.Gwydion
8.Dead Song
9.Steed Song
10.Ale Mead and Wine
11.A Battle
12.Plaeu Yr Reifft
13.Hammer of the Gods
14.A Roda

Line-up:
Daniel Cèsar – keyboards
Miguel Kaveirinha – guitars
Brune Ezz – bass
Pedro Dias – vocals
Marta Brissos – drums
Joäo Paulo – guitars

Rate: 6.0/10