TUATHA DE DANANN Trova Di Danu music review by kenethlevine

I am a staunch supporter of the "non traditional marriage" of celtic folk with rock music, even hard rock. Over the years, mostly British Isles bands have been the finest proponents of this blend - POGUES, RUNRIG, MEN THEY COULDN'T HANG, WATERBOYS, and OYSTERBAND all come to mind, as much for their political and human interest themes that transcended the usual drunken bar fight lyrics as for their considerable musicality. On the other hand relatively few bands convincingly melded metal to folk. The best of these I have heard is MAGO DE OZ from Spain, to whom TUATHA DE DANANN owes the greatest debt of gratitude. However based on this disk, I doubt that MAGO DE OZ is much flattered by the imitation.

For every poignant RUNRIG anthem there is a tepid WOLFSTONE regurgitation; for every James Joyce rivaling POGUES romp is a warmed over hand me down from TEMPEST. For every well sequenced and executed ballad or metal fest by MAGO DE OZ is a frenetic and soulless ballad or metal fest (both sound pretty much the same anyway) by TUATHA DE DANANN that conveys a failure to assimilate the virtues of the folk genre prior to alloying it. Most of this is a crass and hard to forgive exercise in amplifying and speeding up jigs or reels, or dressing a death growl in a kilt. Songs like "Bella Nature", "Lover of the Queen", "Land's Revenge" and "Arrival" are even worse than that and essentially torturous. Sometimes after a minute or so of tentative intro, they realize they have locked themselves in and the only way out is with a hammer and a groan. The exceptions would be the lighter "Land of Youth", the guttural but rousing "Believe it's True" and the atypical and more traditionally celtic title cut with female vocals. But the damage inflicted by the worst this group has to offer neutralizes these gains many times over.

Perhaps the band's inactivity since 2004 means that it has been offered as a sacrifice to Danu, the water goddess from which the it derives its name, and she has accepted selflessly for the benefit of bands like DANU and DE DANANN, not to mention listeners like me.

kenethlevine | 1/5 | 2012-7-28

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