- Country: Ireland
- Style: Pagan black metal
- Label: Metal Blade Records
- Release date: 29 September 2023
Tenth album from the Dublin veterans, recorded with Chris Fielding and released on Metal Blade, and it is an angry one. A.A. Nemtheanga has described How It Ends as defiant and rebellious, and that is exactly how the opening title track sounds: a slow, heavy march with his voice right at the front, half sermon and half warning.
Nobody does this blend of black metal, doom and Irish folk quite like Primordial, and the band are in strong form here. “Ploughs to Rust, Swords to Dust” has that rolling, battle-hymn quality the band are known for, and the short instrumental “Traidisiúnta” gives a moment of air before the single “Pilgrimage to the World’s End” kicks in. At over an hour the record does demand patience, and a couple of the later songs could lose a minute or two.
Still, when “Victory Has 1000 Fathers, Defeat Is an Orphan” closes the album, it’s hard not to feel moved. Primordial remain one of the most honest bands in metal.
Best tracks:
How It Ends
Ploughs to Rust, Swords to Dust
Pilgrimage to the World’s End
Victory Has 1000 Fathers, Defeat Is an Orphan
Author’s rating: 8.6/10
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