Having not heard the demo, I must admit that the music here is rather rough around the edges. Samain are attempting to perform black metal with folk (tons of acoustic guitars, clean vocals) similar to say, the first Ulver LP. They don't quite have the technical skills as of yet though. Still, that hardly prevents them from creating some great music.

"Fianna" for example is more of a folk-rock tune, with clean shouted vocals and a feeling more akin to Celtic Rock than metal. Nevertheless, it's grand! "Tir na nOc" (isn't it 'Thìr nan Òg' in Scot?) on the other hand is a raging black metal track with speedy guitar lines, grim vocals galore, and even some clean howling.

There really aren't too many low points on the CD I must admit, besides a few questions I'd like to see the band answer concerning their non-English lyrics (when I was told the demo title, it was told to me in Irish [???] for example). It's a fine combination of raw black metal and doom ridden, at times rock style folk riffs and beats. And after four or so years, I would have to think that Samain's new material must be great (oops, they've broken up), since the only thing really holding them back is technical skill. Decent CD!

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