WAYLANDER

Folk metal has really become all the rage these past couple of years, even though many of these bands have been trolling around the circuit for quite some time. And Celtic folk is often the style of preference to cross with metal. In the case of WAYLANDER, the act has been around since 1993, mixes Celtic folk and metal, and is actually from Ireland! Needless to say, they will not be standing for any of these bandwagon-jumping accusations from the peanut gallery. As for "Honour Amongst Chaos", it is a stout folk metal effort that is surprisingly heavy on the metal end, even if the running time periodically results in momentum drag.

True to the style, "Honour Amongst Chaos" does feature a lot of genuinely infectious Celtic folk melodies with all the traditional instrumentation. From lighter acoustic flavors to upbeat jaunts, the musical heritage is paramount to the troupe's artistic ideals. That includes some interest arrangement shifts, such as the speak-sing acoustic break during "As the Deities Clash" and the harmony vocals on "Beyond the Ninth Wave". Yet just as pronounced in the mix — often more so — is the sheer thrashing aggression of the album. Similar in some ways to the thrash intensity of ALESTORM's "Captain Morgan's Revenge", the way of WAYLANDER on "Honour Amongst Chaos" is to crank the riffs to 10 and go for the throat. The riffs, though not always engrossing, are raw and in your face, as are the scathing near-death vocals. "Galloping Gaels" is one of several examples where the thrash (with some trad-metal) comes hard and fast with ripping solos to boot. The album's metallic climax certainly arrives during "Taker of Heads", a real neck-snapper with a gang shout chorus. In other words, WAYLANDER definitely put the "metal" in folk metal.

The main here is the 66-minute running time. Across nine lengthy tracks, things tend to get a little long in the tooth, at least for this style of metal. For the most part, the songs are deftly composed, but some trimming would have kept the album from seeming so bloated. Those criticisms aside, "Honour Amongst Chaos" is a fine example of the good things that can happen when the world of folk and metal are brought together.