Lakesongs of Elbid is the debut album from Albion. The band being fronted by Joe Parish-James, who you may know from being guitarist for Jethro Tull in recent years until leaving Tull to concentrate on Albion.
Albion of course is an ancient name for Great Britain which explains the name of the band and the music fits with that. Their BandCamp page bio states this is the: “preservation and exposure of traditional folk music, but presented through the modern medium of metal and rock.”
What we have here is a gloriously bombastic and atmospheric seventy minutes of heavied up folk-rock with the emphasis on the heavied up yet the more traditional folksy bits work so well.
Listening to it brings up images of sweeping verdant ancient countryside and woodlands and mystical lakes covered in early morning mists from a couple of millennia ago.
The Lake Isle of Innisfree is a gentle acoustic opener taking bits from the poem written by William Butler Yeats towards the latter years of the nineteenth century giving it a traditional folk song feel.
Then the bombastic stuff comes in with the huge instrumental Arthurian Overture. This is where the heavy guns come out. A thrilling near ten minutes of tremendous sweeping, symphonic and heavyness. Riffs aplenty yet imaginatively mixes in some flute and quieter passages to give that mixture between the bombast and traditional folk.
Pagan Spirit starts all trad folk and a bit trippy before snapping out into another big one. It’s so catchy too. Folk metal indeed. Have a look at the video:
Joe’s guitar chucks out the riffage throughout Finding Avalon and in particular on Silvaplana Rock – the latter bing perhaps the most powerful track on the album. Heavy as you like riffage reminiscent to my ears of the great Martin Barre.
All the while along with the powerful stuff that traditional folksy stuff is always there making things such an irresistible listen.
The ancient folky stuff has its own place here on some tracks. Black Lake being an example of that. Joe’s sensitive vocal over the gentle strumming is compelling before the big finish when the rest of the band crash.
And the closer – Camlann – is a brooding acoustic and an emotional vocal and lyric with some tasteful flute adding to the feel of it.
We even have a rocked up sea shanty – Barrett’s Privateers – which is Albion’s interpretation of the song by the late Canadian singer Stan Rogers and noted on the track listing as a tribute to him.
With Lakesongs of Elbid, Albion have a fine debut album offering something a bit different with their mixture of old traditional folk and heavying it up very nicely.
Check it out on Albion’s BandCamp page. Various formats there:
https://albionofficial.bandcamp.com/album/lakesongs-of-elbid