Review - Celtic Legacy - Guardian Of Eternity

Joined: 05 Oct 2006 Posts: 117 Location: Scotland

Guardian Of Eternity is the third album from Ireland's Celtic Legacy, a band who mix heavy power metal riffing with more traditional Celtic themes. Think of Lizzy's Black Rose or Emerald but instead played by Helloween and you're halfway there. This album sees a revamp of the line-up with only the band's driving forces Dave Morrissey and Dave Boylan remaining from the Resurrection album.

In the finest of Celtic Legacy traditions, the new album kicks off with an instrumental piece The Sentinel that gives hints of some of the musical themes that are to follow. The clattering of drums signals the arrival of Celtica, an energetic rocker with more than a nod to Big Country in the chiming guitars. Afterworld is an atmospheric mid-tempo number with a great punchy bass line from the redoubtable Dave "Slim" Boylan. A tempo change ups the pace with excellent twin guitar work, before closing with a great acapella vocal from Ciaran Ennis.

For Evermore has got to be a candidate for a single release. A rhythmic melodic rocker, on this track in particular the twin guitars of Dave Morrissey and Keith Hendley mesh together beautifully. The two guitarists have contrasting styles, but with enough common ground to form a guitar partnership that stands comparison with Smith/Murray, Gorham/Robertson, DeGarmo/Wilton... in fact any classic guitar duo that you care to mention.

King Of Thieves is similar in style to Children Of The Sky from the last Legacy album Resurrection, and gives Ciaran Ennis a chance to stamp his vocal authority on the band. The vocals are without a doubt the biggest audible change from the last album. Ciaran has a vocal style that can take a while to latch on to, but really comes into his own here.

Absent Friends is a "galloping" up-tempo song, reminiscent of 80s Maiden.

The soothing Celtic introduction to Erinmor lulls you into a false sense of security before the band crashes in with the song proper. Destined to become a fixture in the Legacy live set, Erinmor is one of the highlights of the album, switching time signatures but never sounding disjointed. Dave Boylan excels on this track.

Dance On Yer Grave is a straightforward rocker, which again would probably be a good single.

Forgive Me is another highlight for me. This song is very reminiscent of Warning-era Queensryche, with more of those beautifully written and executed twin guitar harmonies and trade offs.

The album winds up with the epic 11 minute title track. It wouldn't be a Celtic Legacy album without at least one epic song, and Guardian Of Eternity rivals the title tracks off the last two albums for depth and bravura. The introduction harks back to the theme hinted at in The Sentinel and continues with some delicately picked arpeggios, with Ciaran showing his vocal prowess. The pace quickens and then into some Helloween style riffing before the chorus gives way to a dual guitar section. The main Celtic theme is reprised in the quiet mid-section, which gives Dave Boylan a chance to excel with some adventurous bass lines. Special mention must also go to Conor Gillen who as well as proving an excellent drummer provides some of the traditional instrumentation in several of the tracks. Guardian Of Eternity closes with more of those chiming dual guitars - absolutely stunning and a great way to close another excellent album from Celtic Legacy.

http://www.celtic-legacy.com

Note - Guardian Of Eternity will be released in March. Celtic Legacy's previous albums can be found at iTunes :-

iTunes - Celtic Legacy

iTunes - Resurrection