Irish Heavy Metal?

DOD Crew

I’ve noticed that this board tends to lean far more in the direction of more mainstream metal and away from the underground which, lets face it, is where Irish heavy metal currently lives. The multiple number of Metallica posts suggests that many of the users are quite limited in what they listen to and have little or no knowledge of the indigenous scene – not to mind some of the less mainstream international bands.

Curiously Ireland is a little odd in this sense, in that in most other countries indigenous metal acts get a far bigger slice of the pie in terms of recognition and following.

So I have a few questions.

1: Do you listen to Irish Metal?

2: If not – why not?

3: What Irish Metal bands do you know of?

4: What Irish Metal bands have you heard?

5 What Irish Metal bands have you been to see?

6: Who do you think are the best/worst

7: What area of the country are you based in?

8: Do you feel that Irish metal acts may be in someway inferior to their international peers?

9: Do you thinks its possible for an Irish heavy metal act to achieve international acclaim when metal fans in their own country aren’t bothered with them?

10: What age are you?

If you couldn’t be arsed answering all these – do stick down whatever thoughts you have on the subject - so that it can be discussed.

Ph3n0m

1: Do you listen to Irish Metal?
Yup

2: If not – why not?
I already said I do

3: What Irish Metal bands do you know of?
Inhumane, Parhelia, Hexxed, Mass Extinction, Abadon Incarnate, Primordial, Eyesclosed, etc

4: What Irish Metal bands have you heard?
The above and more

5 What Irish Metal bands have you been to see?
The above and more

6: Who do you think are the best/worst
No such thing as "worst" - just bands I havent heard or just dont like

7: What area of the country are you based in?
Dublin

8: Do you feel that Irish metal acts may be in someway inferior to their international peers?
In some ways yes - some of the band members that I know or know indirectly come across as very, very arogant, with a somewhat know it all attitude to music and metal in general - that is an immediate turn off for me - especially when they are trying to use their personalities to win me over, use your talent and music to do that. In relation to "internation peers" - I dont pay attention to what bands are saying, etc - just interested in the music they produce

9: Do you thinks its possible for an Irish heavy metal act to achieve international acclaim when metal fans in their own country aren’t bothered with them?
Thats a bit harsh on irish fands as a whole - you tryin to say that Irish fans have to like Irish bands before they even like bands from across the water? Even the few bands that have made it across the water - most notably Primordial, Cruachan, etc - they will not attain mainstream popularity at the moment - simply because they not playing mainstream popular forms of metal, as you in fact said playing more underground music then anything else.

The lack of numbers at any of the gigs that have been organised over the past few years - including the Day of Darkness should indicate that not everyone is into the same type of rock/metal - what was the number for last years attendence?? 350? Not a whole lot when you see the thousands that have turned up for more mainstream/established rock/metal acts

10: What age are you?
30

Dathai

1: Do you listen to Irish Metal? Aye

2: If not – why not? I do listen to it

3: What Irish Metal bands do you know of? Primal Dawn, Mael Mordha, Geasa, A Distant Sun, Primordial, Mass Extinction

4: What Irish Metal bands have you heard? All of the above

5 What Irish Metal bands have you been to see? All of the above

6: Who do you think are the best/worst?

Best live : Mael Mordha
Best in General : Primordial
Didnt care too much for Mass Extinction or ADS live or on mp3

7: What area of the country are you based in?

Dublin

8: Do you feel that Irish metal acts may be in someway inferior to their international peers?

Yes, in some ways, as we mainly have large amounts of Celtic Metal being exported, rather than just black metal.

9: Do you thinks its possible for an Irish heavy metal act to achieve international acclaim when metal fans in their own country aren’t bothered with them?

Yeah, its a possibility, different strokes for different folks you know.

10: What age are you?

16

MagnumForce

1: Do you listen to Irish Metal?
I do indeed occastionally

2: If not – why not?
blaheugh

3: What Irish Metal bands do you know of?
Steel Tormentor, Primordial, Mael Mordha, Glyder(more hard rock), Abbaddon Incarnate, Cruachan, Gama Bomb, Mass Extinction, Magnum Force(cough cough, thats me n the boys shameless plug cough cough), Mourning Beloveth, Scavanger, im sure theres more im forgetting

4: What Irish Metal bands have you heard?
Ive heard songs of all the above anyway. live? I've only seen Abbaddon Incarnate

5 What Irish Metal bands have you been to see?
Oh right see above, Oh and i did see Glyder in Fibbers a few weeks ago, forgot about that. Ive seen plenty of non "big" Irish band,amateur once i mean

6: Who do you think are the best/worst
Steel Tormenter and scavanger are pretty good alright, and Glyder. Primordial rock but havnt listened to any of there stuff in ages

7: What area of the country are you based in?
Dublin

8: Do you feel that Irish metal acts may be in someway inferior to their international peers?

Well, not really, we do have a very low population so therefore there are less people to find the talent amongst, but when the right people are put together it can be great, take U2(not metal but a good example anyway), theyre one of the most popular and high profile bands in the world and theyre Irish, same with Thin Lizzy. Its just that theres not enough people in this country for anything brilliant to come about as often as other countries

9: Do you thinks its possible for an Irish heavy metal act to achieve international acclaim when metal fans in their own country aren’t bothered with them?

Its not the bands or the fans fault Its this stupid culture we live in with teh popular music the kids are listening to these days. The Irish music scene/industry is the biggest pile of ****e ever piled together and set alight, people in the industry dont care enough to bother promote thing properly or to produce things in such a way that it will be accepted without altering the original essence of the music. Once again the lack of people in this country is a problem in this area, therea are plenty fans of Irish metal in this counry in a ratio of them to other non Irish metal fans in this country just not enough to be able to do anything about it. a lack of funding available to the metal labels such as Sentinel means they can barely produce a compilation album let along produce ten different bands albums.

10: What age are you?
19

Tar.Aldarion

1: Do you listen to Irish Metal?
Yup.

2: If not – why not?
Potato.

3: What Irish Metal bands do you know of?
Abadon Incarnate, Primordial, Eyesclosed, Dawn etc

4: What Irish Metal bands have you heard?
The above and more.

5 What Irish Metal bands have you been to see?
A good few.

6: Who do you think are the best/worst
Well i really liked dawn and eyesclosed.
Some crap band from N Ireland were the ones I hated...

7: What area of the country are you based in?
Galway

8: Do you feel that Irish metal acts may be in someway inferior to their international peers?
Well I don't know any that are as good as their peers.

9: Do you thinks its possible for an Irish heavy metal act to achieve international acclaim when metal fans in their own country aren’t bothered with them?
Eh yes...I'll leave that question alone apart from the yes...

10: What age are you?
19

c - 13

1: Do you listen to Irish Metal?
Hell yeah

2: If not – why not?
N/A

3: What Irish Metal bands do you know of?
off the top of my head - primordial, meal mordha, abbadon incarnate, hexxed, mourning beloveth, a distant sun, revile, siricco, cruachan .... and more.

4: What Irish Metal bands have you heard?
Above and more

5 What Irish Metal bands have you been to see?
Some of the above

6: Who do you think are the best/worst
There are no best and worst all bands are good but each in their individual ways

7: What area of the country are you based in?
Waterford

8: Do you feel that Irish metal acts may be in someway inferior to their international peers?
No I dont think so.

9: Do you thinks its possible for an Irish heavy metal act to achieve international acclaim when metal fans in their own country aren’t bothered with them?
I wouldnt say that the irish fans arent bothered with them, until a few years ago i didnt realise that there were so many irish metal bands around. Recently though i noticed a lot more promotion for the irish metal scene which is a good thing.

10: What age are you?
21

Léan

1: Do you listen to Irish Metal? Yes indeed.

2: If not – why not?

3: What Irish Metal bands do you know of?
Carnun Rising, Cripple Fetish, Sirroco, Ten Past Seven, Crack My Pelvis, Subsonic, FiveWillDie, Serum, Rulers Of The Planet, Captain Insano,Grotesque Embalment, Mael Mordha,Ex Inferus , Primal Dawn... And so on...

4: What Irish Metal bands have you heard?
As Above ^^

5 What Irish Metal bands have you been to see?
Sirroco, Serum, Captain Insano, Cripple Fetish, Grotesque Embalment, Primal Dawn, Carnun Rising, Flatline, Silence Jakk, Violant Jack, Primal Dawn, Defect,Primordial, My Remorse, Five Will Die... And others that i can't remember.

6: Who do you think are the best/worst
Love Captain Insano, Cripple Fetish, Sirroco, ah they're all great..Only one i've seen and don't really like would be Defect, just not my cup of tea..

7: What area of the country are you based in?
Cork.
8: Do you feel that Irish metal acts may be in someway inferior to their international peers?
Musically i don't think they're at all inferior. I think some Irishbands like Sirroco for example really have something special that no one else is doing the same way. It's a really pitty that Irish bands don't get the same kind of recognition as some bands from other countries. I think a lot of them really deserve it.

9: Do you thinks its possible for an Irish heavy metal act to achieve international acclaim when metal fans in their own country aren’t bothered with them?
Er. I do think it's possible, I disagree that metal fans here aren't bothered. I think i'll go with that...

10: What age are you?
15.

the_syco

1: Do you listen to Irish Metal? Aye.

2: If not – why not? Eh... see above.

3: What Irish Metal bands do you know of? Chosen, Waylander, Speedking, E[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]ntropy, [/FONT]Nephridium and a few others.

4: What Irish Metal bands have you heard? The above.

5 What Irish Metal bands have you been to see? Chosen.

6: Who do you think are the best/worst? Eh... I don't listen to bad music, so I dunno.

7: What area of the country are you based in? The Easht.

8: Do you feel that Irish metal acts may be in someway inferior to their international peers? Nay.

9: Do you thinks its possible for an Irish heavy metal act to achieve international acclaim when metal fans in their own country aren’t bothered with them? Yes. More people out there, than in here, basiclly.

10: What age are you? 24.

Ramses

1: Do you listen to Irish Metal?
sometimes

2: If not – why not?

3: What Irish Metal bands do you know of?
primordial, mourning beloveth, waylander, cruachan, mael mordha

4: What Irish Metal bands have you heard?
primordial, mourning beloveth, waylander

5 What Irish Metal bands have you been to see?
waylander

6: Who do you think are the best/worst
primordial is the best for me, because their latest album is the best irish metal album i have heard so far

7: What area of the country are you based in?
roscommon

8: Do you feel that Irish metal acts may be in someway inferior to their international peers?
no

9: Do you thinks its possible for an Irish heavy metal act to achieve international acclaim when metal fans in their own country aren’t bothered with them?
yes, i recently discovered vader aren't really heard of in poland yet they have achieved a lot outside poland. i feel the same could potentially apply to any band

10: What age are you?
21

Pugsley

1: Do you listen to Irish Metal? Now and again

2: If not – why not? n/a

3: What Irish Metal bands do you know of? Mael Mordha, Primodial, Cruachaun, Carnun Rising, Mourning Beloveth, The Watch, Toaster, Bad Boat, odium halo, nice and sleezy

4: What Irish Metal bands have you heard? Carnun Rising and Mourning beloveth are the only 2 I listen to regularly, but I listen to Odium halo occassionally too.

5 What Irish Metal bands have you been to see? Carnun Rising, Mourning Beloveth, the watch, toaster, bad boat, odium halo, nice and sleezy.

6: Who do you think are the best/worst: Carnun Rising and Mourning Beloveth were probably the best, the rest were good too though, except for Nice and sleezy, who are awful.

7: What area of the country are you based in? Fermanagh (hence the lack of local music)

8: Do you feel that Irish metal acts may be in someway inferior to their international peers? Definately not, Mourning Beloveth's Sullen Sulculus album is probably the best doom metal album ever released by anyone, and Odium Halo could be compared to Opeth and hold their ground (just a shame their useless lazy gits )

9: Do you thinks its possible for an Irish heavy metal act to achieve international acclaim when metal fans in their own country aren’t bothered with them? Not really, if an irish metal band did finally make it big, Id say they would have a bit of a fan club just for the pride of it.

10: What age are you? 19

LightofDarkness

1: Do you listen to Irish Metal? Sure

2: If not – why not? Bleh

3: What Irish Metal bands do you know of? Hmm, Abbadon Incarnate, Primordial, Waylander, Scavenger, Roper, Speed King, Sherman M4, Nothing Is Sacred, Cruachan and more...

4: What Irish Metal bands have you heard? All of the above plus a few who's names I can't recall right now

5 What Irish Metal bands have you been to see? Speed King, Sherman M4, Nothing Is Sacred, Primordial, Waylander and Roper.

6: Who do you think are the best/worst: Nothing Is Sacred (Sherman kicked ass too)

7: What area of the country are you based in? Mayo

8: Do you feel that Irish metal acts may be in someway inferior to their international peers? In certain aspects, yes. I believe it's largely due to an unhealthy scene, there's alot of metal listeners in Ireland but most of them wouldn't go to see an Irish band play unless they were friends or something. This of course means that competition between bands is low, thus the quality of material and focus of material can be less than the standard of alot of international acts (who stem from a scene which forced them to keep playing at their best in order to get anywhere with it). If anything, alot of us Irish lads should get up off our arses and start a metal band, keep the scene healthy!

9: Do you thinks its possible for an Irish heavy metal act to achieve international acclaim when metal fans in their own country aren’t bothered with them? It's possible, the material would have to be very strong though.

10: What age are you?
20

Tazz T

1: Do you listen to Irish Metal?
Sure do.

2: If not – why not? see above

3: What Irish Metal bands do you know of?
Mass Extinction, Primordial, Mael Mordha, Steel Tormentor, Celtic Legacy, Abbadon Incarnate, Inhumane, Eyesclosed, Era Vulgaris and about a million others.

4: What Irish Metal bands have you heard?
All of the above.

5 What Irish Metal bands have you been to see?
All of the above.

6: Who do you think are the best/worst
Mass Extinction and Celtic Legacy are the best. The Death Metal acts tend to bore me.

7: What area of the country are you based in?
Dublin

8: Do you feel that Irish metal acts may be in someway inferior to their international peers?
No. Celtic Legacy, for one, are better than their international peers.

9: Do you thinks its possible for an Irish heavy metal act to achieve international acclaim when metal fans in their own country aren’t bothered with them? Yes

10: What age are you?
40, not that it's any of your business.

r3nu4l

1: Do you listen to Irish Metal? Not as much as I'd like to

2: If not – why not? The missus hates metal (I'm whipped, I admit it, and I like it )

3: What Irish Metal bands do you know of? Uh, therapy? Thin Lizzy? Kerbdog (are they around any more, Kilkenny act?). No time anymore to research obscure bands, too much to do!!

4: What Irish Metal bands have you heard? See above

5 What Irish Metal bands have you been to see? None!

6: Who do you think are the best/worst I'm not fit to comment, Lizzy definitely made a big impression on other metal bands (Metallica included)

7: What area of the country are you based in? Not living in Ireland anymore boo hoo, originally Dublin

8: Do you feel that Irish metal acts may be in someway inferior to their international peers? Nope, there are thousands of unheard of metal bands around the world, not just in Ireland!!

9: Do you thinks its possible for an Irish heavy metal act to achieve international acclaim when metal fans in their own country aren’t bothered with them? Yes absolutely, unfortunately it's record label muscle and advertising that make international fame for the most part. Look at 'The Pale" (Not a metal band I know). They had a huge Irish following and very decent music but gave up citing the disinterest of their label and I believe them, I've played their stuff for friends of mine from France, Greece, the UK, USA and they all asked for copies!!!

10: What age are you? 31