Airged L'Amh

"Ode to Salvation"

Label: Eat Metal Records

2008 is a year that has been satisfactory as far as the Hellenic album releases are concerned, especially in the Epic /folk metal genre. One of them is Airged L’amh’s “Ode to Salvation”, the successor of their very good depute album “The Silver Arm” of 2004. The album cover, which depicts William Wallace and his comrades, gives a clue to those who maybe don’t know, for the love of the band to the Celtic myths and melodies.

The first impression is that in this album the compositions have become more mid tempo and there is a bigger addition of folk and melodic parts at the song introductions, as well as at the bridges.

The album starts with the instrumental “Midlothian”, an excellent intro with Celtic rhythm, which could have very well been a movie soundtrack. It is followed by “The Hunter’s Path”, an especially melodic composition, characterized by the folk keyboard parts and the massive and dynamic vocals of Steve Venardo. The self titled “Ode to Salvation” is a simple composition, and one of those with the shortest duration in the album. In “Eternal Εyes¨, we have a song with a “catchy” chorus and melodic guitar riffs. One of the best album songs, “Dine in Hades”, starts with a great keyboard intro, slowly replaced by the main guitar riff. It is the only song if I am not mistaken, which does not deal with Scottish/Celtic themes and is involved in the story of Thermopylae. The intro of “Pages of Essence” gives the impression that a thrash song will follow, but instead it is slowly evolved to a rather doom direction, with well-played guitars, massive rhythm section and “dark” lyrics. In “The Ritual Lair”, Αirged L’amh return to their more dynamic and faster self. The album is completed with “Mo Cuishle”, an excellent epic ballad with intense Celtic influences, and another album’s strong moment, “Glide on the Wings”, for which a video clip was also released.

A plus of the album is the very good for the Hellenic standards production, with a balanced mix. The album, is one of the best this year in the epic/folk metal genre (but also in classic metal in general), without being better in my opinion than their previous release. Thing is,  you need to listen to it carefully in order to appreciate it as much as it is worth, since we were used to faster and more aggressive songs by the L’amhs.