In line with our ethos of continual improvement and efforts to weed out the inadequate in favor of the superlative, Síol Na Gréine have released a reworked and improved version of 2008 album Incandescence. The debut album of this project, what Incandescence originally lacked in polish and patience for detail it made up for with a spirit of reverent curiosity and a warm, honest sound. Now, preserving that which originally made the album compelling, the album’s mix and presentation have been given a refresh alongside a number of enhancements to the composition/orchestration of some of the tracks.

Download (Rar archived MP3) here

Or stream it via bandcamp on Síol Na Gréine’s page @ hiarctow.com

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About Creative Commons

This album is provided as a free Creative Commons licensed download by HI.ARC.TOW. This makes it free to download and to redistribute.

Comparison #2:
Kyrie from The Templar’s Chant
Black Sabbath – Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

After this, [...] present the Kyrie chant, whose liturgical function, at the beginning of the Mass, is to exalt divine majesty, the only force capable of remedying the weaknesses and imperfections of the human soul. Once a year, the Kyrie was sung outside the Mass, to open Vespers for Easter Day. […] But the Kyrie could also be employed to fortify the souls of the combatants when an army deployed in order of battle.

Source

There are superficial reasons why metal compares so much to medieval music, to do with the lineage of the musical language it uses (metal started when Sabbath starting imitating horror movie music clichés – which themselves relied on a lot of ‘medievally’ sounding devices, because they sound ‘creepy’ to modern ears). More fundamentally, metal shares a dark but reverent worldview and mythic/allegoric way of describing life which is much more at home in the ancient world than it is modernity.

This is an admission we’ve made before regarding works we’ve hosted and the artists responsible have on occasion decided to either edit the work or cut it all-together.

This time round it’s the turn of Cryosyncopy to come under such scrutiny. As a result, and by mutual decision, we’ve taken down the album Black Sea from the site. Audience reception indicated the work was not a success (though that’s not to say the audience should always be taken as a yardstick for artistic success), just as hindsight has revealed how much more the artist could accomplish in a similar stylistic vein (see Mushin for proof).

Neither we nor the artist have any regrets about backing the work in the first place. Why should we? better to try, fail and grow from it than to never try at all. This is the only way to develop artistically. We’re thankful for people taking the time to listen and evaluate.

Stay ‘tuned’ for more new music soon from hiarctow.