I learned about Waylander when I saw them live at a gig together with Cruachan. Not knowing their music at that moment, I was excited about the blackened folk metal they made. ‘Born to the Fight’, what a song. The tin whistle dominating the entire song, while the drums pounded like the hooves of horses on the plains of the beautiful Irish country. Imagine my joy when I found on a metal market! And it was a remarkable album, all in the line of that first song, ‘Born to the Fight’. And a month or two later, there was ‘The Light, The Dark and Endless Knot’ on eBay. It arrived, and I knew I had a rare piece of art in my hands (at the gig, the band members themselves didn’t know where to get their albums…). Unfortunately, people call a lot of things and even straight crap ‘art’…
Let’s be quick and fair about this: the album gives the impression that it doesn’t advance, that time stagnates. Yes, ‘Balor of the Evil Eye’, the opener, has a paced up part with pounding drums and enthralling riffing. But than the whistle is heard. It sounds like crap. On ‘Reawakening Pride Once Lost’, the tin whistle sounds vivid and natural. On ‘The Light, The Dark and Endless Knot’, it sounds like a strange and spacey keyboard tone. Not good. But then again, it’s appearance is much less than on the first Waylander album. The rest of the album has good parts, but lacks good songs. It misses energy, vitality and that hint of evil that the first album had.
To conclude: I’m glad I have this album, but mostly because it’s a collector’s item. It isn’t as good as its predecessor, but after a few listening sessions, you might start to like it a little bit.
The Irish Pagan inspired metal act who if you recall had a rather fine album released through Century Media in ’98 titled ‘Reawakening Pride once Lost’, and then disappeared due to Label disagreements and the in house shit that disheartens many a band. The tin whistle was a trademark novelty that enriched the debut album which was criminally ignored at the time. With this new release the Tin whistle is used to good effect and basically makes the sound easier to distinguish. The pagan atmospheres are less effective and overall the sound is more a mid-paced death metal dirge with grizzled guitar riffs occasionally hitting an up-tempo romp only to withdraw back into the coarse comfortless mood that saturates the album. There are clean vocals mixed with the harsh that remind us of the bands past and yet the production whether imposed or inadvertently acquired is entrenched in those early Peaceville days. The gelid docility of early Anathema and My Dying Bride emanates throughout and is broken only by the bands own brand of folk influences. I think this album is a couple of years to late to have the impact it deserves but original and refreshing it can be at times and it’s an album that needs a few spins to break through the initially phlegmatic material. Once though you’ll discover a solid pagan metal release.