So, at least for now, the war is over, no more booming rockets interceptions or alarms of any kind other than the car horns in the busy streets of the city of Tel Aviv, back to our ordinary lives in our fair state of Israel. Sadly that several foreign artists, Metal and so on, decided that it wasn't that right time to head over to perform, even for a single show, or a sort of a 24 hour run in and out. Gladly, not all bands fled from their promise to capture the looks and ears of the local Metal scene. BEHEMOTH from Poland proved the mighty MEGADETH wrong just recently in August, and here I present you another band, quite veteran actually that should have made it in the book of Heavy Metal, the Irish warriors of CRUACHAN.
 

Without going into too much details about these fine mates, CRUACHAN has been out there in the green since the early 90's, enchanted by the likes, sounds and hooks of Irish Folklore and Metal music, and not only the cranky alcoholic vapor that in time became rather putrid in this genre especially with the mixture of Metal. Taking Irish Folklore seriously has been one of this band's prime purposes since day one, extremeness or not, and boy these guys can be Blackened with their Metal mischiefs, yet magically exporting the goods of Folk Metal with arrows of early British marauders SKYCLAD of the "The Wayward Sons Of Mother Earth" with a crisp of the foggy FALKENBACH. CRUACHAN released six albums to date and are about to complete their seventh one to be released in the coming December through the Pagan Metal experts of Trollzorn Records.
 

And right here, at this very spot, I will stop laying down the comparisons and history to jump right into the band's headlining show in the third edition of the Folk Fest, this time under the created event of Celtic Metal Festival. Sadly the opening Israeli act, BLACK VELVET cancelled their show at the same day, a fact that I found to be nothing more than unprofessional on their part, however, it was far from spoiling mine or my partner's, Val Smirnoff, fun and interest of the evening main course. Therefore, somewhere in the range of 21:30-22:00, CRUACHAN geared up with their traditional Irish warrior's rags and garments taking the stage one by one. Without a word, the band's drummer welcomed the sense of speed, the darkened Black Metal domain but without letting go of the electric violin's chants roamed throughout the band's set. Furthermore, what even more impressed me was the band's musical simplicity, laying down rather traditional riffery without venturing into much complex varieties. I did have to adjust myself to the lack of guitar melodies, yet the stormy atmosphere through the band's fast paced grindings really kicked in nicely, especially under the veils of founder Keith Fay's mixed vocals, raspy growls and neat clean presentations, along with the Folk instrumentals that chained the audience to the band's commanding presence.
 

Following the likes of early High School reminders, a true nostalgia of yours truly, with the refined versions of the debut album's hits al'a the haunting "To Invoke The Horned God" or the traditional Folklore magic of "Maeves' March", I really enjoyed an explosive set with newer tracks such as "The Sea Queen of Connaught", which showed the band's truest nature as an extreme Metal band with an armored fist of Irish Folk and less of the latter as the main genre direction, and of course other hits from recent releases such as the glorious "Pagan", coarse "Thy Kingdom Gone", probably the band's most melodic song with such an energetic flavor, "Ride On", which showcased a profound duet of Fey with guest female vocalist (my apologies if I can't recall the fair lady's name) with fierce Heavy Metal grasping a power balladry, and of course I just couldn't forget the last tune, or mixture of "The Morrigan's Call" and the robust, pride filled, "I Am Warrior". Without a doubt CRUACHAN retained a certain positive position and standard for the Folk Metal music trend, which they proved to be steps above the utter cheapness that some of the "glorious" acts has been portraying over the years and especially nowadays.
 

Right after the band's set, the Barby Club cleared rather fast, probably due to the main reason that not a lot of our fair scene came to welcome the Irish band, a sad factor indeed. Known or not, these guys really made the Irish gloomy Folklore happen right before our eyes, drenching in blood, iron knuckles and with a righteous Metal heart. CRUACHAN massed my appreciation once again as it has been since my High School days, and as an extra, I had the chance to meet and talk to such nice people.
 

On behalf of Metal Temple magazine, Val and I wish to thank Patrick Losinsky and the crew of ProgStage Productions for the warm hospitality once again in their productions and letting us promote and tell the story of Metal music in Israel. Personally I wish to thank Keith Fey of CRUACHAN for taking the time to be interviewed by Metal Temple right before the show. Last but not least, I wish to thank my partner Val Smirnoff for doing her best to capture the show's greatest moments and successfully interviewing Mr. Fey. Quite a night ladies and gentlemen and I believe that we will be fortunate for more uplifting events very soon.
 

Setlist:
1. To Invoke the Horned God / Brian Boru
2. The Sea Queen of Connaught
3. Pagan Hate
4. Maeves' March
5. Thy Kingdom Gone
6. Prophecy
7. Born for War (The Rise of Brian Boru)
8. The Great Hunger
9. Marching Song Of Feach MacHugh
10. Ossian's Return
11. Some Say the Devil Is Dead (Wolfe Tones cover)
12. Pagan
13. Ride On
14. The Morrigan's Call / I Am Warrior