Dun Ringill—150 – Where The Old Gods Play Act 1 (2022)

Details

Mastered by Magnus Lindberg. Released on The Sign Records on Friday 4 August 2023.

Band

Thomas Eriksson—Vocals
Jens Florén—Guitar
Tommy Stegemann—Guitar
Patric Grammann—Guitar
Patrik Andersson Winberg—Bass
Neil Grant—Drums

Additional musicians

Per Wiberg—Keyboard on “The parrish” (track 2)
Sara Uneback—Violin on “Nathaniel’s hymn” (track 5) and intro to “The devil wears a papal tiara” (track 3)

Tracks

Awakening
The parrish
The devil wears a papal tiara
Baptised in fire
Nathaniel’s hymn
Blood of the lord
The last supper

Review

150 – Where The Old Gods Play Act 1 (2022) is the third full-length album by Swedish doom/folk metal ensemble Dun Ringill.

Dun Ringill started in 2017 as a dark and doomy project with Nordic folk influences, creating music with big harmonies and presenting them with lyrics directly from the land of evil and darkness within the creative mind of bassist Winberg. This quickly evolved into becoming something much bigger and before long they found their unique voice. Following a line-up reshuffle in 2020, they delved deeper into their folk and doom influences.

Which brings us to this album which combines Nordic folk, doom and progressive metal with storytelling lyrics Dun Ringill found a new lease of life writing this release, throwing themselves into the grandiose mission of composing a cohesive story within a concept record without any unwanted pretentiousness.

During my first few spins of this record, I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting myself in. It wasn’t quite folk metal, nor was is straight forward doom. I had to clear my mind of any preconceptions and start again.

If I was to pin a label on it, this is akin to later-career Skyclad with a sludge/doom undercurrent. Where I think it really shines is where the band fully embraces its folk roots. The closing few minutes of “Baptised in fire” (track 4) and the introduction to “Nathaniel’s hymn” (track 5) are quite exquisite. The songs lose a bit of their immediacy and life a bit when they get trodden down by the doom elements.

Keeping the best till last (supper), my favourite track on the album is the closer, “The last supper” (track 7) with its bass intro and layers verses.

Conclusion

All in all, this is a jolly record—with the folk elements playing off against the doom metal like two north poles of a magnet trying to assert dominance.

Review score: 60%

Disclosure

Csquared contacted me inviting me to preview Dun Ringill’s latest album, thank you. I have no connections to either PROMOTER or Dun Ringill. I’m not being paid to review this, but I did get a free digital copy of the album to review which is pretty cool. Many thanks to PROMOTER, and to Dun Ringill for continuing to create fresh, exciting new metal.