Since the last Celtic Connect, we’ve been snowed in up to our necks, endured some questionable governing on every side of the border, we’ve even had a Christmas

6 years ago

Since the last Celtic Connect, we’ve been snowed in up to our necks, endured some questionable governing on every side of the border, we’ve even had a Christmas since the last blast of Scots and Irish tunes – how was yours? Shite, aye? Nevermind, it’s almost time for the three days of summer we get in these parts so it’s high time for some dirty, down low delights from the North and the Emerald Isle. There’s a suitably ‘core feeling on this one, with metal, hard, sadboi, and Cork prefixes on these Celtic offerings.

Crack a can of ginger, pour a little out if you’re still pissy about the recipe change, press play.

Bailer

The ragtag bunch of boys from Bailer are the kings of this column, and quite rightly so. Their brand new video for “Tuesday Blues” is top tier and pulls from some pretty specific inspirations. The snarling riff beast of a track – from this year’s self-titled EP, which we love – deserved a video as grimy and gripping as this. Much like Every Time I Die‘s “Map Change” homage to their hometown of Buffalo, Bailer use the sights and folks of Cork for their subjects, barking out about everyone’s second least favourite day with the greyest background possible. From the opening shot in the fields, through the candid scenes of life in a city, Bailer mirror their dirty beatdowns with the misery and mire of shit city life. While it is immediately Cork, the scenes and images in the video will strike home for anyone brought up on the wrong side of the tracks. Whatever the fuck that really means.

To Kill Achilles

Dundee’s To Kill Achilles have been at it for a fair while. Playing their block-rockin’ beats all over the UK and Europe – recently coming back from a Russian adventure – the band are readying a bunch of new material. Recently they’ve squeaked out a video for a brand new track, “Venom”. It’s a perfect metalcore number, with bags of snappy guitars and jakey shakin’ drum fills and spills. Noticeably leaning towards a post-hardcore vibe, but never quite falling right into it, To Kill Achilles should be back to the forefront of anyone interested or involved with UK metalcore. “Venom” is a fantastic return to the spotlight, with a more dynamic sound feeding a huge finalé. Not everything has to be brutal all the time, sometimes it’s sweet to get a little sad. Keep an eye out for more new music from them, or suck!

Worn Out

Worn Out won’t be too familiar a name, yet. Also from Cork, Worn out share a similar attitude to their hometown homeslices Bailer. Their newest sounds also have a familiar face behind the dials in Aidan Cunningham (Murdock, Bailer), catering to the band’s cutting metallic hardcore vibe. There’s oodles of hostility floating around on “Circle The Drain”, pulling stoner riffs out of the air and splicing them into scything hardcore beats. It’s no slander on their talents to say that their sound is more primitive than Bailer’s – it’s also no disrespect to the heft and weight of Bailer’s hard-as-fuck music to say that Worn Out are maybe the meanest sounding band in Ireland right now. Check it out yourself, don’t believe everything the media tell you.

Lotus Eater

Closing things off this month, Glasgow’s Lotus Eater might just be a bit too cool for me. Their latest dose of diabolically down-tuned djeathcore (I’m bringing that back, best believe) pulls from the Loathe sound that itself stemmed from Fellsilent etc, etc – but it’s a bit more wild and dirty than the former and a bunch more filthy than the latter. The gloom and doom the band gets across pales in comparison to the sheer fun that their grooves and tempo shifts inspire. It’s fun stuff! It’s all fine and well being nihilistic and shit, but if you’re gonna play music this entertaining then maybe, just maybe crack a smile between every Acacia Strain adjacent lyric. I’m not quite 30 but I definitely feel like I’d be one of the elder heads at one of their shows. That’s not a bad thing. 20 year old me would have been mad into this, so I understand why a younger crowd would be so into this. Good stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcWm5Pg4K9U

Check out all the band’s on social media, buy some merch if they’re slinging it, send me your/your friend’s bands if they’re local enough to feature. Support your local venue, kill your local rapist, don’t be a dick.

Matt MacLennan

Published 6 years ago