Uaigneas - _Buì_
(Independent, 2011)
by: Aly Hassab El Naby (5 out of 10)
_Buì_ is being labeled "Gaelic Doom Metal". Gaelic, for those who are not familiar with the term, means something from or related to the Gaels, who are the speakers of any of Goidelic Celtic languages, which generally covers Ireland and Scotland. So given this touch of Linguistics and Anthropology that usually tickles the fancy of this Egyptian writer, the interest was taken into Uaigneas' debut EP. It's an twenty-four minute EP that has lyrics written in both the Gaelic and English languages.

So how exactly does Gaelic doom sound like? I can't exactly describe it based on experience, because _Buì_ isn't really doom per se. It's Gaelic alright, no question there. The traditional instruments and the Gaelic lyrics are spot on, but the doom elements seem absent. Opening track "An Raibh tú ar an gCarraig" treats us to the standard Irish flute which is followed by the introduction of guitars and vocals. The guitars are in fact distorted but they sound too weak to be taken seriously as doom guitars. That doesn't persist through the whole record though. "Onslaught of Storms" gets the doom right on and actually stands out as _Buì_'s finest cut.

Uaigneas sounds like a band that has the seeds to be something refreshing in a saturated genre. Doom is an old game and its rules are known to everyone, but if a band can appropriately fuse some cultural or native elements into it, we may witness something truly memorable. Uaigneas could benefit from fine tuning their musical elements to put themselves on a better track. The production on _Buì_ is the first thing that caught my attention, because it seemed to dull the experience a bit despite containing some very expressive tunes. The potential is there, but, in my humble point of view, more work still needs to be done.

Contact: http://www.uaigneas.com

(article published 6/5/2012)


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