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Cluain Tarbh

Cluain Tarbh
Cluaintarbh.jpg
Studio album by Mael Mórdha
Released September 2005
Recorded 2005, Dublin
Genre Doom metal
Celtic metal
Length 46:50
Label Karmageddon Media
Producer Mael Mórdha and Mick Richards
Mael Mórdha chronology
Cluain Tarbh EP
(2003)Cluain Tarbh EP2003
Cluain Tarbh
(2005)
Gaeltacht Mael Mórdha
(2007)Gaeltacht Mael Mórdha2007

Cluain Tarbh (Irish for Meadow of Bulls) is the Irish Celtic metal band Mael Mórdha's debut studio album. It was released in September 2005. The album name, along with the band name, can be written as the cover suggests, using Traditional Irish typography. The name would then be, "Cluain Tarḃ."

The album contains eight tracks, the shortest being An Tús at 0:56 long, and the longest being I Am the Wench's Bane at 10:15 long. The album is a collection of popular and newly written material spanning a several years in the band's history.

The cover art depicts the Battle of Clontarf or and this is the primary theme of the album's art and title track. The man on the left is a native Irish Gael, presumably fighting on the side of Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig, High King of Ireland. The man on the right appears to be a Viking, fighting on the side of the King of Leinster, Mael Mórdha. Both men are engaged in one-on-one combat against one another.

The album contains lyrics in both English and Irish.

"An Tús" is the introduction to the album. It fades in (and out) and is what sounds like a war tune with pipes. This is possibly mimicking what could be the lead-up the Battle of Clontarf, used as a metaphor for the entire album.

This song is the beginning of Mael Mórdha's signature Ceol Breatha Gaelach on the album. This is one of the sample tracks which can be heard on their website. As explained by the band:

A complex mix of orchestration, layered guitars and drums, this tune expresses the misery felt by the ignorance expressed towards our past and the hope of a time when a king will rise to unite the clanns and revive our dying culture. The music is more textured than Cluain Tarbh as the theme deals with more subtle, deeper feelings.


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Wikipedia

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