Black folk metallers Cnoc An Tursa to release ‘A Cry For The Slain’

Hailing from Falkirk, Cnoc An Tursa (meaning Hill Of The Standing Stone) have been striving to capture the essence of Scotland’s history, landscape and mythology in song since 2006. Their first album, The Giants Of Auld, catapulted the band into the public eye, with Metal Hammer declaring that the “utter elation and triumph found in this collection of odes to their land is deeply moving and terrifically affecting”. In 2017 second album, The Forty Five’ followed and again Metal Hammer led the cavalcade of praise, describing the album as “a ferocious, thunderously heavy fusion of Celtic rock and black metal”…and then the machinations of life conspired to intervene and there has been no further release from Cnoc An Tursa for eight long years. But now, the silence has been broken and the Scottish bards have returned, with not only a new album, but perhaps the most powerful and emotive set of songs they have ever released – A Cry For The Slain!

From the stirring pride and passion of ‘Na Fir Ghorma’ to the reflection and release of ‘The Nine Maidens Of Dundee’, Cnoc An Tursa take the listener on an incredible, enthralling journey through Scottish folklore, with each vibrant track bringing to life the weeping banshees, shapeshifting temptresses, mysterious giants and maiden devouring dragons of myth. Blasting black metal like a howling tempest is entwined in evocative Gaelic melodies as fiercely defiant vocals transport us to a world beyond our everyday existence. ‘Alba In My Heart’ is the first single to be lifted from A Cry For The Slain and it stands alone as an impassioned declaration of dedication to Scotland. The song travels through different territories, as if passing over the Scottish landscape, from rocky coasts to deep lochs and sun and snow dappled peaks. Elsewhere ‘Address To The Devil’, inspired by the poetry of Robert Burns, begins in a dark storm of venomous black metal but builds into so much more; something layered, intense, epic, emotive and magical. The spell that A Cry For The Slain casts is powerful and it will hold you in its grip from the first note to the last, each song a treasure trove of imaginative and majestic sounds.

ALBUM PRESALE LINK HERE.

Mastered by Jaime Gomez Arellano (Paradise Lost, Primordial, Hexvessel etc), A Cry For The Slain possesses the layered, textured sound it needs for every story told to be brought to vivid life – and with its darkly evocative artwork created by Olga Kann (Winteria, Withered Land, Ruadh etc) every element of the album has been carefully curated. When Apocalyptic Witchcraft unveil the stunning return of Cnoc An Tursa on April 24th the band will be welcomed home like conquering heroes.