Ankou Awaits - Crog Buidhe released!!!

Ok, I'm really excited about this because I've spent the last 5 weeks putting this together. For those of you who saw the other thread introducing the project Ankou Awaits, this is the full length sophomore album entitled "Crog Buidhe". Its 7 tracks, a few seconds shy of 45 minutes running time. A few things are different than the first Lebor Gabala Erenn black metal realase.

- Thanks to a Christmas present from my brother, the guitars/production are better/clearer than the first album.
- There's some variety to the guitars besides just tremolo. There's a few thrashy riffs, doom riffs, death riffs and other attempted chunk.
- The songs are a tad longer averaging 6 minutes or so, but there is a 9 minute epic on the album.
- This is a concept album. Conall Crog Buidhe (also known as Conall of the large yellow hand) is a celtic warrior.

Once again, not a Christian release (as the lyrics are about a gaelic warrior), but the lyrics are PG - so its faith-friendly.
I'll be looking for a label to release this. Moribund did take an interest in the first release, but voiced to me they wanted something more "rockin'". I'll be heading their way with a demo. If I don't have any luck with labels, I'll release this myself later. ( ^ - ^)

Oh yeah, the music. Here's 3 videos featuring the music from tracks 2, 3, and 4. The picture is the cover art. (which is a picture of me, heh)





If you enjoy the music, please let me know!

Sounds great man!

Thanks man! I appreciate the compliment!
( ^ - ^)

Got the attention of a label, and they want to work with this project, this release.
Expect digital release first, and the physical release after that.

Awesome news.

Thanks! I'm really excited!
( ^ - ^)

Yeah sounds good!

CDs are in pre-press review right now. They'll probably start on them Monday. Made this nice little image that gives a slightly lo-fi tour of the actual CD, much like the one made for the debut.



Digital release is submitted. All that might take a couple weeks.
I'm thinking it will be available where its supposed to by mid-March....

Cool.

Digital downloads are available for the Crog Buidhe album! iTunes and a few other places have it for $6.93.... eMusic has the best deal though. You can get the full length Crog Buidhe album for $3.43! Can't beat that with a stick folks! Any more, I'd be giving this album away.

If you want it, just click on the sig and go to the merchandise page.
Thank you for any and all purchases!!!!

Oh yes, all you radio show guys that are willing to play songs from this release in your show times, PM me and I'll GIVE you MP3s of the whole album.

And I'm happy to announce that the first Crog Buidhe-review has gone online over at the Death Metal Baboon. Great work Thomas. I thoroughly enjoyed the album!

-> http://deathmetalbaboon.com/album-review-ankou-awaits-crog-buidhe

Thank you very much for the review!

First the bad, I was actually a little discouraged that you liked the debut album a little bit better than the first, but then I realized how silly it is to compete with myself here. 8.5 out of 10 is a great score and I enjoyed reading the review!

There were several reasons on my decision to have a slightly different musical formula to my music. For one, I asked myself, do I really want to do things the exact same way as the first album? ....or do I want to take a chance and try to evolve? I took that chance, also because the albums would stand out from each other more.

I know that you really liked that the Lebor Gabala Erenn album "raged on and on", I do too. There are some people that did not like that. One particular review, the comment made was "It just rages on and nowhere does it become interesting". I see that point too.

Being that the project is maturing, I wanted to see how it would grow, even if it meant taking a step backward in someways, and forward in others. ( ^ - ^)

Thanks again for the review! I put a link to it on my site!

Hguols wrote:Thank you very much for the review!

First the bad, I was actually a little discouraged that you liked the debut album a little bit better than the first, but then I realized how silly it is to compete with myself here. 8.5 out of 10 is a great score and I enjoyed reading the review!

There were several reasons on my decision to have a slightly different musical formula to my music. For one, I asked myself, do I really want to do things the exact same way as the first album? ....or do I want to take a chance and try to evolve? I took that chance, also because the albums would stand out from each other more.

I know that you really liked that the Lebor Gabala Erenn album "raged on and on", I do too. There are some people that did not like that. One particular review, the comment made was "It just rages on and nowhere does it become interesting". I see that point too.

Being that the project is maturing, I wanted to see how it would grow, even if it meant taking a step backward in someways, and forward in others. ( ^ - ^)

Thanks again for the review! I put a link to it on my site!

Well, right now I believe you're serving everyone's desires with Ankou Awaits. I like both albums, almost equally, I just felt that Lebor Gabala Erenn has quality, it is a real Black Metal album, it's pure. Crog Buidhe is different, experimental, and clever. It's more modern, and more interesting actually. However, here I felt that Lebor Gabala Erenn does a better job at what it does, than Crog Buidhe. If you know what I mean.

Either way, I love both of them.

Awesome! I'm really glad!

Thanks again for the awesome review! I'm really glad you did that!

( ^ - ^)

Oh and don't worry about any Dutch webzines giving bad reviews, they generally do so with awesome albums. The same website gave A Hill To Die Upon's Infinite Titanic Immortal 40/100, which is one of the best album's ever made. And they got Guilty as Sin's Psychotronic (an album full of awesome ambient/electronic/hardcore punk, I gave it a 9/10), a 33/100

Yeah. I'm sure its skewed.

It actually would mean a great deal to me if they gave this release a good review, since they did not like the previous one at all. I'm sure it might be a pipe dream, but I'm still interested in what they have to say.

( ^ - ^)

Hguols wrote:Yeah. I'm sure its skewed.

It actually would mean a great deal to me if they gave this release a good review, since they did not like the previous one at all. I'm sure it might be a pipe dream, but I'm still interested in what they have to say.

( ^ - ^)

Can you keep me posted on other reviews Thomas? I'm kinda interested in what other people find in comparison to my opinion

You bet! I'll post them when available in this thread!



The Ankou Awaits Crog Buidhe CDs are now available!
Price for the full length album is $10 and that price includes shipping WORLDWIDE.
Methods of payment accepted are Paypal, Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express...

If you want to pick one up, just click on my sig and go to the merchandise section of the site!

I've contacted a few other places regarding reviews. Horst from Lords
of Metal contacted me and said the Crog Buidhe review will be up May
1st. I haven't heard from blackmetalreviews.com yet, but it takes a bit
from a CD to go from central Illinois to Ireland...

"Giant
Malediction" (track 4 on Crog Buidhe) now has over 1,400 votes on
hardcoremix.com for best song. Once again, still a small fish in a big
pond, but that song has a higher rating than 18 other songs. (which is
hilarious because the rest of the projects on there are electronica,
rap, country, bluegrass, some rock/hard rock, etc.)
( ^ - ^)

This is good stuff, I'll have to pick it up when I have the money.

Thanks for the compliment and the interest in my music!
_______________

There's another review up of Crog Buidhe on blackmetalreviews.com! I think he likes the album!

Lo-fi and organic, obstinately inaccessible yet
oh-so-rewarding for those who get there, this is the antidote to
the polished, pristine produce f*cking up our beloved
subgenres (Black and Death Metal) today.
555/666 ~ Black Metal Reviews
Review of Crog Buidhe @ blackmetalreviews.com

Finally! The review from Lords of Metal is in, and its a good one.

http://lordsofmetal.nl/showreview.php?id=21621&lang=en

The score, by the same reviewer mind you, is 20 points higher. 72/100, the site considers the album to be above average of what they review.
He praises the variety of the album and once again love the lyrics with the music. I consider this rating an honor considering how some of the other artists stack up on the site.

Ankou Awaits - Crog Buidhe 72/100
Crimson Moonlight - Veil Of Remembrance 60/100
Burzum - Umskiptar 55/100
Job For A Cowboy - Demonocracy 75/100
Antestor - The Forsaken 75/100
A Hill To Die Upon - Infinite Titanic Immortal 40/100

Also got a few reviews of the Crog Buidhe album on Encyclopedia Metallum, amazon.com and Spirit of Metal, courtesy of members here!!! Check them out!