ARD
ARD “Untouched by Fire”
by Octopi Mills
From Tyne, Tyne and wear, England, comes "Untouched by Fire" from ARD. The promo reads thus:
"The debut album "Take Up My Bones", followed the legend and century-long wanderings of the relics of Lindisfarne saint, Cuthbert (634–687). The tale narrated on the new full-length shines a light on a very different kind of saint. It revolves around the warrior king Oswald (604–642), who forged Northumbria with fire and sword by uniting the kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira. With powerful allies of the Irish kingdom of Dal Riada on the west coast of Scotland, excellent diplomatic skill and the martial prowess of a warrior who had fought battles both in Ireland and Scotland, where his bravery supposedly gained him the honorary name 'Whiteblade', Oswald was widely regarded as the most powerful Anglo-Saxon king by his contemporaries. It was most likely he, who ended the British Celtic kingdoms in the North and expanded Germanic rule in all directions. "
This being said, the music stays in the field of Epic metal, with some doom and darker moments with piano and key arrangements lending at times a neo-classical vibe of sorts. This worked out in the first track and into the second, "Name Bestowed", with the use of layered choir vocals that create an atmosphere of olden times and an antiquity of the British legends and historical means. The music takes its time and works well to build an atmosphere and instrumentation.
It is said the fellow behind ARD is the same from the band WINTERFYLLETH . One can hear acoustics and creeping cello present in the compositions as well as the bright percussuive elements. "He Saw Nine Waters" takes the epic metal instrumentation up a notch and has a cold, uncertain feeling that brings a guy down too far, whereas "Beset by Weapons" has a sound that evokes old folk and the landscapes of the British countryside. "Casket of Dust" has the lost sort of meandering feel mentioned before that seems to just drop off into a melancholic nowhere, yet the poetry of the piece yearns and laments and gets taken somewhere by way of the epic choirs, and that which is the hallmark of the overall album. It was an interesting if not a melancholic, sleepy, downcast and wandering sort of listen.