Being a big fan of regional mythology, it’s always exciting when a band comes around that dresses their music in the tales of their homeland. It’s both continuing one of metal’s great tenets to put these stories to music and also gives dorks like me a reason to retreat to the internet to learn things I ordinarily would not have had I not encountered said band.

Scottish duo Hand of Kalliach fall deeply into that category, and their new record “Corryvreckan” sends you headlong into their country’s folk tales, namely the legend of the Cailleach. She lives at the bottom of a whirlpool that gives us our album title, and depending on who tells you the tale, it either can be a positive story or one of great horrors. That dichotomy aligns with the members’—husband/wife vocalist/guitarist/drummer John, and vocalist/bassist Sophie—vocal stylings. Sophie has the more delicate melodic voice, while John shrieks and growls with devastating effects. They also weave melodic death metal in a similar vein as Amon Amarth where things are brutal, but there’s so much infectious fire cooked into the songs, you can’t help but get swept away by this album.

“Three Seas” opens with waves crashing and Sophie’s angelic vocals coating with mystery, synths pumping, the drama about to break. The track erupts, and John’s howls crush, the pace getting melodic but more muscular. Howls whip as the waters splash, everything dissolving into a folkish pocket. “Fell Reigns” is fiery and rustic, trudging and mauling with ferocity, the dreamy singing/bloody growling playing dueling roles. The playing sweeps and makes blood surge, a swell of power crawling and then sprinting, lathering with energy that jolts your adrenaline to spike. “Dìoghaltas” instantly lays waste, Sophie’s singing floating in the clouds, the relentless chaos rippling down spines. Once again, both voices mix and bring brutality and beauty, the music then plinking as the mists rise, fading into the cold. “Cirein-cròin” is beastly and heavy, destroying amid massive blows, trudging as the synth glistens brightly. Howls land punches, melodic calls rampage through the woods, keys drizzling on a hazy end.

“Deathless” piles up the riffs, plastering as the roars crush with force, and then the singing infects, making it feel like you’re ensconced in a fantasy. Yet, the sonic ugliness takes precedence, pushing into your ribs like a blade, the deathly assault ending in dust. “The Hubris of Prince Bhreacan” basks in humidity, Sophie’s singing rising above the heat, and then the growls sinking in their teeth. Sophie’s vocals reach a register higher as the lava begins to flow, the drama suddenly thickens, and folkish melodies usher in a calming ending. “Unbroken You Remain” is sludgier, the howls blasting, the singing glistening as the energy begins to swell. The track sounds like a battle anthem, riveting forces into the chaos, the anthemic chorus driving the attack, soaring off into adventurous waters. “The Cauldron” enters in glowing synth before the playing explodes, meaty death metal pounding away, even as Sophie’s singing soothes some of those wounds. The duo hits everything head on, bringing storming ferocity, jarring punishment, and an abrupt end to a short, satisfying track. Closer “Of Twilight and the Pyre” opens with plucked strings and Sophie’s singing haunting, a misty and numbing pace setting out what seems like it’ll be a fantastical journey. And it is, but it also has plenty of thorns and daggers. The playing blasts and wrenches, crushing with sickening fashion, the sounds washing through as the howls strengthen their grip. Strings glaze as the growls destroy, and then we slip back into chilling waters, the singing numbing, slipping out into echoes.

Hand of Kalliach’s mix of death metal and Gaelic folk on “Corryvreckan” might not be unique in concept, but their execution of this sound is what makes them more interesting and devastating. The mythology mixed into the record adds even more adventure to the pulsating waves, and even besides all of that, it’s an exciting collection that explodes with power from front to back. This can take your mind out of whatever doldrums in which it’s entrenched and give you a reason to get lost in metal’s power all over again.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/HandOfKalliach

To buy the album, go here: https://shop.prostheticrecords.com/

For more on the label, go here: https://prostheticrecords.com/