Origins

Saor: Northern soul

DAVID RUFF/PRESS

SEASON OF MIST

Scottish folk/black metal historians dial the metal up to 11

WHO SAYS NATIONAL pride should be monopolised by the Scandinavians?

When you think of black metal bands taking pride in local culture, it’s where your brain always goes, picturing Bathory and Enslaved genuflecting before the Vikings. However, Saor have been distilling the sound of Scotland’s sweeping Highlands into metal for 10 years now.

For Saor’s fifth fulllength, Origins, Andy Marshall’s ‘Caledonian metal’ solo project once again taps the native soil for inspiration. Their sixth album is an ode to the Picts – the forefathers of the present-day Scots, who lived in the north of the country some one thousand years ago. And musically, it puts its money where its mouth is. Saor marry extreme metal with Gaelic folk so that not only is opening track Call Of The Carnyx named after an ancient Scottish warhorn, it actually uses the instrument to frame its galloping drums and tremolo picking. Flutes underpin The Ancient Ones, while bongos give way to modern percussion on Beyond The Wall.

Compared to the Saor of yore, though, Origins is a more guitar-driven adventure.

Marshall’s admitted to spinning a lot of classic metal during lockdown, and the impact is undeniable. Guitar leads fly left, right and centre throughout these six songs. They’re at their best on Fallen, plucking out tribal Scottish melodies through the medium of grandiloquent heavy music. The title track harmonises over folkish acoustic strums and between Marshall’s deep-throated growls.