Dread Sovereign – ‘Alchemical Warfare’ (Metal Blade)
Alan Averill – or Nemtheanga, to give him his perhaps more recognizable stage name – bestrides the Irish death metal scene like a colossus, having been single-handedly responsible (especially in his own eyes) for placing the Emerald Isle’s contribution to the genre firmly and squarely in the centre of the global stage. He is also a man possessed of an ego as big as the Irish diaspora, not least in his derogatory attitude towards the Irish music media (which is perhaps surprising considering his own background as a journalist of some repute) … so, he won’t really give a flying fuck what we north of the border at ÜRHQ make of this, the third full-length offering from his doomier side project, will he (something he makes clear in the title of the closing track? Well, fuck him, ‘cos we’re gonna tell him, and you, anyway…
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