{"id":548911,"date":"2026-04-24T20:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T20:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/548911\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T20:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T20:50:08","slug":"cnoc-an-tursa-a-cry-for-the-slain-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/548911\/","title":{"rendered":"Cnoc An Tursa – A Cry for the Slain Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"For years, Scottish outfit Cnoc An Tursa lurked along the periphery of my awareness. I liked the few songs I\u2019d heard, and I frequently saw them referenced while exploring similar artists. Yet their lack of output kept me at a distance; as I expanded my taste for folk metal, I didn\u2019t want to fall in love with a band that had little to no appetite to get in the studio. For Cnoc An Tursa, you can lay aside your concerns, because they\u2019re back after a nine-year wait to unveil third full-length A Cry for the Slain. This new opus perpetuates what Cnoc An Tursa has been doing since the band formed twenty years ago\u2014writing blackened folk bangers fraught with grace, passion, and depth. After a prolonged absence, though, it becomes more and more difficult to bounce back if expectations outpace reality\u2019s limitations. So, given the intervening years, does A Cry for the Slain elicit tears of joy or sorrow?<\/p>\n

On A Cry for the Slain, Cnoc An Tursa draws upon the soundscapes of both their prior albums to hatch an experience that exists somewhere between them. Debut The Giants of Auld<\/a> introduced the world to Cnoc An Tursa\u2018s distinctive Highland hijinx, melding rousing orchestrations with meloblack might. Of their two previous albums, A Cry for the Slain shares more in common with The Giants of Auld, harkening to the debut\u2019s more direct songwriting than The Forty Five<\/a>\u2019s melancholic, key-drenched atmospheres. The Forty Five\u2019s solemnity persists on A Cry for the Slain, but its application rings bittersweet as triumphant melodies dance between wistful choirs and forlorn evocations. While all three albums sound unmistakably like them, their latest takes earlier victories and forges them together into Cnoc An Tursa\u2019s best album to date.<\/p>\n

\ufeffA Cry For The Slain by Cnoc An Tursa<\/a><\/p>\n

Throughout A Cry for the Slain, Cnoc An Tursa fuses ethereal majesty with blackened stylings and traditional melodies to create a gorgeous folk metal tapestry. The band\u2019s allure lies with their finesse as they conjure captivating and earnest music, and the more I spin A Cry for the Slain, the more I appreciate its stark and stunning beauty. Crashing waves and reverb-laden guitars set the tone within the first track, \u201cNa for Ghorma.\u201d The mournful female vocals crescendo into an inevitable trudge that releases into furious trems and grating rasps on follow-up \u201cThe Caoineag.\u201d Cnoc An Tursa consistently pits black metal acerbity against contemplative sorrow, deftly wending between complex atmospheres and emotions. This is perhaps best demonstrated on tracks \u201cBaobhan Sith\u201d and \u201cAlba in My Heart,\u201d where Cnoc An Tursa expertly controls song dynamics and tension with peaks and valleys in volume and pathos. Also, I\u2019d be remiss not to mention my favorite track \u201cAm Fear Liath M\u00f2r,\u201d which boasts an otherworldly quality and dextrous melodic leads that simultaneously remind me of \u201cLove Will Tear Us Apart,\u201d Iron Maiden, and Black Cross Hotel, yet still undeniably sounds like Cnoc An Tursa.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Despite succeeding on so many fronts, A Cry for the Slain flounders on penultimate track \u201cAddress to the Devil.\u201d To be fair, it mostly falls victim to the heights of the preceding tracks, which all possess strong identities and exemplary writing. Comparatively, \u201cAddress to the Devil\u201d stands out as missing the same soul. It starts promisingly enough, with frenzied tremolos lashing against scathing vocals, but from there the pace decelerates to a deliberate march. Soon enough, the song strips back to a twinkling synth and fabulous bass noodling, providing a solid core that ultimately lacks purpose or a melodic through-line to bring everything together. Besides \u201cAddress to the Devil,\u201d I have no material complaints. The production and mix are smart and balanced, the forty-four-minute runtime is just right, and A Cry for the Slain\u2019s replayability is relentless.<\/p>\n

Cnoc An Tursa breaks their nine-year silence with a bang, and fans of their work should be pleased with A Cry for the Slain. As a newer convert, I\u2019m disappointed I didn\u2019t make the time to discover them earlier, but visiting their prior albums along with the new one has brought me immense, befolkened joy. I hope we don\u2019t have to wait as long for their next outing, but until then, I\u2019m content listening to A Cry for the Slain, knowing that time hasn\u2019t dulled their ability to Cnoc one out of the park.<\/p>\n

Rating: Very Good!
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Apocalyptic Witchcraft Recordings<\/a>
Websites: Bandcamp<\/a> | Facebook<\/a>
Releases Worldwide: April 24th, 2026<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For years, Scottish outfit Cnoc An Tursa lurked along the periphery of my awareness. I liked the few…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[47816,19439,188958,188959,178402,188960,28214,188961,96,188962,22739,142865,13565,128,188963,263,129,104768,73647,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-548911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-47816","9":"tag-3-5","10":"tag-a-cry-for-the-slain","11":"tag-apocalyptic-witchcraft-recordings","12":"tag-apr26","13":"tag-black-cross-hotel","14":"tag-black-metal","15":"tag-cnoc-an-tursa","16":"tag-entertainment","17":"tag-finntroll","18":"tag-folk-metal","19":"tag-hellripper","20":"tag-iron-maiden","21":"tag-music","22":"tag-otyg","23":"tag-review","24":"tag-reviews","25":"tag-scottish-metal","26":"tag-turisas","27":"tag-uk","28":"tag-united-kingdom","29":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}