𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐥 - 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑴𝒆𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏 (2014)

𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…

On November 25, 2014, 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐥 released their  eighth full-length studio album 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑴𝒆𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒗𝒆𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏 via Metal Blade Records.

A music video for the track 𝑩𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒍‘𝒔 𝑻𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 was released on November 24, 2014.

The album reached No. 24 on the Top Heatseekers chart, No. 24 on Billboard's Top New Artist Chart and No. 43 on Billboard's Hard Music Chart, and No. 104 on Billboard's Independent Albums Chart.

On December 10, 2014, via LouderSound.com, 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐥's frontman and lyricist A.A. Nemtheanga spoke about the album, taking readers through each song’s theme and concept:

𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑴𝒆𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏:

“This is the no-brainer opener, the full-on Iron Maiden rallying cry, partly inspired by a book I read about the Chicago World Fair in 1894, when people were looking forward to the 20th century as a period of unrivalled prosperity, and instead we ushered in World War One: bloodshed and killing on an even greater scale than we thought imaginable. Now we’re looking at war on the fringes of Europe and Ukraine, ISIS in the Middle East, it seems to me we’re winding up to some other chaotic age.

For me this is maybe my favourite song, but it’s strange, I was talking to a German guy and he said ‘I don’t really get this song!’. But I think it is a real grower, and it looks like it’s the one we’ll make our first video for (see the YouTube link below). It’s about the misinterpretation of language, miscommunication between people, being stuck behind a lifestyle and lying to yourself. It’s a more visual song lyrically, masking something more personal.”

𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅:

“A classic 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐥-sounding song with a First World War atmosphere mixed in with a bit of Biblical imagery, where soldiers are praying for a massive flood as the only thing that can wash away all the blood that’s been spilt. There’s a line about “the Jericho trumpet sounds through the valleys and hills” which on one level is a religious reference, but also the siren on the German bombers. I wanted a big chorus – which is partly my Def Leppard/Dokken influence! – but with some depth to it.”

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒚𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔:

“This had its origin in how the West was viewing the Arab Spring in terms of democracy. Somehow what was holding these countries together was tyranny, and in the power vacuum created by our views of what democracy should stand for, what’s left is absolute chaos. It’s also taking a great stab at inactive humanitarianism encouraged through social networking, and how we try to compartmentalise a very complex situation into a thirty second gif to share on Facebook.”

𝑮𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒍 𝑯𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆:

“This year they uncovered a huge mass grave filled with bodies of children outside a religious institution in Ireland. The families gave their upbringing to the Sisters Of Charity, and they basically starved or worked these kids to death. It’s about our lack of courage to stand up to these institutions. At one time I was against the church and state but for the people, then I found myself against all three. We allowed the church to run the institutions of the state, and it’s about what they did with that. And the conclusion is: why aren’t there more priests hanging in local squares?”

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒍𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕‘𝒔 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒅:

“Lyrically it’s just about William Blake, it’s a traditional occult tome looking at his views on alchemy. I took my Blake books, pieced the imagery together and wrote the lyrics in literally ten minutes. Anybody who was a teenager in Dublin in the 1980s will remember an occult bookstore called The Alchemist’s Head, when I was 15 I bought Aleister Crowley books there, so this is a little nod to that.”

𝑩𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝑵𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕:

“This is actually about Selim from The Devil’s Blood. I had a few thoughts about our friendship. After Selim died, so many people who never knew him were posting such incredible rubbish online. I wrote this thing for him, and the last bit was about me and him in a nightclub dancing like fools to Abba or something. That’s how I want to remember him. Nobody writes about what a great sense of humour he had, what a trickster he was, everyone just wanted to write this occult hocus-pocus. But it’s basically about people’s willingness to project their own naive terms of martyrdom onto someone else. I wanted it to take on its own life.”

𝑾𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝑳𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝑺𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒖𝒏:

“This is the Bathory epic! Ciaran had these two riffs at our last rehearsal before the album. As soon as he started to play them we all joined in, I jumped up and sang the first melody that came into my head, which is what you hear on the album, and the whole thing was written in 40 minutes. I wrote the lyrics on the bus, they were done on the way to the studio. I wanted a very simple pagan, heathen element to it, and it’s a great album closer I think. Good to play live as well, it could end up becoming a German pagan metal anthem or something.”

YouTube link to lyric video for 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑴𝒆𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏; https://youtu.be/472Qh4l1pFU

Click this link to purchase 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑴𝒆𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏 via Bandcamp; https://primordialofficial.bandcamp.com/album/where-greater-men-have-fallen

Critical Reception:

Voted No. 15 in Metal Hammer’s albums of the year in 2014, the album was generally well received by critics.

Pitchfork wrote that "Compared to 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐥’s past successes, the stripped-and-centered approach might seem simplistic, but the hour-long result is more immediate because of it. From beginning to end, 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏 feels like a compulsory listen."

About.com's Dan Drago also praised the album, concluding in his review that “𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑴𝒆𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒗𝒆𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏 is more proof of their ability to grow and maintain such a high level of songwriting. Equal in stature to their last two releases, they seem to be reaching new heights and very few bands can match their passion. They have once again released a sure candidate for album of the year."

Many critics were particularly complimentary towards A.A. Nemtheanga's vocals on the album. Writing for Rolling Stone, Kim Kelly wrote that "Alan Averill is a vocal powerhouse, soaring atop Melodic Black/Folk Metal compositions that channel doom and gloom as well as triumph... When Averill howls "The heart of your motherland will be ripped from her chest," a million ghosts cry out with him."

Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells

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