Cnoc an Tursa - Cry For The Slain

For years, Scottish outfit Cnoc an Tursa lurked along the periphery of my awareness. I liked the few songs I'd 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't want to fall in love with a band that had little to no appetite to get in the studio.1 For Cnoc an Tursa, you can lay aside your concerns, because they're 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-writing 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's limitations. So, given the intervening years, does A Cry for the Slain elicit tears of joy or sorrow?