Elder Druid
formed in early 2015 in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. Five lovers of heavy
riffs and molten fuzz came together to add their stamp to the world of stoner rock and
doom metal. With heavy influences from Black Sabbath, Electric Wizard,
Kyuss and Sleep, the riffs began
to take shape and all the elements started to fuse.
With two guitarists, Jake Wallace on lead and Mikey Scott on rhythm, a wall of sound is generated from the slow, rhythmic riffs. The coarse vocals of Gregg McDowell are guttural war cries with enchanting, occult lyrics to tell the stories of warlocks and wizards. The low end is also ferocious with Dale Hughes providing a deep level of twang which lays the foundations to the riffs, complementing the reserved sense of calm from Brien 'Grizz' Gillen delivering a very soft but heavy canvas to the songs.
In August 2015, Elder Druid released two songs recorded live in the Loft, Belfast. 'Otherworld' and 'The Ides of March' kicked off their song writing process. In late 2015, after a lot more time writing music, Elder Druid recorded a live EP at Attic Studios in Belfast comprising of 3 tracks: 'Sellsword', 'The Warlock' and 'Reigning Hell' and released them as live music videos as well as on Bandcamp. The band chose a live performance to try and capture the raw energy.
After gigging through the summer of 2016 across Northern Ireland, the band went into the studio with Andy Shields (Hornets) and recorded a 5-track EP entitled ‘Magicka’ which caught the attention of Black Bow Records and who subsequently released the EP digitally on 23rd September and can be streamed in full below.
With two guitarists, Jake Wallace on lead and Mikey Scott on rhythm, a wall of sound is generated from the slow, rhythmic riffs. The coarse vocals of Gregg McDowell are guttural war cries with enchanting, occult lyrics to tell the stories of warlocks and wizards. The low end is also ferocious with Dale Hughes providing a deep level of twang which lays the foundations to the riffs, complementing the reserved sense of calm from Brien 'Grizz' Gillen delivering a very soft but heavy canvas to the songs.
In August 2015, Elder Druid released two songs recorded live in the Loft, Belfast. 'Otherworld' and 'The Ides of March' kicked off their song writing process. In late 2015, after a lot more time writing music, Elder Druid recorded a live EP at Attic Studios in Belfast comprising of 3 tracks: 'Sellsword', 'The Warlock' and 'Reigning Hell' and released them as live music videos as well as on Bandcamp. The band chose a live performance to try and capture the raw energy.
After gigging through the summer of 2016 across Northern Ireland, the band went into the studio with Andy Shields (Hornets) and recorded a 5-track EP entitled ‘Magicka’ which caught the attention of Black Bow Records and who subsequently released the EP digitally on 23rd September and can be streamed in full below.
Delving into the world of magic, wizards,
warlocks and the occult, 'Magicka'
is packed full of thick, fuzzy riffs, stomping bass, pounding drums and
gutteral wails, so be sure to pick up a copy here
