It’s hard not to respect longevity. Waylander as a band has been around for over thirty-three years and has spent it writing music about a people that have, in some form or another, been around for over thirty-three hundred years. The folk metal group from Northern Ireland combines traditional pagan metal riffing with traditional Irish instrumentation. It’s a tried and true formula, with Waylander being one of the earlier bands to try it out. Mac Tíre: Son of the Land marks the band’s sixth full-length release in that impressive timeframe, and handily demonstrates that, like the band’s own influences, time and experience often just make things better.
Like many Irish folk metal bands that came after them, Waylander love their country, its history, and its traditions, and this is plentifully evident in their music. The easy contemporary comparison is Eluveitie, as tin whistles, bouzouki, and mandolin from Dave Briggs are omnipresent, making up the majority of Mac Tíre’s melodic side. In “Silabh Gullion,” these more traditional instruments live lively alongside Tor Dennison and Saul McMichael’s (Drakonis) guitars. In “Macha,” the whistles are the melody, speedily riffing out what we’d call a power metal melody were it a guitar playing the notes. Lyrically, Waylander explore history, mythology, and the general cool factor or Ireland through Ard O’Hagan’s snarls. His delivery lives somewhere between a rasp and a growl, surprisingly clear in delivery, but with a weaker low end than his contemporaries, making him feel more storyteller than heavy metal growler. In all, Mac Tíre feels proudly Irish, reasonably heavy, and upbeat, a great foundation from a seasoned band.
As a result, there are highlights aplenty for those who like their metal folky. Backing vocals from Briggs add a sense of melody to choruses that elevates songs like “Our Once Wooded Isle,” “Mallachtaí,” and especially “Ages of Éireann.” The use of mandolin alongside and in between heavier passages adds to the storyteller’s feel of Mac Tíre, and works flawlessly with Connor Murray’s bass to create a sense of ebb and flow. Waylander also know when to up the drama, with spitting vengeance in “Mallachtaí” and the epic closer “She of the Sorrows.” These songs also give the guitarists crucial moments to shine, and maintain a sense of seriousness and heaviness throughout Mac Tíre. By balancing the many elements of their sound, Waylander has created an album that neither slows down nor lags through its 53 minutes. It’s not all neck-breaking power metal, but it’s lively and varied enough to be thoroughly enjoyable.
From a production and mastering standpoint, there are pros and cons, and I found some sonic elements of Mac Tíre took a few spins to get used to. As I mentioned earlier, O’Hagan’s vocals lack the level of power you might expect from the style, opting for a clearer, less aggressive approach. Part of the reason this works is that Mac Tíre is kind of a quiet album. The mix feels balanced, but subdued. My thinking is that the traditional instrumentation—the whistles in particular—are not very “strong” instruments (at times they’re quite passive, seeming to exist almost independently from other instruments) and the guitars are produced so as to not overpower them with everything else dialed back to follow suit. It does work, in part because Lee McCartney’s drumming is still allowed to pack a punch, but it took a spin or two to get used to. On the plus side, this allows the guitar solo in “Signs and Symbols” to really shine, and gives the bass plenty of moments to emerge in a fun, noodling kind of way. It makes for a listen less immediate than I expected, but no less enjoyable.
Mac Tíre scratched an itch I didn’t realize I had. Authentic, fun, and just dramatic enough, it shows that everyone in Waylander knows exactly what they’re doing. Mac Tíre makes me want to visit Ireland and learn curses to cast upon my enemies. I can only conclude, therefore, that it is a successful album for Wayfarer.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Rockshots Records
Websites: waylanderband.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/clanwaylander
Releases Worldwide: November 6th, 2026
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