Dark ambient explorers From The Bogs Of Aughiska announce a new EP and festival

Having coaxed out the dark, potent spirit of Ireland’s most forsaken natural outposts, over two albums, celebrated ambient alchemists From The Bogs Of Aughiska are returning with a new EP, Fenian’s Ram as a prelude to a self-curated, one-day festival, Roadburren Fleadh, which takes place at The Burren Storehouse @ the Roadside Tavern in Lisdoonvarna, County Clare this Saturday April 30.

Celebrating the Liscannor-born engineer and inventor of the submarine, John P Holland, Fenian’s Ram is, rather aptly, a journey into the sonic depths, its dread-inducing textures underlaid with ominous guest vocals from Celtachor’s Stíofán De Roiste, alongside a reworking of the song, The Ballad Of John P Holland.

The band have also provided a video for the title track, relating Holland’s feats, and the repercussions, with old newsreel footage that, also somewhat aptly, becomes a fully immersive experience.

Fenian’s Ram is released via Apocalyptic Witchcraft on April 29, one day before Roadburren Fleadh, showcase some of the best metal bands and alternative electronic artists in the country, along with short documentaries on the independent Irish music scene from film maker John Mulvaney.

“If experimental, dark ambient, black metal, or simply the lore of the supernatural appeal to you,” says From The Bogs Of Aughiska mainman Conchúir O’ Drona, then Roadburren is an event not to be missed. As the festival curators we have brought together some of Ireland’s leading acts in the spectra of Irish metal and electronic heaviosity. Alongside From The Bogs Of Aughiska, this one-day festival in the remote and famed town of Lisdoonvarna will also feature Galway post-metalcore band llenkus, folk-metallers Celtachor, black-metallers Mortichnia, dark ambient from Ruairí O’Baoghaill, and electroacoustic soundscapes by Barry Dillon.”

Roadburren Fleadh looks set to be a mesmerising journey into Ireland’s heart of darkness, and if you hear the pilgrim’s call, get your bearings at the festival’s events page here, and From The Bogs Of Aughiska’s Facebook page here!

Having freelanced regularly for the Melody Maker and Kerrang!, and edited the extreme metal monthly, Terrorizer, for seven years, Jonathan is now the overseer of all the album and live reviews in Metal Hammer. Bemoans his obsolete superpower of being invisible to Routemaster bus conductors, finds men without sideburns slightly circumspect, and thinks songs that aren’t about Satan, swords or witches are a bit silly.