Last week German folk metal band, a band I have long been a big fan of, released their fourth album. I've had a listen and I think it's excellent and shows a really different side of the band and of Jessica's voice. One of the bonus tracks is a cover of the Irish folk song "Star of the County Down." I love that song!
My favourite version has been done my my favouritest musician ever, Loreena McKennitt, and it appears on her The Wind That Shakes the Barley CD. Here it is:
Loreena can do no wrong in my world!
And here is Lyriel's metal version. It's fantastic. Take a listen:
I love how fast it is, I love how edgy is is, I love how you can headbang to it. Great job, Lyriel!
I don't know if anyone else out there is excited about the new Lyriel CD, Leverage, slated for release Feb. 24, but I sure am. Today, the band released a sample for one of their new songs, and it's called "White Lily."
Lyriel is a German folk metal band and I totally love their Autumntales album. Although this song has some sad lyrics, I find it to be quite uplifting to listen to, especially the epic instrumental outro that starts at 2:55. That part of the song just gets me going every time I hear it!
The first time I head this song was on Sarah Brightman's CD, La Luna, which I bought when it came out in 2000. I am grateful to my grandparents, of all people, for getting me into Sarah Brightman to begin with! Anyway, this is still such a rewarding album for me to listen to and I have always loved Sarah's version of "Hijo de la Luna", which is Spanish for "Son of the Moon." According to Wikipedia, "Hijo de la Luna" was first performed by a Spanish band called Mecano. Since then, it has been covered numerous times in addition to Sarah Brightman's version.
One of my favourite folk metal bands, Lyriel, also has a cover version of this song I really like, and I was so pleasantly surprised when it appeared on their Autumntales album.
Then there is Haggard, who does perhaps my favourite cover of Hijo, which appears on their Tales of Itheria album.
Finally, I just discovered a Finnish version of this song, performed by Katra, and named "Kuunpoika." I honestly wasn't too sure what to think of Katra when James first introduced me to her, but I have to admit, she is growing on me. This version of Hijo is good, but I find it a bit slow for my taste. It does have a nice guitar solo in it, though, which is quite cool.
What do you guys think? Which is your favourite version?
