INTERVIEW: Coscradh

Forming in 2015 in Ireland, Coscradh is one of my favourites from this country’s supreme scene. Having been blown away by their London show in 2024 and with their “Nahanagan Stadial” LP regularly on my turntable, I decided to conduct the interview below…

1. Greetings Coscradh! Please introduce your band to our readers! 

Coscradh (Triumph in Slaughter) are an Irish Black/Death metal band with members from the east and the Irish speaking parts of the west of the island, focused mainly on history, folklore and mythology.

2. When you formed, what inspired you to create this sort of nightmarish black / death metal? Which bands and non-musical entities corrupted you to engage in such activities?

We were into bands like Beherit, Blasphemy, Teitanblood, Diocletian, Katharsis, First and Second wave Black Metal. Though we emerged later, what originally inspired us to create a project was a brief, but significant eruption of underground metal activity around Dublin and Invictus Productions in the early 2010s.

3. 2016 saw the release of your self-titled demo tape with the mighty Invictus Productions. How was this written and recorded? Do you guys still enjoy the demo and has it served its purpose?

The demo was written when I (Ciarán) was living in Belfast around 2014 by myself and John. From the beginning a lyrical theme for the band was clear to me. We later completed the lineup and moved the main base of operations to Dublin in 2016. We sought out Shauny Cadogan (Last Light Recordings) as he just recorded for Slidhr at the time. Initially we recorded a pre-production and then the real deal shortly after that. He got a damn good sound out of us for what was meant to be a rough demo tape. We had not fully settled on the sound, but naturally because of the nature of what we were listening to it became far heavier than originally planned, and I’m still happy with the demo as an initial statement of intent.

4. Next up, the following year saw an EP entitled “Of Death and Delirium” come out on CD. Similarly, please tell us about the creation of this EP and what emotions you hold toward it today.

In 2017, Hick from On Pain of Death and Gourd, joined on bass and added another layer of insanity to vocals and interludes. Darker atmosphere with more elaborate songwriting.. although it may not be entirely audible, not the fault of recording, but admittedly we had some ways to go with our playing ability. We rushed into Sun Studios a bit prematurely, recorded on the analogue desk and ended up with something we weren’t too pleased with. However ‘Saor sa hAnbháis’ became our favourite track to play live. Even though we hadn’t gotten the result we wanted from the EP, myself and Hick came away from it with more of an understanding of elements that we wanted to focus on for the future. 

5. Closing the chapter on EP’s, the third in the trinity is “Mesradh Machae” on 7” vinyl. You know the drill, tell us about it!

With delays and departures from the band it took a while to finally get back to writing in late 2019. At this point John had left (and went on to create Callous Master) and I had moved to Dublin fully assuming the role of songwriter. The final song written with John was Mesradh Machae. But by mid 2020 we had a large portion of Nahanagan Stadial demo’d in the same session. As we had shown no signs of life to the label for a couple of years, we sent Darragh the pre-production which included a song that later became Feast of the Epiphany, along with Feallaire Dóite, Plagues of Knowth and Mesradh Machae. To our surprise he wanted to release two of the demo tracks as this 7 inch. 

6. Before we talk about your latest LP, I’d like to know what you guys feel about physical music and its various formats. You’ve released 12” and 7” vinyl, a tape and a couple CDs. Do you guys have any preference toward a specific format? Do you collect records?

Personally I collect mainly vinyl but CDs and tapes serve their purpose also. My collection would be heavily stacked with Irish music, from Dubliners, to Planxty, and Finbar Furey to Stockton’s Wing, Rory, Lizzy, Hendrix and of course tons of Black, Death and Classic Metal. At this point in time the dominant format is 12” LP, but we have more focus on what we want to achieve conceptually with releases than earlier-on in our existence, so it’s the best suited format for our current output.

7. “Nahanagan Stadial”, your debut full length was released by the same label as everything else (more on that later), Invictus Productions. These songs saw a development in atmosphere, while retaining that savage black/death assault. How did you conjure these spectral and bleak atmospherics while still hitting ferociously hard?

Late 2020 and early 2021, before and during covid we wrote the remainder of Nahanagan Stadial. Jason from Sacrilegia had moved from being temporarily on Bass to Lead Guitar and Hick had returned to the fold from a brief hiatus. We focused on building on what we had developed for the Mesradh Machae EP and were ready to record by mid 2021. We wanted slightly more clarity for this release, and having learned lessons during the EPs. At the time Shauny and Darragh had very successfully combined forces with an Invictus HQ/Last Light Recording studio in Rathmines in South Dublin so we were able to record a lot of smaller sessions and add layers of madness very close to where I lived. It became a regular spot for parties and bedevilment during the lockdowns at the same time. These circumstances combined with quite a bit of additional focus during that era, definitely had something to do with the ferocity of Nahanagan Stadial.

8. I always find it more interesting when a band sings in their native language. It adds another layer of mystique to music. Is this why you chose to record some songs in Irish Gaelic? Or is it just a fuck you to the English speaking world? Furthermore can you unveil some of the mystery of what your lyrics represent and are based around?

Haha! No it’s not really that much of a fuck you, but maybe you could be right.. I grew up speaking Irish so it’s a natural instinct to use it whenever I have the opportunity. In my opinion we can’t convincingly write on history and mythology under an Irish name without writing in our native language at least some of the time, especially for songs that are coming from a certain time period or certain protagonist.

Our lyrics on the demos/EPs  were based on direct Irish history in the context of violence, Nahanagan Stadial delves into speculative history and mythology, but in the sense that this could also be ancient history passed down through word of mouth. It’s based around a series of apocalyptic events on the island, the greatest being based on a geographical finding in County Wicklow, where it was discovered that the Ice age 11k years ago actually spanned all the way down through most of Ireland and that the hunter-gatherers would have been wiped out of existence, had left by making a deathly journey across ice sheets to Europe.

The new album is based on what I’ve learned on many visits I’ve made to historical sites across Ireland, including but not limited to Newgrange, Knowth, Uisneach, Owenagat, Fourknocks, Boa Island, Seefin Mountain, Corlea trackway among others. A lot of sites show the sheer depth of knowledge the druids had on their world and skies. They were leaders above Chieftains, and hosted massive gatherings summoning warring tribes to participate in ritual sacrifice at huge one-off rituals that were aligned with the cosmos. There have been findings of planetary names used by the druids in the Book of Ballymote written by monks when they were briefly tasked with documenting the history of the tribes of their regions. Some of the new album’s lyrics speak on the druids’ knowledge of their planets and related deities, their stone-carved maps of the skies and the rituals that enhanced their vision to see further than the mere mortals of their time. 

9. Invictus Productions has handled everything by the band so far. You are certainly not the first nor last on their roster I will speak to. How has working with Darragh been for you?

We’re good friends with Darragh, and are part of the small but dedicated scene in the city. He’s contributed a lot of advice artistically, towards our live performances and has put us onto a lot of great memorable gigs in Dublin over the years. As fans of the label we’re very grateful to have had his backing over the years. Personally I buy most releases from Invictus and it has been my favourite underground label for a long time. He’s one of the very few in Ireland who’ve eked out a living in this through perseverance, all while working out of a country that’s not remotely interested in metal by European standards.

10. Stefan Todorović sleeved your record with the most epic and grandiose cover art that this obscure music could be paired with. What instructions and depictions did you ask of him and are you satisfied with the visuals of the record.

We gave Stefan (Khaos Dictator Design) the lyrics, themes and some demo versions of the songs and let him conjure up what images he felt that suited the concept, and he came up with a stunning piece of work. It represents the Cliffs of Moher with somber druids attacking the landscape during the greatest of all storms. Not limiting him in any way was the best approach. Stefan demanded to be involved in the second album, and having seen it, the next one is his best for us yet in my opinion. The man is a total professional.

11. Having played some cool shows in Ireland and further afield such as in England, America, Canada, Romania and more, do you have any favourites or cool stories from the road to tell us?

Aside from the hellacious partying for 3 days, Romania was pretty wild! A great atmosphere in a large packed venue, the maniacal crowd were waiting in anticipation for every band and were really into our show. In a surreal turn of events Eric Cutler walked on to the stage after our set and shook hands with Jason. Being a massive fan of Autopsy since blindly picking up a first pressing of Severed Survival in my home town around 25 years ago, that really was one for the books. Funnily enough Greg Wilkinson from Autopsy also attended our gig in Oakland. The US tour in ‘23 with Ascended Dead was another savage outing, cheap motels, broken-into Ford Expeditions, stolen passports, sweating it at border crossings, a brief meeting with Graham Hancock, a lot of American enthusiasm, a lot of satanic hispanics, members falling asleep at the wheel, and hazy memories of playing. The tour broke even by the time we got to Seattle so we went out with an almighty celebration in Vancouver with the Covenant crew organising a stellar event at the Wise Hall, we almost missed our flight back to LA the next morning but made it and spent the final day drinking on Venice Beach in total victory. None of the gigs will be forgotten, but Knucklehead Hollywood in LA, Dante’s Portland and Wise Hall in Vancouver were the highlights.

12. Finally, what’s next for Coscradh? It’s been three years since the last LP and “Crá Aosta” (which compiles the three shorter releases conveniently). Is another album or EP in the works? Or perhaps more shows to be announced? Forewarn us of our doom here!

As mentioned earlier the new album is complete conceptually, musically and lyrically and has been sent to press. Throughout the last couple of years we have been working hard on this new material while gigging heavily by our standards. We’ve channeled this intensity into technicality and pushed the extremity of the songwriting further while staying true to the ritualistic nature of the lyrical concepts.. or such is the intent. Not a total departure from the Coscradh of old, but it’s a significantly shape-shifted changeling.

Old school maniacs can get this interview and more in print here!

Read my review of their new album “Carving the Causeway to the Otherworld” here!