Cruel Mother - John Barleycorn

Review Cruel Mother - John Barleycorn

Band: Cruel Mother
Single: John Barleycorn
Release date: December 13th, 2023
Record label: Self released
Genre: Folk metal, doom metal
From: London, United Kingdom

Cruel Mother is a quintet formed in 2022, with it's current lineup formed as late as 2023 with
Becky on bass and vocals, James on guitars and vocals, Kirstie on guitars, David on violing and Dan on drums.
Becky is also the main composer in the band, while lyrics are taken from traditional folk songs, with some adaptions to fit the compositions.

John Barleycorn is their first release except for 2 demo songs that were what picked my interest initially.
The song is based on traditional English and Scottish folk songs. John Barleycorn is an euphemism for alcohol, and the traditional songs would sing about the various stages of barley being processed.  However, with this being presented as being about a person, it sounds quite dark and gruesome, and I'm pleased to find that Cruel Mother have kept the music just as dark as the lyrics.

The song starts of quite slow with a dark violin melody reminding me of Cruachans latest album, particularly the song Hawthorn. The verse makes me think of early Skyclad, except without the thash metal. There are also some elements that makes me think of Bathorys viking metal songs on the late albums, but of course much stripped down.
While slow and doomy, there is still a drive through the song, and enough changes to keep my interest even though the song is kept fairly simple, the way you expect from a folk song.

The artwork for the track was created by Robert Maltby.

Hear the song from the 13th of December on https://cruelmother.bandcamp.com/ as well as all major streaming platforms!