Gun Ghaol: "Celtic metalcore is here to stay"

With Celtic Connections – Europe's largest winter festival – coming to a close in Glasgow this weekend, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the scene was winding down for the season.

Not so for Gun Ghaol, the world's only Gaelic metalcore band. Their new song 'Dorchadas' – which features Evan Cloke of Irish deathcore outfit Vileblood – is the first in heavy music to have lyrics in both Gaelic and Irish.

While the two languages have been combined in folk and traditional music before, they were yet to collide elsewhere – something that Gun Ghaol vocalist and founder Colin Stone was keen to change.

He said: "We've heard English and Spanish in the same song, English and French, English and Korean. So why not Gaelic and Irish?

"This track is a celebration of our shared Celtic heritage, while also pushing the boundaries of what people believe Gaelic music is."

Vileblood vocalist Evan Cloke has garnered a following of almost 200,000 across Instagram and TikTok under the handle @feel_evoked, with his vocal covers of pop songs regularly going viral.

Evan said: "The chance to make a little bit of history with Gun Ghaol was something I couldn't turn down.

"I'd love to see Celtic artists collaborating across as many heavy genres as possible. It's never been easier, and we know that people all over the world enjoy hearing our voices – even without understanding the words.

"Language isn't a barrier to a song's success anymore, and we really hope people give this one a listen."

Gun Ghaol, who are based in Glasgow, are due to play their next show at the city's Slay venue on Friday 6 March alongside Glamour of the Kill before appearing at the inaugural Dùn Rùin Festival on the Isle of Skye.

Colin added: "We can't wait to bring these songs out to new audiences.

"Whether it's been in Scotland or Ireland, we've been seeing a growing groundswell of support for what we do – both online and at shows.

The track's called Dorchadas, which you can watch here on YouTube