After a couple of strong EPs, New Pagans deliver up a
notably assured and confident debut album. Noisy riot-indie, with a punk rock
sensibility and some truly anthemic choruses (as well as a dab of the gothic
and another of new age), The Seed, the Vessel, the Roots and All is a
classy lesson in mixing bite with melody. Musically, highlights are the muscular
‘Bloody Soil’ (note: great guitar solo), and the super-catchy ‘Yellow Room’,
which ends with a driving (and unexpected) heavy riff. Lyrically, New Pagans have a lot to
say about mansplaining and the marginalisation of the female voice, but they also
offer ruminations on the process of childbirth (‘Harbour’ pulls no punches
about that subject: “Recoil, suffer / Silence for a minute / It's just you and
me now”), the nature of art (or, at least, of being ‘an artist’), religious
hypocrisy, connection to nature and – that lyrical staple – Irish embroidery.
It’s rarely a ‘happy’ ride, but it generally feels contemplative rather than
preachy or angsty, despite the (mostly) weighty subject-matter. The Seed,
the Vessel, the Roots and All is a raw, honest and intelligent debut, which
also packs a notable punch when it wants to. New Pagans have been hotly
tipped for a couple of years now: that promise has been more than fulfilled
here.