Culloden - Tales of the Tyne

Labels: Self-Released

Formats: CD/Digital

Release Date: 10 July 2026

Tracklist:

1. Seven Months (Intro)

2. The Siege

3. Harrying Of The North

4. Hammer Of The Poor

5. Bonny At Morn (Interlude)

6. Lords Of A Lawless Land

7. The Anarchy

8. Witchpricker

Before I started this blog there was a time where I really enjoyed battle metal. At the time I also loved metalcore and heavier music in general, which very much shaped my taste and led me to start writing. Where am I going with this? Well... in the last couple of years, I've been slowly listening to more traditional heavy metal thanks to bands like Khemmis and Haunt, to name a few. 

In May, I premiered the single 'Lords Of A Lawless Land' by Newcastle-Upon-Tyne's heavy metal trio Culloden. They released their debut album Tales Of The Tyne back in July and were kind enough to send me it to review. Built around the history of Tyneside during medieval times, it's bound to be steeped in North East grit.

Having just spent Saturday afternoon stomping around the historic streets of York, it feels only right to be listening to an album championing the history of another Northern city. The intro ‘Seven Months’ gives very little away, aside from chiming bells, eerie ambience and the sound of battles on sacred land. ‘The Siege’ is the first song proper here and it’s a mix of heavy metal and speed metal (though, both of those could be considered the same thing depending on where you sit!).

The drumming from Michael Lee is so spot on, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was delivered by a drum machine. David Thompson’s guitar work adds melody, momentum and pinch harmonics that are reminiscent of Coheed And Cambria (to my ears at least!), while the bass and vocals of Andrew Halliday provide both striding low-end, and striking aggression respectively. 

‘Harrying Of The North’ is stylistically a continuation of the previous song, which is weird to say as it’s kind of all over the place musically. It has an industrial feel to it (unsurprisingly, given Culloden’s roots), but also a musicality that makes me think of Italian metal, though I have no idea why!. 

This album is way heavier than I was expecting to be honest. ‘Hammer Of The Poor’ is a mix of mid-paced thrash and groove metal, with the instrumentation buried slightly in mix when the vocals are added, but coming right to the fore when the solos kick in later on. Reminds me of Onslaught at times. 

Weirdly (or maybe by design), ‘Hammer Of The Poor’ continues on into the interlude ‘Bonny At Morn’, at least on bandcamp anyway. It’s a gentle interlude that harks back to medieval times once again and sets the scene for ‘Lords Of A Lawless Land’. If you checked out my premiere of this song, you’ll already know what to expect. A quick-fire, anthemic metal song delivered with precision.

Penultimate song ‘The Anarchy’ follows in a very different mode, with slower intro riffs leading to what could be described as a steady galloping tempo during the main verses. It’s not blackened in the slightest but it does bring to mind Kanonenfieber. I have to say, I really do appreciate the way that Culloden are able to change their sound subtly.

Leaving their longest song till last (albeit slightly trimmed down compared to the version that appeared on their debut EP), ‘Witchpricker’ is a fuller sounding beast. Complete with additional riffs from Karl Moore (who played guitar for Culloden in 2014 and then again from 2017-2019), it’s a breakneck way to end the album, even if the mid-section loses momentum slightly. The final third picks things back up again though with some excellent lead guitar work and driving percussion.

I’m going to have to start listening to much more heavy metal now! Culloden take me back to when I was first discovering bands through sampler CDs from the likes of Rock Sound, Metal Hammer and Terrorizer magazines. I still have them all in fact. Tales of the Tyne is an excellent album and it just shows how enduring UK metal is. Great work!

You can stream and purchase the album digitally via bandcamp below, where it's also available on CD:-

Culloden Instagram - @cullodenband