Cruachan rose from the demise of "Minas Tirith" who had been in existence since 1989. Cruachan was formed in 1992 by Keith Fay after "Minas Tirith" broke up. John Fay and John Clohessy were recruited along with other members who have since departed (Jay Brennan, Leon Bias, Aisling Hanrahan, Joanne Hennessy, Steven Anderson, Jay O' Neill, Steven Coleman, Declan Cassidy and Paul Kearns among others). With a love of Celtic music, history and mythology, they sought to incorporate this into their music and lyrics, on a scale that had never been done before. With a complete line-up playing a variety of traditional and conventional instruments and a lot of original songs under their belt, they decided to record a demo and unleash their unique style of music to the world. The demo was released in late 93'. It was highly praised worldwide and caught the attention of a variety of labels..... one being "Nazguls Eyrie Productions" from Germany. Cruachan signed to this label in early 94', the main reason being the freedom that the label gave which suited the free souls of the band. They recorded their debut album "Tuatha na Gael" in early 95'and it was released on the Celtic feast of Beltaine. Black metal interlaced with Celtic tunes..... people fell in love with this ancient sound. The only bad point about the album is the poor production due to lack of recording time. Regardless, it was a learning experience and the band built up a large following ... (read more)