Gun Ghaol - “Gabh Ceum Air Ais” ft. Limonead
Scottish Gaelic, heavy guitars and a chorus made for headbanging.
There’s something almost ritualistic about the opening of “Gabh Ceum Air Ais”. A voice speaks before an electric guitar cuts in with a riff that immediately grabs your attention. Then come the shouts and screams. Gun Ghaol don’t take long to get to the heavy stuff, but there’s more going on here than sheer force. When the chorus kicks in, the song opens up into a surprisingly catchy melody. It’s the kind of chorus that gets stuck in your head and makes you want to throw yourself into it.
The second verse changes things up again. Limonead comes in with a rhythmic vocal delivery that sits somewhere between rapping and speaking, while a high piano line hangs in the background. It gives the track a different atmosphere without taking away from the guitars. Then the chorus returns and you’re right back in it. I’m a big fan of heavy music and this is very much my kind of thing: loud, modern, a little unexpected and with a chorus that practically demands a good headbang. Gun Ghaol call “Gabh Ceum Air Ais” the first nu-metal song performed in Scottish Gaelic. The early-2000s influence is hard to miss. There’s the contrast between rap and screaming, the heavy riffing and that big, melodic chorus. For vocalist Cailean Stone, Linkin Park were one of the bands that first got him into heavy music, and you can hear why this particular sound appealed to him. Limonead, the Gaelic hip-hop artist whose real name is Sinead Swann, feels like a natural fit. Her verse gives the song a different rhythm and texture, rather than simply interrupting it for a guest appearance. She grew up with parents who were metalheads, so the heavier side of the collaboration wasn't unfamiliar territory. She had also been following Gun Ghaol before Stone approached her about working together. What I like about this pairing is that both artists bring something of their own to the track. The rap and metalcore don't feel like two separate ideas forced together. They meet in the middle, and the Gaelic language connects them.
Gun Ghaol means “without love”. The band describes itself as the world's only Gaelic metalcore band, with every song and lyric performed in Scottish Gaelic. The project began in 2023, when Stone, who grew up in a Gaelic-speaking household in the Highlands, posted a TikTok of himself screaming lyrics in the language. He went on to record and produce the debut album "Leum", released in October 2024, followed by the EP "Sgrios" in September 2025. Gun Ghaol has since grown from Stone's solo project into a full band, with Stuart Bradley on drums, Finlay Cable on bass, and Ewan Cruickshank and Paul Martin on guitars. The idea behind the band is straightforward, but it opens up a lot of possibilities. Gaelic has a strong musical tradition, yet Gun Ghaol aren't interested in sticking to the sounds people might expect from it. Their music is heavy, abrasive and contemporary. The language isn't there to make the band sound unusual; it's simply the language they want to use. Stone has also spoken about how some Gaelic expressions don't translate neatly into English. You don't necessarily need to understand every lyric to connect with the music. With “Gabh Ceum Air Ais”, the vocals are part of the sound as much as the guitars are, and the shifts between speaking, screaming, rapping and singing give the track much of its character.
“Gabh Ceum Air Ais” is taken from Gun Ghaol's upcoming album "Eadar Bàs is Bruadaran", which translates as "Between Death and Dreams". The album is due out on February 12, 2027, and marks the band's first full-length record as a complete group. Pete Grossmann, who works out of Chicago's Bricktop Studios, handled the mixing and mastering. The single follows “Port”, a track drawing on a Gaelic vocal tradition dating back around 300 years. The two songs sound worlds apart, which makes the album all the more interesting. “Salm” brings in Gaelic psalm-singing connected to Stone's childhood, while “Dorchadas” features Irish band Vileblood and combines Gaelic and Irish in a metalcore song. There doesn't seem to be one sound Gun Ghaol feel they have to stick to. Traditional vocal music, nu-metal and metalcore can all find a place on the same record, with Gaelic running through it. “Gabh Ceum Air Ais” is the heavier, more immediate side of that idea, and a particularly fun one.
The chorus is what keeps pulling me back to Gun Ghaol - “Gabh Ceum Air Ais” ft. Limonead. The opening sets a dark tone, the guitars hit hard and Limonead's verse brings a welcome change of pace. It's heavy without being one-dimensional and catchy without losing its bite. I'm always happy to hear a band take heavy music seriously without taking themselves too seriously and there's a real sense of fun in this track. Gun Ghaol take the sounds they grew up with, bring them into their own language and make something that doesn't need to fit anyone else's idea of what Gaelic music should be. "Eadar Bàs is Bruadaran" arrives on February 12, 2027. If the rest of the album has the same willingness to move between different sounds, there's plenty to look forward to.
🎧 Stream “Gabh Ceum Air Ais” ft. Limonead” by Gun Ghaol on Apple Music
Keep discovering independent music with our other On This Track, Three Track Week and Artist Features.
Comments