Album Review: Ronan Furlong, Elysium

Prolific Wexford songsmith Ronan Furlong’s Minerva’s Meddling was voted among Hot Press’ top albums for 2017. Since then, his prowess as an inventive guitarist and lyricist – whose subjects range from love and loss to mythology and history – has been hailed everywhere from the US and Brazil to Italy and India.

Throughout Elysium, the subtlety and flair of Furlong’s guitar work reveals the undeniable influence of Rory Gallagher, Ritchie Blackmore, Rodrigo y Gabriela and Iberian acoustic styles. ‘Living In The Underground’ and ‘Giving Me A Reason’ – the latter with its deliciously hot Spanish guitar runs – show how Furlong can also conjure accessible songs that slap you in the face.

The Iberian connection is again in evidence on ‘The Road To Torres Vedras’, which showcases Furlong’s voice at its most agreeably flexible. ‘Elysian Fields’ features rampant guitar a la Horslips, furious extended gallops contrasting with the controlled melodic vocal. On ‘The Prodigal Son’ and the spellbinding ‘Far Beyond The Cares Of Men’, meanwhile, Furlong reaches levels of intensity that define the best rock.

If I had a wand, I’d magic up some vocal harmonies to make fuller use of Furlong’s vocal range. That quibble aside, Elysium is a real cracker. But sure, the word means “a state of ideal happiness.”

• Out now.