We're finishing up this section with two final choices from the one guy. Why? Well they're the last two left, and though I still have several of Batty's suggestions to listen to, I've been rather busy being turned into a girl and held captive in his Torture Chamber (last installment tomorrow), so haven't been able to lend an ear to his other less, shall we say, ear-destroying choices?
So these are the last two, for this year.
Steadfast --- Forefather --- 2008 (Seven Kingdoms)
Suggested by mythsofmetal
I’m sure it’s mere coincidence that the album sleeve looks somewhat similar to recently-reviewed ReinXeed and indeed to Fireforce, recently posted in the new “It’s a new day, and a new Metal band!” thread, but it seems this music has little if anything to do with either. Both of the aforementioned are Power Metal bands, while these guys are Viking Metal, born on the shores of that most Norse of settlements, er, Leatherhead in Surrey.
That’s down by the coast, isn’t it? Chances are these guys’ ancestors were busy
repelling the Vikings as they tried to take their women and land! Oh well. We've certainly had our share of Viking Metal this month, but these guys I have not come across up to now.
Another two-piece, they go by the suitably Norse pseudonyms of Wulfstan (Guitar, bass and vocals) and Atheistan (Guitar, Bass and, er, vocals?) The lyrics seem to include some words in another language, I would guess Norwegian or Swedish. No wait I’m wrong: it’s Old English apparently. And it may only be on this one song. Yeah, it’s just this one. Sorry to say, we’re back to growly vocals but the guitars are very heroic and hard as “Brunanburh” starts the album off, certainly fighting music, that’s for sure. Slows down then in the middle, kind of maintaining the same basic riff though which reminds me in part of Urfuast, recently reviewed.
“Cween of the Mark” (I assume that’s an old spelling of queen, as the song appears to have a female protagonist) is faster, with the vocals a little more to the forefront; whereas in the previous song they sort of chanted along to a degree, here they’re spat with venom. Good guitar work from the two guys, but as to who’s drumming (someone must be, and I’d be willing to bet it’s not a Linn) I can’t tell you as they’re not credited. Kind of Maidenesque guitar sound to “Theodish belief”, a song about honour and loyalty, and belief in the ancient ways. It has all the swagger and strut of a good Manowar track, though Eric Adams never sung this way. “Hallowed halls” goes for broke, bringing in speed metal influences for the first time, and it’s interesting that this is the first song written solo by Atheistan, so he must prefer the faster songs.
It slows down then for a beer-hall chant as Atheistan relates the joys of Valhalla:
”Oh, they feast in their hallowed halls/ Ghostly warriors ashen and pale/ Shadows dance in the light of the flame/ Gold and majesty, glory and fame.” Yeah, those Vikings sure did know how to have a good time, even after death! The title track is up next, and it’s another Atheistan number, another fast rocker, the thrust of which is not hard to guess from the title. Vikings were all about truth, glory and honour, and so this song celebrates those virtues, pledging to take on all comers and not to flinch. When Atheistan takes the songwriting reins it seems that Forefather’s music falls more on the thrash/speed side of the divide, whereas from what I’ve seen so far at any rate, Wulfstan is more a pagan/Viking man.
Ah, but then the next song is a Wulfstan one, but sounds like an Atheistan composition, hammering along on rails of fire and steel. So what do I know? Lyric’s a bit odd though:
”With gathering strength and growing will/ They turned to bite the hand that feeds” --- what hand that feeds? If he’s talking about the Vikings it was never a case of turning against their masters, as they had none. Strange. Good guitar passage here near the end, and it takes us into the only instrumental on the album, “Eostre”. I have no idea how that is pronounced, or what it means, but it’s a somewhat laidback opening which then smashes into a full-on crunching guitar assault, music that would not be out of place accompanying a victorious march from battle.
The appearance of a comet, or meteor, confuses the Vikings in “Fire in the sky”, as they wait for their seers and witches to divine what the omen means. Are the gods angry? Do they demand battle? Is it a warning? Natural phenomena such as these coloured the beliefs and decisions of people all through the ancient world, as they had no way to explain them and so took them as signs from the gods. Whether they were good or bad signs was up to the holy men and women to work out. The suspicion, hope, fear and dread as well as a sense of uncertainty and not a little awe is evident in the trundling guitar work of the duo, as the vocal is growled, by Wulfstan I assume, as he’s shown as being on lead vocals, and then another voice picks it up, a clearer, cleaner vocal, which I have to take as being that of Atheistan. Pity he doesn’t sing more of the songs; I far prefer his voice. He does take a lot of this song though, so that’s certainly welcome.
With a soft acoustic guitar intro and a title like “Mellowing of the mains”, you might be fooled into thinking this was a ballad --- I was --- but it soon blows that notion to hell as the boys hit you full in the face with their guitar attack and the song belts along, seeming to refer to some rite or spell being cast, while “Wolfhead’s tree” relates the tale of a man dying, having been hanged from the branches of said tree as he contemplates the events that have brought him to this pass, and wonders what awaits him in the world beyond? Of course it’s a lament, but there’s also a great sense of defiance and fatalism about it: the kind of man hanging on this tree who says I made my bed and I’ll lie on it, and given the chance would do nothing differently.
There’s a surprise at the end, with a sort of minstrel-ish rondelay which seems to have much of the lyric in another language: that Old English again, or German maybe? Hard to say. Then it jumps into a Maidenesque groove as “Miri it is” (don’t ask me) closes the album in, shall we say, unexpected style. Oddly enough, while there were credits for each other song on the album this one is not noted, so I wonder if it is some traditional folk song arranged by the boys? It’s certainly different to the other material on the album, though not so much so that it’s out of place.
TRACKLISTING
1. Brunaburnh
2. Cween of the mark
3. Theodish belief
4. Hallowed halls
5. Steadfast
6. Three great ships
7. Eostre
8. Fire from the sky
9. Mellowing of the mains
10. Wolfhead’s tree
11. Miri it is
Not a bad album in the end. Could do without the gutteral vocals but I’’m beginning to get used to them at this stage. For an album with such high-minded expectation though it sort of didn’t really deliver for me. It wasn’t just the vocals; the tunes all sounded quite similar and I’d be hard pushed to pick one out that really stood out, or that I would remember. Steadfast perhaps, but that’s not always a good thing, at least, not on its own.