Monday 23 April 2018

April is turning out to be a very busy month for new releases....

Winterfylleth have taken one of those left turns that can completely alienate a metal fan base (Think Paradise Lost with their Host album)

The Hallowing of Heirdom is an totally acoustic collection of English folk. Slightly choral in places with strings and not a black metal grunt in sight. The songs are based on poems by Christopher Marlowe and Walter Raleigh and various Anglo Saxon myths.

This should appeal to anyone who liked the seminal Liege & Lief. The only difference is Fairport Convention approached traditional folk by adding electric guitars and Winterfylleth  have approached the same goal by removing all their electric guitars

The albums lacks a bit variation but it's a bloody good folk album from an unexpected source

Saturday 7 April 2018

Bands of a certain vintage always have a few tricks up their sleeves to prolong a career....
  • First is tour a classic album in full, record the tour and release a live album
  • Second record a covers album, usually of "songs that inspired us.."
  • Finally record an acoustic album of your hits
The Levellers have finally succumbed to the third option and bring us We The Collective. This seems a bit odd as the band are fairly acoustic anyway and this sounds like their Drunk in Public persona that they occasionally take out live


As with all these type of albums it's rather hit and miss....Subvert sounds like a muscular version of Kitty Jay (by Seth Lakeman) but with lyrics advocating direct action protest. Exodus works remarkably well with an orchestra and the spoon playing percussion in One Way is rather inspired

Dance Before the Storm doesn't work as it's no different to the original and Liberty Song lacks the urgency that makes it a live favourite

There are a couple of new tracks of which Drugs Bust McGhee is the best - a tale of undercover policing which begins with "I stole my name from a dead baby"

Still a band that works best in the live arena