Not sure how this one finally reached Ave Noctum but it was actually released in 2013 and is the musical project of Tim Shaw previously from Alestorm and whilst the album is very much the one man band he is trying to put together a live band (check their Facebook page for details). It’s also devoid of any pirate twaddle. No; from the opening notes of ‘Menace On The Bridge’ it is apparent that Fyrdsman is that kind of progressive black metal sound of Borknagar circa Quintessence. A bit of Drudkh maybe, too, a smidgen of Emperor, a drop of Forefather, but mostly Borknagar before they started winding down into ever decreasing circles of disinteresting meandering. Don’t for a moment think that this is justa copy though; far from it. Whilst the main influence is writ large, that is absorbed into the feel and filtered through English folk melody to produce some truly evocative progressive and melodic folk/black metal.
The title track has a lively keyboard trill to it, a galloping drum sound and clean vocals mixed with the black to have us stare skywards as the guitar follows a melodic path onwards. ‘Woven Fate’ has a little keyboard buzz that wouldn’t be amiss on a Tangerine Dream album but it is hidden inside a majestic and complex sound like the misty reveries of early Fen. On a driving song like ‘Wainwright’ there is, as well as a fierce force of nature in the sound, a sense of sunlight and huge English vistas, a genuinely uplifting rise to the music and the clean harmonies. The lyrics seem to nod towards my hope that this is indeed a tune about the famous walker and writer Alfred Wainwright who had such a passion for the landscape. Which would probably be a black metal first as well as beautifully appropriate.
Overall there is a sense of loss to the music on the album, but it always comes in a rousing swell, keyboards raising the melody sometimes by themselves but sometimes seeming to push the great driving guitars to the fore. A great example of this being ‘Heretics’ with the folky guitar sound interspersed with more turbulent riffs and keyboards, or with ‘Wayland’ being a slightly more wary and melancholy approach perhaps.
‘Maiden In The Moor’ is a heavily folk based tune, the kind of thing that Forefather bring to the table, and it is as beautiful as it is memorable: Fine clean vocals carrying the sound and an excellent lead break to close. Ending with ‘Perennial’, a bubbling, flowing brook of a piece, Fyrdsman have given us an exemplary debut full of visions and evocation, of a sense of the land and the emotions we lay upon it and the lives it inspires.
Fyrdsman are another piece in the underrated, under appreciated UK folk and history inspired black metal scene. Whilst in the broader scene Winterfylleth and Wodensthrone get thoroughly deserved attention the UK holds much more just beneath and Fyrdsman have added themselves to this. They have huge potential and already have so much to offer. Genuinely a fantastic piece of melodic folk inspired black metal.
(8.5/10 Gizmo)
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