Pioneers of the folk movement, fusing rock n’roll and melodic folk lines, Skyclad returns after a long period of 8 years, with another pack of tales in this new album “Forward Into the Past”.
The track “A Storyteller’s Moon” it’s the perfect introduction for what’s coming up, in an album that shows a lot of melodies that will glue the listener to the record. Songs like “State of the Union Now”, “Change Is Coming”, “Starstruck?”, “A Heavy Price to Pay”, “Words Fail Me”, “Forward into the Past”, and the stunning track “The Queen of the Moors” are some of the examples of a band that can record a diverse album with some serious moments, along with a party vibe always going around the song structure.
However, the real magic about this album, is that it doesn’t have a boring moment, as the fiddle, keyboards and piano played by George Biddle have a great importance in the songs. The guitars played by Steve Ramsey, and Dave Pugh never overshadow the brilliant voice of Kevin Ridley, letting the lyric content of album also gain its own light.
With a lot from the old days, but gazing clearly into the production and mixing that today’s possibilities give, this band has record a great album that ends with “A Storyteller’s Moon (outro version)”. This ending, leaves the listener hunger to play the record again, and appreciate one of the most exotic folk records of the year, from an historic band and somehow under-rated influence for so many other bands of the genre.
7/10
About Skyclad:
Text by Daniel Lemminkainen
Managing Editor: Rita Limede
