Picture disc with die cut cover and fold out lyric insert.Limited 350 copies

Skyclad, the seminal British band, often referred to as `theoriginators of Folk Metal´, have signed a deal with ScarletRecords. Formed in 1990 by Martin Walkyer (Sabbat) and Steve Ramsey(Satan/Pariah), the band gained extraordinary attention from boththe press and the public with the now legendary debut album 'TheWayward Sons Of Mother Earth' (1991) and, since then, has built upa solid reputation which led them to take part in some of the mostimportant international metal events (such as the renowned Dynamo,Wacken, Gods of Metal and Tuska Festivals) and share the stage withsome of the most respected artists of their time. Five years haspassed since the `A Semblance Of Normality´ and if any musicianfollows their own path and don´t compromise then after a five yearsabsence then most are sure to be end up being completely forgotten.Now I seriously wish this was the ultimate Skyclad record, just tothrow it in the face of everything trendy those days, includingmost of the folk metal genre they contributed to create. HoweverI´ll be honest. This isn´t the best Skyclad. Can it still killthough? Yes it can, and more than once. First there´s no Skycladrecord without a great opener, and to this respect Words Upon theStreets lives up to any expectancy. Once the first thirty secondsof awkward computer sounds have elapsed, what follows is in thepure tradition of the `Clad´s most direct, uncompromising firsttracks in the lines of Thinking Allowed or Civil War Dance. Indeed,that´s what may be the most striking: though the production hasbeen updated to keep in touch with the style of the day, the songin itself doesn´t really differ from typical 90´s Skyclad. Andperhaps what´s the most significant, Kevin Ridley sings in harshvocals. Of course harsh shouldn´t be understood as growls oranything of the genre, and even in his later days Martin Walkyiermost of time still sounded more aggressive. But now think about thefollowing: even on the heaviest tracks of A Semblance of Normality(let´s say, Ten Little Kingdoms) Ridley´s voice stayed perfectlyclean. This is all but anecdotal. Still I don´t think there´s anyconscious will from the British band to return to its roots oranything. First, a complete return to the roots would imply Skycladplaying thrash again, and this will most probably never happen.Second there wasn´t any valuable reason for such a return to beginwith as A Semblance of Normality, while different from the rest,was nonetheless one of the `Clad´s best albums. But with itsoverall slower tempo, its additional orchestra and the lesserimportance given to folk elements, it now appears to have beennothing but a dead end. Who knows, perhaps had it been intended assuch from the beginning? Now with the disappearance of theorchestra and the violin coming back to the front of the scene as adirect consequence, with the return of the harsh vocals and thefolk elements, the story begins again where it had stopped - beforeA Semblance of Normality. Alright, they´re now singing about cellphones and laptops. So what? In 1996 they were singing about Frenchnuclear tests. We´re no longer in 1996, we´re in 2009, France is nolonger testing its nuclear arsenal, and new technologies haveinvaded our lives. Let´s sing about new technologies. The titlesays it all, times might have changed but we´re still in the same**** all together. Its Skyclad and there are a lot of tracks worthmentioning here but also a lot of fillers which makes it a bitfrustrating. If it would have been recorded at the height ofSkyclad´s productivity boost there wouldn´t have been anything tocomplain against as first it still carries its load of excellentsongs, and then another album would have been following the yearafter anyway. Here we´ve waited for five years for those mere fortyminutes of alas unequal music, and maybe we´ll have to wait foranother five years for the sequel.

Track listing:
1. Words Upon The Street
2. Still Small Beer
3. The Well-travelled Man
4. Black Summer Rain
5. Babakoto
6. Hit List
7. Superculture
8. Which Is Why
9. Modern Minds
10. In The… All Together

Condition cover: nm

Condition vinyl: nm

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