Skyclad — The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth

Another of the classic Skyclad reissues is their full length debut The wayward Sons of Mother earth. Originally released in 1991, the album is the first of its kind to blend folk influences and thrash metal. Formed in Newcastle by Steve Ramsey and Martin Walkyier the band would go on to reinvent and reinvigorate the metal scene, making huge strides forward at a time when most metal bands had collapsed or had gone into hiding, grunge ruled the waves and metal was about as popular as leprosy, but none of this disheartened Ramsey and Walkyier who continued to forge a well-received career throughout the 1990s until they went their separate way in 2000 after the release of their tenth studio album Folkémon.

Opening the album is Sky Beneath My Feet, thrash metal riffs intermingle with keyboards whilst Mike Evans fiddle playing adds a little embellishment here and there. Whilst this was quite different in 1991, and those folk elements had never been used in this way before, it is really just a hint of what would follow and merely acts as nothing more than embellishment to the band’s thrash metal roots. Trance Dance (A Dreamtime Walkabout) follows and the band’s thrash metal roots are still evident, one can’t help but see it as a natural successor to Sabbat’s second album, and their last to feature Walkyier Dreamweaver, Sabbat’s third album Mourning Has Broken was released in the same year as The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth, but feels like Dreamweaver’s natural successor. One of the most interesting things about this is the fact that the songs on the album were written not by Martin Walkyier but by guitarist Steve Ramsey, who was never a member of Sabbat. The Widdershins Jig is up next and this is where we see a greater folk influence taking hold for the first time, the fiddle playing becomes an integral part of the sound on this track and both lyrically and musically the song has greater ties to the folk style and eschews the thrash metal stylings of the previous tracks. This track is perhaps the moment at which Folk Metal began to take shape as the latest in a long line of genre blending styles of Heavy Metal. Our Dying Island is back to more straight forward thrash metal, something that the band do well, Walkyier’s voice was always particularly suited to the style and his work with Sabbat is among the finest Britain had to offer the genre, while Satan were one of the NWOBHM bands that influenced bands like Metallica, Exodus and Slayer to start doing what they do. There are hints of the bands folkier side in the track but the thrashier influences reign supreme.

Intro Pagan Man is a short, spoken word piece that introduces the second section of the album, The Cradle Will Fall is up next, a more traditional metal track and one of the best on the album. Catchy lyrics and some top notch riffing, in places it sounds a little like the band Hell, who by some weird twist of fate feature the guitar talents of one of Walkyier’s former band mates Andy Sneap. The band’s self-titled track Skyclad is up next, a good solid slice of heavy metal, less thrashy than most of the other material, and features some lovely acoustic guitar that makes way for the acoustic introduction to Moongleam and Meadowsweet, standing on its own as unlike anything else on the album, the track blends tracts of mellow acoustic guitar with heavier more metallic moments, whilst the lyrics have a decidedly more folkish feel to them. This is one of the more innovative tracks on the album and blends those more folkish elements well with the band’s more traditional metal style. The final track Terminus merges the full on thrash metal assault of Sabbat’s debut with more atmospheric soundscapes featuring more spoken word sections. It proves an interesting experiment and at times reminds of the chants sometimes featured in doom metal releases.

Overall the album is an interesting beginning for Skyclad, merging the collective members pasts with a move towards a new and exciting future with new elements alongside those more traditionally associated with Heavy Metal bands. Whilst the album is still largely a thrash metal record, it has little hints and suggestions of the direction the band will take throughout the 1990s and beyond, and can be seen as the humble beginnings of what we now call Folk Metal.