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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
At last, an English black metal band worth talking about, October 4, 2004
For countries whose first language is English, there is certainly something mystical about many European languages and the countries they originate from. Unfortunately (and predictably considering many people from these countries speak English anyway) it doesn't work the other way around. And that is is major reason why Norweigen black metal (and similar bands from Sweden or Finland) have been able to find a fanbase, no matter how small, in places like Britain or America. Even songs that are sung in English still have that mystical northern European feel to them. Its also the reason why black metal bands from English speaking countries have failed to set the scene on fire, coupled with the fact that so many of them are just clones with nothing to offer anyway (who, interestingly, enough would almost certainly find support if they were Norwiegen, which is very telling of scene's obsession to stay "true" rather than progress).
Its quite sad then, because it gives me the feeling that the two English brothers who make up Forefather will never be a genuine force in black metal. They are part of a British movement known as Anglo Saxon Black Metal, which is essentially the British equivalent of Viking Black Metal. It does however offer a whole new sound. Firstly, the lyrics, sung entirely in English with English accents, deal with England's history, not Norway's. Secondly, and more importantly, the folk aspect of the music is based on old English music (which, unfortunately, we know very little about), not Norweigen folk music. The first band to do this were Forefather.
The album is actually very uplifting with wondorful use of clean vocals. In fact, clean vocals are used just as much as grim vocals. That said, even when things get melodic, there are still driving guitars and blast beats. Make no mistake, Forefather are not copying the True Norweigen Black Metal scene, but they are not betraying it either. Also worth noting so as not to give a misconception, but there is little in the way acoustic guitars on this album which is a heavy feature Viking Black Metal. The folkier aspects are bought about by the melodies, clean vocals and occasional use of synths.
If you like black metal, especially the folkier bands such as Vintersorg, Ulver and early Satyricon then you may well like this as well, despite (because?) of its different sound.
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by Forefather 
