From the crumbling rock of the gorge, the men watch and wait. Suddenly two volleys of stones cascade upon them, thrown by invisible hands, thudding against their leather armour. Thane spies dark shapes disappearing into a crevice to their left, and they begin to march upon them, soon entering the veins of the earth. In the dark caverns, they pause, and listen...
lyrics
Into the tunnels of Gaiia, upon the scent of the beasts that devour our young
See the dark shadows circling us!
Thrust with your spears and slash with your swords 'til they're gone!
We will hunt the Dragon's lair, forcing down the darkness there
Deeper, winding path to the lair
I will go alone in there
I see the most hideous beast, facing me
Shrieking as I hack its flesh, brutally
( Thane and the beast fight. He is wounded, and they both fall into deep water, thrashing violently. For Thane, time slows, as does every movement in his air starved limbs, and the lights of gods flash before his eyes, as if his time has come. Presently he finds himself hauled from the gurgling rock pool, and sees his men finish off the shadow men that have head the beast's gargled screams. Not one of them are spared )
We have killed the monster there, thankfully. Now we must escape this lair, hastily!
( And so Thane and his men scrabble back to the surface, hearing the moans of the dying beast )
supported by 6 fans who also own “Tonight, We Do Not Drink”
This has been staple listening for me since I first got the CD in 2006. Raw but not to the extent that it is unlistenable, the riffs are heavy and memorable, with each song having it's own identity.
Wartooth's vocals are certainly a highlight of Bretwaldas' sound. Rough and gritty, in the best way, as he snarls out lyrics about Dark Ages warriors, heathenism and nature. If you can imagine if Lemmy was a Brummie and sang on an early Black Sabbath album then you're getting somewhere near the sound of this Midlands duo.
This album is class from beginning to end but if I was to have to choose highlights I'd go for album opener The Haunted Ride, Iron Skies (a song of two gloriously different halves) and Beneath the Eaves. The latter appeared on a CD with Zero Tolerance magazine way back and was the undisputed stand out track on there. Grimslath