After some deliberation, Thane goes outside into the cold crackling forest floor with a crowd following him, watching as he approaches the old overgrown grove. King Elau stays in his chair, drinking and counting his money. People have not used this grove for some years, and many of those present feel uncomfortable. The seeress' husband, Oshere, his voice hoarse and dry from years of working hot iron in the forge, casts his commentary as the group begin their rite.
lyrics
A line of fire, flickers at mists around their knees.
A line of hoods and torches file, through the dark and twisted trees.
The trees, the forest, the trees in the forest...
...we worshipped in sacred groves...
...effigies on wooden poles...
...talking with dead souls...
...i once did this.
Scuffing through groves, that whisper old songs, and riddles to solve.
We long for the mead hall, the symbel and boast!
To walk, crackling through the soft bracken, I see what this hidden world was for ( hear the chants ) and what it meant to the heathen mind - a gateway to interaction with gods. I acknowledge my bloody past of sacrifice within these trees - it is part of us. So I return here, in modern ways - drink to the evolution, of our new heathen hearts! Woden!
( Thane talks momentarily to Cedric of his previous fears and doubts over the existence of other worlds. He now appears resolute. He must go in search of his darkest fear, and conquer it. A symbel is performed, the mead cup passed around and oaths and intentions are made before those assembled ).
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