If the name Tim Shaw rings a bell (or sounds a foghorn) it’s probably due to his associations with True Scottish Pirate Metal gang Alestorm. That said, he was only with them for a few months as touring guitarist and performed some backing vocals on their second album, so hardly long enough to get “typecast” so to speak. You can get any ideas about plastic sword waving children’s party metal gimmickry out of your head, because actually what we have here has far more in common with the likes of Winterfylleth, Wodensthrone and Iceni if you’re looking for some point of reference – with track titles such as ‘Forgotten Beneath The Soil’ you can gather this is the kind of stuff that pays certain homage to nature and national heritage.
The title track slides in sounding remarkably Finnish; there’s a combination of thrashing guitars and a layer of keyboards which create an aura of mystery before sweeping up with an epic fervour on the chorus. I’m reminded here a little of Children Of Bodom in the slightly melo-death vibe that comes across and I’m not sure if this is particularly something that Mr. Shaw would be too pleased to hear. From hereon in the music takes a different direction, with ‘Demonised In A Disgraced Land’ really easing up on the thrashing and bringing to the fore a much more mid-paced Moonsorrowian sound. There are some lush, sweeping soundscapes blanketing a layer of icy, blackened guitars and monstrous drums while the keyboards cast a spell of sorrow.
‘Survival’ is the third track here and really continues quite nicely with some beautiful guitars that evoke a feeling of solitude, and work very well with the ravaging vocal style. This is perhaps my favourite track here, and just has that ambience to it that reminds me of a crisp autumnal day walking through the trees and feeling at one with nature away from the living hell that is civilisation. ‘Natural Chaos’ swings back into a more fierce, war-painted swagger and brings things neatly to a close. I do like the clean vocals on this one, and also on ‘Demonised…’ which I think work really well with the music and sound wonderfully melodic. Sadly I doubt we’ll be seeing much of Fyrdsman in the ways of live performances, unless some session musicians are brought in perhaps, but I certainly hope we can expect a full-length before too long as this has left me rather hungry for more.
http://www.myspace.com/fyrdsman
