Skyclad are often referred to as ‘The Originators of ‘Folk-Metal’ – a sub-genre of metal that mixes thrash/speed metal elements with traditional instruments and folk-style melodies – as typified by their seminal album ‘The Wayward Sons Of Mother Earth’ (1991). The band produced a string of highly acclaimed albums – ‘A Burnt Offering For The Bone Idol’ (1992), ‘Jonah’s Ark’ (1993), ‘The Prince Of The Poverty Line (1994) and ‘The Silent Whales Of Lunacy’ (1995) - and gained a reputation as a powerful and energetic live act with many European tour and festival appearances (such as Dynamo, 1992).
During the late 90’s, despite several line-up changes, the band continued to develop and experiment with their musical style - producing albums such as ‘Irrational Anthems (1996), ‘Oui Avant Garde a Chance’ (1996), ‘The Answer Machine’ (1997) and ‘Vintage Whine’ (1999) – they even undertook several ‘unplugged’ tours across Europe alongside appearances at festivals such as Wacken Open Air (1998) and ‘The Gods Of Metal’ (1999) before returning with a more ‘metal’ album, ‘Folkemon’ in 2000.
Whilst Folkemon proved to be the last album for founder member and vocalist Martin Walkyier, the band decided to continue and released the ‘Swords of a Thousand Men’ single (featuring ‘Eddie Tenpole’ himself) and the ‘unplugged’ album ‘No Daylights Nor Heeltaps’ in 2002. A new studio album ‘A Semblance Of Normality’ followed in 2004. As well as having all the usual folk instruments and influences, this album also featured the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and was well received by both fans and media worldwide.
‘Semblance’ marked the start of an exciting new chapter for Skyclad, who, while continuing to play in strongholds such as Germany, (Dong Open Air, 2003 & 2005) and Burgfolk (2004), also made successful appearances in new territories such as Sweden (the ’34,000 ton of Metal’ Cruise, 2004), the Czech Republic (‘Rock Café, Prague, 2005), Finland (Tuska Open Air, 2005) and Portugal (Beja, 2005).
All this live work culminated in a full European Tour in early 2006, which took in ten countries, along with the release of the ‘Jig-A-Jig’ EP, which the band produced themselves as a special ‘one-off’ release. The band has since started to write and record material for their next full studio album, whilst continuing to play at various gigs and festivals across Europe, such as the ‘Tempel Folkfest’ and ‘Battle of Metal’ in Germany, the ‘Horns Up’ festival in Spain and, more recently, a gig at the ‘Club Tochka’, Moscow. Just starting their new festival line up for 2010/11, check out their myspace /officialskyclad.
See Discography
