Steadfast by Forefather

England's Finest Pagan Metallers Take Back Their Title

Jan 12, 2009

Forefather's 2008 album blends black metal brutality with melody, strong songwriting and an awareness of England's ancient mythologies.

Forefather are a pagan metal band from the Midlands section of England. Consisting of brothers Athelstan and Wulfstan, Forefather blend melodic, well-produced delivery with a pure metal sense of aggression and a deep awareness of historical facts.

With Steadfast, Forefather has shaped up into a band worthy of taking back England's title as a producer of superb metal. They have a catchy, well produced sound that still brings on the metal guitar and blast beat onslaught.

Melodic Black Metal

Forefather could be described as an updated Iron Maiden mixed with the medieval black metal sound and themes of Enslaved. Being English, Forefather embrace their roots and sing about the ancient Anglo-Saxons in the medieval languages that this culture spoke - Old English and Middle English. Indeed, they could be seen as a British answer to the commonly found Scandinavian Viking metal bands, a sort of national defense against musical Viking raids.

The entire sound and production quality of this album is excellent, and could be described as melodic black metal meets pagan folk metal. There is a good mix of aggressive, black metal tracks with growling vocals for those who like to headbang, epic melodic tracks for those who like to sing along, and ballads that are more about medieval contemplation than any sort of sappy '80s romance.

Historical Lyrics

The album starts off with "Brunanburh", an epic yet thrashing track about the Battle of Brunanburh, an event attested to in a medieval epic poem often read by undergraduates taking medieval studies. This was a glorious battle, and Forefather's music is all about the ancient pagan virtues of glory and victory. As usual, Forefather quotes the original poem in Old English.

The rest of the songs are a blend of historical and pagan: tracks like "Cween of the Mark" and "Steadfast" deal with historical events, battles, and the concept of war, songs like "Hallowed Halls" deal with alcohol consumption, and songs like "Theodish Belief" and "Mellowing of the Mains" describe and glorify the pagan mythology of pre-Christian England. The last song, "Miri It Is", is actually a 14th century ballad about the transience of life, with one modern verse added by the band.

The only regretful thing is that Forefather do not perform live, because their music would sound great in either a rock club.... or a Renaissance fair. Fans of pagan metal, or any metal at all, can buy Steadfast and not regret it.

Track Listing:

Ordering and Band Info

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