| Droner (CD) | 2003 | King Penda Productions |
The music on 'Droner' can best be described as stoner, traditional doom and pagan metal all thrown into one. 'Wychwood', for example, is an uptempo groovy headbanger of a song, while 'Droner In The Fog' has a more epic and mellow feel to it. The whole album is lyrically reminiscent of early medieval times and ancient ghost-stories and fairytales. Combined with its musical contents, it makes for a pretty original release. The music has a pleasant 'seventies' feel to it, while it is still nice and heavy and certainly does not lean too heavily on the Sabbath-sound. The songs are catchy and varied and probably best suited for a live performance. This is in my opinion, music you need to hear at a gig to fully appreciate it.
In any case, it is pleasant to find an album like this between all the doom/death demos that are being released. It shows that there is more to modern doom than being directly inspired by "the big three" and that the genre is as varied as ever. Not everyday can you find a demo from a band called The Bretwaldas.
If you are interested in purchasing the demo or finding out more, check out: www.metalprovider.com/bretwaldas.
1. Wychwood
2. Droner In The Fog
3. Whispers Of Gods
4. The Hidden
5. Hillfort Ghoul
6. Place My Bones In The Ground
Approx. 31 minutes
| Battle Staffs In The Mushroom Woods (CD) | 2006 | King Penda Productions |
This new album is perhaps a bit less varied than the last one, 'Droner', but in this case, this isn't bad at all. It is as if the Bretwaldas have dropped a bit of excess baggage, and decided to focus on what they do best: making rallying heavy metal that makes you want to raise your banner and rush out into some unknown glory. These are nine gripping tracks, mostly up-tempo, with a tinge of black metal, doom, and raw punkish feeling. The vocals are sort of scraping, a bit like Motorhead's Lemmy; especially tracks like "Paths of River Root and Stone", and the excellent "Beneath the Eaves" exude a primal British energy that's hard to resist.
Not the doomiest album, as you may have noticed, but instead a damn fine piece of rousing metal. If you dig a bit of that pure, raw metal feeling, you'll definitely dig this!
1. The Haunted Ride
2. Paths of River Root and Stone
3. Ship of Nails
4. A Thousand Blackened Whispers
5. Old Walls, Wild Woods
6. Iron Skies
7. Beneath the Eaves
8. Hwicce Fif Ans
9. Blood of Gods and Men
Approx. 41 minutes