RockBox - Skiltron - 2008 - Beheading The Liars

Skiltron - 2008 - Beheading The Liars

Forming an idea that was coming since a few years before, Skiltron was born in 2004, with just two members at that time: Emilio Souto and Matías Pena.

The starting point of the band was the recording of a demo called "Gathering the Clans". Javier Yuchechen, Selidor's vocalist was summoned together with some others musicians of the local Celtic scene for this recording.

Between end of august and beginning of september, the demo was recorded at La Nave de Oseberg studios, which was known to have received artists such as Tarja Turunen, Fabio Lione and Rata Blanca, among others. Once the recording was finished, the distribution and promotion of the demo started. The official website was launched in October.

Various radios, webzines, and different publications showed great interest.
In December of that same year, Fernando Marty enters the band as bass player.

The radio show "Tiempos Violentos" broadcasted by Rock and Pop, the most listened F.M. of the country, proclaimed "Gathering the clans" as the best demo of the year.

Entering into the year 2005 the band were ready to record their first album ''The Clans have United''.
The album was recorded between April and October 2005, again in "La Nave de Osberbg" studios, and released in march 2006. Javier Yuchechen was again the sessionist vocalist, and some well known musicians from the local Celtic scene also gave their participation.

At the beginning of the year 2006 finally the line-up was completed by the adding of Diego Valdez (ex-Azeroth) on vocals, Diego Spinelli on Tin Whistle, Esteban D´antona on Viola, Juan José Fornés (ex-Sélidor) on guitar and Pablo Allen on Bagpipes.

In the first semester of this year, the rehearsals for the official presentation of ''The Clans have United'' began, and the local and international promotion of the album continued as well. On august 12nd Skiltron made his offical live debut.

At the end of 2006, "The Clans have United" was named as best album of the year, again by The radio show "Tiempos Violentos".

In february 2007 Skiltron was the openning act for In Extremo in their first South American tour. Emilio joined the band to play the song "Vollmond". This was the first time that In Extremo had a guest in all their live history.

A new demo was recorded in march 2007 to spread some new songs and line-up of the band. It was called ''Blind Harry''. After this recording Esteban D´antona leaves the band.
The rest of the year the band were focused in the songwriting of the new album, and also given some shows more.

In January 2008 the new album ''Beheading the Liars'' was recorded at La Nave de Oseberg studios (as usual). The album featuring very special guests: Steve Ramsey, Kevin Ridley and Georgina Biddle from Skyclad, Jonne Järvelä from Korpiklaani, and Patrick Lafforegue and Patrcie Roques from Stille Volk, plus the collaboration of Seoras Wallace, from Clan Wallace.

Line-up:

Diego Valdez - Vocals
Emilio Souto - Guitars, Mandolin, Bouzouki, Mouth Harp and Backing Vocals
Juan Jose Fornes - Guitars and Backing Vocals
Fernando Marty - Bass
Matias Pena - Drums, Percussion and Backing Vocals
Pablo Allen - Scottish Bagpipe
Diego Spinelli - Tin-whistle

Tracklist:

1.Skiltron
2.The Beheading
3.I'm What You've Done
4.Praying is Nothing
5.Calling Out
6.The Vision of Blind Harry
7.Hate Dance
8.Signs, Symbols and the Marks of Man
9.Let the Spirit Be
10.Fast and Wild
11.Crides

Guests on this album:
Alejandro Sganga - Fiddle in ''The Beheading'' and ''Praying is Nothing''
Nestor Ballesteros - Accordion in ''Hate Dance'' and ''Signs, Symbols and the
Marks of Man''
Seoras Wallace - Intro speech in ''Skiltron''
Jonne Järvelä - Vocals in ''Praying is Nothing''
Kevin Ridley - Vocals in ''Signs, Symbols and the Marks of Man''
Steve Ramsey - Guitar Solo in ''Signs, Symbols and the Marks of Man''
Georgina Biddle - Fiddle in ''Signs, Symbols and the Marks of Man''
Patrick Lafforgue - Vocals and Hurdy Gurdy in ''Crides''
Patrice Roques - Bouzouki and Mandolin in ''Crides''
Seoras Wallace apears courtesy of Headhunter Records
Jonne Järvelä apears courtesy of Nuclear Blast Records GmbH
Patrick Lafforgue and Patrice Roques apears courtesy of Holy Records

Recorded at ''La Nave de Oseberg Studios'', Buenos Aires, Argentina in January
2008
Mixed and mastered by Sebastian Manta
Produced by Emilio Souto and Juan Jose Fornes
Cover artwork by Martin Pena & Valgorth.

Reviews for this album:

Back on the unsigned circuit after a typically brief flirtation with Underground Symphony, Argentina's own would-be Scots Skiltron have nonetheless wasted no time in issuing their 2nd full-length CD, 'Beheading the liars'. With an almost-complete band now in place (a full time violinist is still missing) and without as much reliance on session musicians as their debut release, this follow-up is a more developed and intricate affair from a band with the potential to be a real force on the power/folk metal scene.

One key change to the line-up from the first CD is the hiring of vocalist Diego Valdez to replace Javier Yuchechen, who filled the role on 'Uniting the clans' as a guest member. Valdez' voice is actually quite similar to that of his predecessor (Skiltron were probably looking to change things as little as possible), but is stronger overall and a mild raspy edge to his singing is a better fit for the music.

One of the strengths of the debut CD was the crunch retained in the guitar department that can often lack in this subgenre - indeed, if the folk instruments were stripped away from the songs, a sturdy if colourless power metal CD would still have been left in its place - and while this has not changed, the traditional instruments are used in a more refined fashion, and 'Beheading the liars' sounds like more of a fully-blown folk metal CD than its predecessor.

As was the case with the session members on the debut, bagpipe player Pablo Allen and whistler/flautist Diego Spinelli generally take it in turns to have their contribution at the forefront of the songs, but there is a greater interplay between the assorted folk instruments than on the first CD, as they weave in and out between the guitar lines than without either heaviness or conciseness being sacrificed.

The opening track, "Skiltron" is a particularly strong cut, starting with a narration by Seoras Wallace of the Scottish pipe band Clan Wallace (and, from a personal point of view, what a pleasant change it is to hear a genuine Scottish accent being used in this way instead of one of the band's friends doing their Groundskeeper Willie impression) before leaping into a pulverizing bagpipe-accented speed metal song anchored by a truly triumphant chorus.

Mixed with speedy numbers like the fist-pumping "Fast and wild" there are also 3 excellent, calming ballads to be found here, with the almost fully-acoustic closing track "Crides" seeing the band forgoe the Scottish fixation to have the CD fade out with a song written in their native Spanish tongue. "Calling out" and "Let the spirit be" are cut from the same cloth, but feature a greater contribution from the heavier instrumentation, with a shining guitar solo brightening up the former. Back on the faster side of proceedings, "Hate dance" is a deceptively-titled little instrumental, a madly upbeat 2-minute campfire dance featuring some great mouth harp and mandolin action.

A couple of songs also see a few notable guest musicians making a contribution to proceedings. Jonne Järvelä has somehow managed to find the time between Korpiklaani's relentless recording and gigging (I swear those Finns must have a portable studio that accompanies them on tour) to take part in a duet with Valdez on the song "Praying is nothing", and his gravelly tones add an extra dimension to the whimsical, fiddle assisted tune.

More unexpected guests are to be found on "Signs, symbols and the marks of man", which actually features almost as many members of Skyclad as it does Skiltron - Georgina Biddle plays fiddle, while Kevin Ridley takes over vocal duties and Steve Ramsey contributes a typically astute guitar solo. Ridley's rough-around-the-edges vocals add a little extra variety, and while the other members of the English legends were probably roped in just because the opportunity was there, the song is another fine example of the celtic folk metal Skiltron are putting out.

Definitely an improvement over what was a very good debut (which in retrospect I probably over-rated by half a mark in my review of it), 'Beheading the liars' sees Skiltron continue to grow and develop their craft. It hopefully shouldn't be long before another label comes sniffing and gives the crew of kilt-wearing South Americans the chance not only to get the recognition they deserve for what is a superb CD, but also to be able to continue doing so for years to come.

Power

Power / Folk Metal

128 k

42.97 MB

12 files

27/08/2009

Seed(s): 0, Leecher(s): 1 = 1 Peer(s)

27/05/2018 04:31:43