After being dropped by EMI Records Pendragon decided to go for an own record label, called Toff records. After a few years this was the first (studio) CD with Clive Nolan and Fudge Smith. This album indicates a slight difference with the earlier albums. Nick Barrett tries to write some shorter, more single orientated songs, but he doesn't forget the long epics !
KowTow opens with Saved By You, a very simple track, and very poppy ! The Mask, Time For A Change and I Walk The Rope are a little "best of both worlds": very good compositions but a little shorter (4-5 minutes) than the songs on previous albums. An indication that Pendragon goes a little more song-orientated.
2.AM starts with a saxophone and is a very sad, melancholic ballad. Next tracks Total Recall and The Haunting are long, progressive songs which make me think of the "old" classical Pendragon songs. Especially The Haunting is a FANTASTIC song (by far the best on this album); Pendragon at it's best ! Solid Heart is a very nice sing-along song while KowTow is a statement about war in which Nick Barrett proves he can write good lyrics.

A great (re)start for Pendragon at this stage of their career. Especially the nice keyboard sound of Clive Nolan and the aggressive and subtile drum sound of Fudge Smith makes it a very good album. But you have to like the song orientated direction Pendragon shows on this album.

UK folk-metal pioneers SKYCLAD´s new album.

Skyclad are a British heavy metal band with heavy folk influences in their music. They are considered one of the pioneers of folk metal. The etymology behind the term "skyclad" comes from a pagan/wiccan term for ritual nudity, in which rituals are performed with the participants metaphorically clad only by the sky, as a sign of equality. The name alludes both to the bands' religious leanings and to their social beliefs, as set out in the song "Skyclad" on their first album.

One interesting feature of many Skyclad albums are short tracks, often intros or outros, that experiment with different styles of music, or different instruments. These include spoken word tracks (such as 'Tunnel Visionaries', which parodies the famous opening paragraph of The War of the Worlds), and tracks using instruments such as the bagpipes, trumpet and a bodhran not normally found within the bands repertoire.