Gododdin

Fans of idiosynchratically themed "traditional" heavy metal mixed in with jaunty, 1970s rock reminiscent burning ambition - of a folksy, albeit valorous/chivalrous and battle-some, nature - will surely revel in Midnight Force's regally construed sophomore full-length by cryptic, antiquated title of Gododdin (released last October, under Iron Shield Records, German purveyor of self-acclimatizing fare akin to Blackslash, Cult of the Fox, Metal Witch, Tungsten Axe and Voltax).

As soon as fleetingly percussive six minute opener "Eternal Emperor" sheds its catchy, melodic sunbeam to tune of front man John Gunn (of Common Gods aptitude)'s forlorn wails and improved vocals, held firm belief we've another eccentric riser on the horizon, such as Norway's Flight and its sci-fi mustered A Leap Through Matter (from late '18), imbued with some Emblem or old time Warpig (of Canada), particularly, as inferred, in singing department, which sees a marked step-up from 2017's rather cartoonish, yet as sanguinary, Dunsinane. To wit, the introductory volley of verbal marching orders, issued forth by Gunn:

"Raise up your bows towards the sun!
For the age of Qin is dawning.
Three centuries of civil war has birthed the first empire of China.
One hundred thousand men slain
Are as one in the ruthless gaze of Huangdi.
To bring the seven kings to kneel amidst famine and disaster.

Huangdi! Behold the price of immortality.

Sunrise beckons to the king, the heir to heaven, fearing sunset.
Entombed alive the hundred schools and burned the wisdom of Confucius
Unto the hordes of north and south the emperor will show no mercy
And with a hundred workers deaths draw a line of blood around the empire..."

To my ears, it rings a lot like Dunsinane's "Alesia Falls" - a tale of Pre-Christianity Gallic woe like no other - whilst an equally vestigial, in both spirit and musiancianship, "In Lindisfarne It Lay", transports Gododdin onwards, within its misty, briny path.

Actually, the latter's wistfully gang-squawked chorus easily marks the LP's most memorable, ear-worming part, followed as it is by a super retro and grooving, slip-sliding bridge, upon which a sizzling bloody seizer of a lead assuages austere and prickly proclivities of a most seasoned order.

Including shorter, but no-less arcane and wizened, "The Doom of Kiev" - reprised less than a year later on the Scots' independently released multi-tool EP, Vessel of Darkness - the album's first quarter-hour (a little less than half, which comprises historically palliative atmosphere piece, "Walls of Acre") represents a veritable surge of energy for our young bard and his surrogates, namely Anskar Burke on guitar, fellow Common God Brendan Crow on bass and Peter Werninck on drums.

As with Emblem's titular foray, from 2017, Iron Maiden influences are glimpsed, never surfacing beyond a cursory lead guitar move (i.e. colourfully phrased solo bars), or slap-y drum patter(n), while a versatile employ of scales, in their seven modes and tonalities, rule the fretboard, from lobbed head to toe. Be they on the acapella sectioned "Parthia" and succeeding lightning strike, "Covenant", or maritime ode, "Over The Phantom Sea", the airy guitars and galloping bass, amidst tipsily rocking foundations, yield the courtyard to Burke's fiery bursts of incandescent, at times, unusually partitioned, chops as intricate as my father's indelibly neurotic and meticulous reproduction of the Bayeux Tapestry...on toilet paper!

True to form, shoehorned anecdote aside, a big part of Gododdin's appeal lies in Werninck and Crow's footloose shuffle foundations and basis for the higher registries i.e. Burke's lively guitar - particularly his wheezing, teetering soloing, in general - and Gunn's nasally expunged, mildly Jethro Tull/Ian Anderson-ish vocals. Crow's bass, while not as adventurous or seminal as on Dunsinane, does a terrific job of keeping pace with the jerky rhythms, although, to be fair, consider it a little under-heard; it would be nice for Midnight Force to retain that vintage uniqueness, where the bass does its own neat thing, instead of groveling.

(In other words, short of being pigeon-holed into just another Old English themed outfit, amongst dime a dozen, the group holds fast onto its 70s rock-meets-proto-metal-meets-NWOBHM variation, similar, say, to Pontypool, Wales' Iona & Odense, Denmark's Hadron, further European grippers worth keeping beer tabs on.)

Short of employing eldritch implements such as a hurdy gurdy (most Medieval) or theremin, Midnight Force's rapid skipping style and frenetic guitar plucks - oft dissimulated beneath piercing treble scream of electric axes - represent fabric or glue in the frame which imbues its fare (as cetacean explains, below) with dignified air of an older Age, yet without compromising core metal-ness...much like our tenuously referred Emblem, Flight and, to certain shit-kicking degree, Finland's Angel Sword. (Germany's Angel Blade comes to mind, insofar as nostalgic tingles go, during the kick-ass refrain of "In Lindisfarne It Lay".)

Also, the band ends Gododdin on explosively festive high note with "Y Gododdin", which, over course of seven, all-too-brief minutes, flashes forth everything between archaic, expressive wails, jig-some fiddle and all-out, fiery, incandescent rock n' roll soloing. Even the calmly lulling, acoustically pawned outro puts a sweet book cap on matters.

Besides, there's simply something to be said about this masterwork's enchantingly mesmerizing cover art. As in, the Gods are watching; march yonder and conquer (or some such missionary line).

Being a heavy metal band in the teens and 20's is weird. On the lower end of the spectrum you've got bands like Ghost who nail the style perfectly but have almost nothing to offer by way of creativity or musical merit. On the higher, you have bands like Haunt and Enforcer who manage to stay faithful to the core sound while unafraid to adapt it to modern sensibilities. But away from this oversimplified spectrum, you've also got a number of contemporary bands that sound like they've just thawed after chilling in blocks of ice for decades and taken to making music completely unaware that the last 40 years even happened. And among that often overlooked but admirably earnest group, Midnight Force surely deserves some pride of place.

Simply put, Gododdin keeps many of the stylistic cues that worked to such impressive effect on Dunsinane, but presents them in a tighter, more engaging way. The main ingredient is - of course - heavy metal a la (early) Manilla Road and (also early) Cirith Ungol, with more emphasis on harmony and melodicism than chugging and galloping. Compositionally, the songs often stray into 70's rock territory ("In Lindisfarne It Lay") but with more than enough NWOBHM-style aggression in cuts like "Eternal Emperor" and "Parthia" to keep things from getting too comfortable. By contrast, "Y Gododdin" and "Walls of Acre" are enhanced even further by highly effective soft sections with harmonized vocals (that keep reminding me of Wishbone Ash for some reason) and "Over the Phantom Sea" features a pub-folk chorus that would make Falconer proud. Really the only weak link in this chain is "Covenant," with weird rhythms hampering both the chorus and verse, but that's an easily overlooked flaw in an otherwise remarkably engaging album.

Regarding the two bands mentioned above, John Gunn's unique alto voice steers a sort of middle course between the nasality of Mark Shelton and the bombast of Tim Baker, but with vastly improved control over the first album and much more confident highs. Ansgar Burke deserves a mention as well for some excellent lead guitar work - "The Doom of Kiev" and "Y Gododdin" do their damndest to channel the melodic and frenetic sides (respectively) of Jimmy Page. The rhythm section of Brenden and Pete do more than their part as well (except, perhaps, on the aforementioned "Covenant.") Pete's rockish drumming style suits the early-70's recording style admirably, and it's always refreshing to hear the bass take a melodic line now and then - as Brenden does with aplomb at least once on every song.

But really the "it" factor that pushes this album over the edge from good to terrific is found in the songs themselves and the effectiveness with which the band uses them to create a definite emotional atmosphere. "Eternal Emperor" "The Doom of Kiev" are genuinely intimidating, and "Y Gododdin" is quite moving even if (like me) you know next to nothing about the episode in Celtic history that it references. If you've got any interest whatsoever in rockish 70's metal with a dash of excellent songwriting, you owe it to yourself to listen to this - as these gentleman have encapsulated the sound and spirit of the age as perfectly as anyone.