Folkémon

Expectations for "Folkémon" were minimal when it came out. Skyclad's brand of folk-influenced metal was less popular than ever, the days of hearing Skyclad on BBC Radio 1 were long gone. The lazy pun in the album title was enough to show that Skyclad didn't gave a shit. Needless to say, I bought this a couple of weeks after it came out. I do not know why I bought it, probably out of completeness. I stuck it in the CD player assuming it was going to be shit, and yeah, it was. I filed it, stuck it in a box, moved house a few times and forgot about it.

Revisiting the album in 2020? Well, it is still rubbish if taken as a whole. I would not recommend it to anyone, and I certainly would not recommend it to someone who had never heard Skyclad before. The hit-to-miss ratio is the lowest of any Skyclad record (except maybe "Irrational Anthems"). The production is tight, and the musicianship is excellent, but there is a sense that no-one in the band cares whether this album sinks or swims. Occasionally, this attitude pays off, and everything comes together in moments of unfettered brilliance. This means that Skyclad fans will still have to sit through "Folkémon" in case they miss anything good. Sorry.

You won’t have to look far, opener "The Great Brain Robbery" is the best song. This is as close to progressive thrash as Skyclad had been for a long time (albeit with lots of fiddle and British eccentricity). It has those machine-gun triplets that sound suspiciously like "Holy Wars...The Punishment Due" (e.g., 0:20). The fiddle is manic, building over the top in some weird, hypnotic time. There is an audacious solo, some robust bass parts in the middle. The result is a song with more urgency than you could ever expect from Skyclad at this stage. Against all odds, this is (almost) Skyclad at their best.

"Polkagiest!" is the other good song. This is fast, rowdy and raucous. George Biddle gets a chance to sing too. I quite like her vocals, they sound a bit amateurish and ill-suited, but this adds to the chaotic, rustic feel. Martin Walkyier clearly cares less about his image by this point, he just throws (excellent) poetry in and spins a tale out of it. You could think of "Polkageist!" as Skyclad's ultimate pub-rock song, if a band played this at your local pub you'd be impressed. Another passable song is "Think Back and Lie of England", even if it is a little repetitive. This one links back to Steve Ramsey and Graeme English's NWOBHM roots (which are revisited a lot on this album). There is a Thin Lizzy/Wishbone Ash break somewhere in the middle too.

The problem with this carefree attitude is that Skyclad are basically 'winging it' on this album. The band have talent to burn, but they get exposed on the other songs (which are utterly forgettable). "Crux of the Message", "The Antibody Politic", "When God Logs-Off", "Déjà-Vu Ain't What It Used to Be", these are among Skyclad's blandest and least interesting songs ever. "You Lost My Memory" is the worst Skyclad ballad since "Quantity Time". "Any Old Irony?" is a bad pub rock song. Much of this album sounds like "Rock Until You Drop"-era Raven doing an impression of The Dubliners. I know how awesome that sounds in theory, but the reality is less appealing.

"The Disenchanted Forest" is worth a mention. It is not a good song (seven disjointed minutes of Skyclad ripping off Jethro Tull), but it is notable for Walkyier's return to strange, pagan storytelling (also evident to a lesser extent on "Polkageist!"). Reading the lyrics reminds me of his days in Sabbat (and of epics like "The Clerical Conspiracy" and "The Best of Enemies"), where Walkyier would ascribe different verses to different characters. Seeing this approach again here is a strange, unexpected twist in the tale. Perhaps this is due to Walkyier having one eye on the exit and reverting to what came naturally (he would leave the band after this album).

Skyclad fail far more often than they succeed on "Folkémon", but it is interesting to hear them playing with such abandon. Skyclad were always a cerebral band who could tangle themselves up in their own contradictions. If "Folkémon" is the ultimate expression of anything, perhaps it is of that.