{"id":13601,"date":"2013-06-21T00:00:51","date_gmt":"2013-06-21T00:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=13601"},"modified":"2013-08-15T21:13:56","modified_gmt":"2013-08-15T21:13:56","slug":"album-review-skiltron-into-the-battleground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-skiltron-into-the-battleground\/","title":{"rendered":"SKILTRON – Into The Battleground (2013) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

SKILTRON
Into The Battleground<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nHellion (2013)<\/span>
Rating: 4\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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I can take or leave folk metal to be honest, not really having been bothered or convinced by the numerous bands doing the rounds over the years. Skiltron however \u2013 who hail from Argentina \u2013 have garnered my attention with their brand of folky rock. These guys formed in 2004 and are somewhat veterans of the scene, with Into The Battleground<\/em> being the fourth release from the band. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut are you convinced by these guys?\u201d I hear you ask. The answer would have to be a resounding \u201cNo\u201d, I\u2019m afraid. While I\u2019m of the opinion that there\u2019s a place for all manner of musical styles and instruments within the heavy metal fold, I\u2019ve yet to be warmed by the sound of mandolins, bouzoukis and bagpipes alongside raging electric guitars and warlock vocals.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong; it all makes for an interesting listen, but it begins to grate oh so quickly. I\u2019ve got nothing against these sorts of bands, but I guess my ears just aren\u2019t ready for this overtly folky sound which is immediately apparent on \u2018Lion Rampant\u2019. <\/p>\n

For some reason, I feel as if I\u2019ve intruded upon a hobbit\u2019s birthday party when the vocals, guitar and drum make way for those Celtic jigs and the like. The same could be said for the foggy whine of \u2018The Swordmaker\u2019, which begins with interest, only to be interrupted by the sort of Scottish bagpipes I\u2019d be more accustomed to around the misty banks of Loch Ness. <\/p>\n

I do understand that these folky injections are very much part of the band, but literally every track provides the same experience, detracting from the fact that this is also meant to be a metal record too. <\/p>\n

Tony Thurlow\u2019s vocals are unremarkable but still do a job, as do the drums of Matias Pena who is accompanied by the sturdy bass of Ignacia Lopez. Hearing an Argentine band sing songs about Scotland just seems a little strange if you ask me though, and the Celtic cheese really does begin to ooze when one succumbs to the wheeze of \u2018On The Trail Of David Ross\u2019. <\/p>\n

There are times on Into The Battleground<\/em>, however, when the band do<\/em> get it right. For instance, \u2018Besieged By Fire\u2019 is a straight up pulverising rocker with thrashy elements and gruff vocals. Even when it does shift its pace, it\u2019s still a nice melody that is punctuated by a mellow mandolin. Soon we\u2019re back to a thrashy barrage nonetheless, making \u2018Besieged By Fire\u2019 the best cut on the record.<\/p>\n

Sadly, the strangled cat returns with \u2018The Brave\u2019s Revenge\u2019 and \u2018Mearrsadh Air\u2019, the latter being an all-out midnight fireside jig. The Irish feel of \u2018The Rabbit Who Wanted To Be A Wolf\u2019 provides an intriguing twanging bounce, meanwhile, but again we\u2019re craving some type of metal ingredient. The nearest we get to this is the god-awful croon of \u2018Loyal We Will Stand\u2019; the track attempts to work as part-ballad, part-rocker and part-jig, but to no avail. <\/p>\n

Into The Battleground<\/em> is one of many folk metal albums I find myself scratching my head at. Despite their popularity across the world, Skiltron and their bagpipes pass me by like so many folk ballads have done over the years \u2013 best confined to the fog-enshrouded banks of the Highlands, but not the fiery depths of heavy metal Hades.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SKILTRONInto The Battleground Hellion (2013)Rating: 4\/10 I can take or leave folk metal to be honest, not really having been bothered or convinced by the numerous bands doing the rounds over the years. Skiltron however \u2013 who hail from Argentina \u2013 have garnered my attention with their brand of folky rock. These guys formed in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,688],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-skiltron"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13601"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13606,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13601\/revisions\/13606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}