Sergeant Thunderhoof , Mark Sayer (guitars); Josh Gallop (guitars and backing vocals); Darren Ashman (drums) ; Dan Flitcroft (vocals) and Jim Camp (bass) have built themselves a reputation many bands would be envious of, they have built that reputation not just because they have consistently delivered music of depth and quality, one album after the other, but also because they have throughout their career consistently engaged with their fans and supporters, conversing with them via messages and social media answering criticism and acknowledging praise with a class some bands and artists would do well to learn from. They are also a band with a sense of humour, even once running a competition to see who could give their last album, "The Sceptred Veil" the most scathing review, however, when it comes to creating music they are deadly serious. Their music, a focused blend of new age prog, swaggering hard rock and thrumming metal, is in turns blustering, complex and melodic, it is music with an appeal that crosses over all those usual boundaries that divide fans of rock music with extreme loving metal heads through to mainstream rock radio listeners all able to find something to tie their flag to on a "Hoof" album. Now many may have thought that Sergeant Thunderhoof had reached their creative pinnacle with the superbly well received " The Sceptered Veil" but those thoughts have been well and truly scotched with the release of latest album "The Ghost of Badon Hill" (Pale Wizard Records) an absolute game changing release from a band who many are now starting to consider to be one of Britain's finest musical exports in years.
Mysticism, folklore and Arthurian legend are the bedrocks upon which Sergeant Thunderhoof's latest album "The Ghost of Badon Hill" has been built, for those not up on their history of Britain Badon Hill was the site of a battle between the resident Britons (Celts) and the invading Saxons in the bands home county of Somerset. The album begins with "Badon" its suitably medieval flavoured intro of gently picked guitars is complimented by sparse but effective bass and militaristic drumming. Vocals at this point are delivered clean and croon-like but as the song moves towards a more forceful and torch-like dynamic those vocals become more intense and powerful, its impressive stuff and this only the first track! Following song "Blood Moon" is a much more forceful and heavier affair with chugging riffs and thunderous drumming supporting swirling lead work and sharded chord textures over which the vocals posses just a touch more bite and grittiness. Next we come to "The Orb of Octavia", this has got to be, in our humble opinion, one of the best songs The Hoof have ever recorded, There are many ways you could interpret the lyrics to this song, is it a soldiers last words to a loved one before facing battle or is it just a vain plea to be remembered by an unrequited love.. we don't know but if there is a song anymore emotionally intense and beautiful, yet that still manages to retain its air of edgy heaviness, then we at Desert Psychlist have yet to hear it. If you are writing an album that has at its core a battle then you need at least one rousing call to arms type song and "Salvation for the Soul" serves (partly) as that song. Anyone who has read a Bernard Cornwall novel will know that battles, in the period this album is set in, were not fought remotely from behind a gun but face to face in the hell that was a shield wall, men were pushed up against each other never knowing if the next spear or sword to break through said wall was going to take their lives. If you survived a shield wall you were a hero if not you were just dead, a situation summed up perfectly in the lines "As the echoes fade in to the moonlit night we step up to face the hordes, our lives on the line" and "Beneath the stars we wait, where destines are made through the fear and the pain" Next up is "Sentinel" a wonderfully arranged piece with a groove that fluctuates between languid and soaring over which reflective lyrics are delivered in powerful and deeply emotive tones against a backdrop of swirling prog(ish) guitar colouring and sympathetically delivered rhythms, the song finally signing off on a haunting piano motif. Final number "Beyond The Hill" is a stunning tome that is part a tribute to those that have given their lives to a cause they believed in, "An end to what we have known for so many years", and part a sorrowful lament for all those touched by conflict, "Shaking fury up to the night sky as she kisses her child’s hand", an again emotive and thought provoking piece.
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