SKYCLAD

Founded in Newcastle, England, in 1990, the progressive thrash metal outfit Skyclad emerged when vocalist Martin Walkyier parted ways with his former group Sabbat following a dispute with guitarist Andy Sneap. He recruited guitarist Steve Ramsey and bassist Graeme English, both previously of Pariah, along with second guitarist Dave Pugh and drummer Keith Baxter. The band inked a deal with Germany’s Noise International imprint and cut Wayward Sons of Mother Earth, which surfaced in 1991. After supporting Overkill on the road and bringing aboard violinist and keyboardist Fritha Jenkins, Skyclad tracked A Burnt Offering for the Bone Idol in 1992 and followed it with Jonah’s Ark the next year. Maintaining a steady annual output through the middle of the decade, the ensemble delivered Prince of the Poverty Line in 1994, now featuring Cath Howell in place of Jenkins. Howell herself yielded to Georgina Biddle for 1995’s The Silent Whales of Lunar Sea, after which Baxter and Pugh departed. Issued the following year with session drummers, Irrational Anthems and Oui Avant-Garde a Chance were later re-released by Century Media, while The Answer Machine kept the group’s rapid pace alive in 1997. Permanent successors to Pugh and Baxter arrived in 1998 as drummer Jay Graham and guitarist Keith Ridley, both making their first appearance on 1999’s Vintage Whine. The playfully titled Folkemon reached Europe in 2000 and the United States in early 2001, marking Skyclad’s debut on Nuclear Blast and the final recording to feature founding vocalist Walkyier, who exited shortly afterward. Returning in 2004 with A Semblance of Normality, the band pursued a heavier and more experimental direction, augmented by fourteen members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The 2006 EP Jig-a-Jig paved the way for the next full-length release, 2009’s aptly named In the… All Together, which dispensed with outside guests in favor of a core-quartet approach. Forward Into the Past, the group’s thirteenth studio album, arrived in April 2017 through Listenable Records.