It's official, this band gets way to little recognition for what they did and still do for the viking metal scene. The two brothers running Forefather created some buzz with their début, an album that helped define black metal's cast-away genre. The reviews was and continues to be great, which obviously isn't without reason. Following an early best of compilation, was this, The Fighting Man. The Anglo-Saxon brothers in arms did it again, and despite programmed drums, it reached high levels of popularity in the underground scene, yet without receiving as much attention as its predecessor. Except the drums the sound is overall much improved from Deep Into Time, with a much clearer approach yet without the slight rawness that coloured it blacker. In the end, the production adds a much appreciated majestic and mighty atmosphere and takes away the dirty ends of the guitar notes and vocal chords and make everything more apparent. There is one backside to this though, and that's the fact that the plastic, dry, programmed drums tends to become way too distinct. They've completely failed to hide the cheap and shaky sounding cymbals. On the other hand, the result that remains is more than worth it, but can it top the standard set with the incredible Deep Into Time?

The Fighting Man is an album packed with tremolo riffs, twisted and varied vocals, tempo-shifts as well as mood-changes. At one moment you'll feel trapped in the midst of battle, with Vikings on one side swinging huge axes and swords, and desperate Englishmen on the other side, fighting for their homes, family and country. Then, in a blink of an eye, you're amidst the pagan gods, dwelling in enormous halls, dark corners of dark buildings and basking in the light of glory in death. No matter which song you put on, it'll drag you in whether it's aggression, melody or atmosphere you're after. The overall improved sound quality from Deep Into Time also offers a bunch of help to the experience. I am personally very fond of the slower, melodic, wandering parts that can be heard towards the end of For These Shores, the entire Out of Darkness and The Paths of Yesterdays. The occasional keyboard-melodies, on the mentioned songs are extremely fun, without dominating anything, but rather creating a mighty atmosphere. The guitars are also pretty damn great. This is packed with neat folky phrasing, that'll make you nod your head and tap your foot in acknowledgement. The same goes for the choice of chords throughout the entire album, which seems incredibly deliberate, and sometimes jaw-droppingly fitting for the music itself.

This is a perfect yet carefully blended mix of black, folk and early viking metal. It's extremely precisely executed, and weren't it for the plastic drums, this would be in the nineties for me. They manage to grab me with every element of their music which can be drenched in anger or beautiful melodies, harsh, frostbitten vocals or sloppy, clean vocals screaming torture and desperation. The riffs are constantly changing, always hooking you violently by your eyelids, forcing you to maintain your attention fixed on their heathen rhythms and rhymes. If you like your black metal with some pagan spice, catchy folk melodies, kick-ass riffs, and top notch vocals, you should get your hands on this as soon as possible, as it's clearly one of the coolest viking metal records out there.