Tim Shaw’s Fyrdsman project makes a long-awaited return. The Free Man is a work that examines post-1066 England.

FYRDSMAN

Tim Shaw’s Fyrdsman project makes a long-awaited return. The Free Man is a work that examines post-1066 England. Following the Battle of Hastings, the landscape of England was changed forever and Shaw seeks to use this album to examine the broader process of conquest from the perspective of the rebel. Themes of terror, loss, alienation and revenge are all addressed across the album’s eight tracks.

The period known as the Harrying of the North saw William enact a systematic, scorched-earth policy to deal with local rebellions across the northern parts of England, which were aided by support from Scotland and Denmark. According to one chronicler, ‘[William] made no effort to restrain his fury and punished the innocent with the guilty. In his anger he commanded that all crops, herds and food of any kind be brought together and burned to ashes so that the whole region north of the [river] Humber be deprived of any source of sustenance’. (source: BBC Bitesize).

Such was the impact of William’s actions, the Domesday Book noted, in 1086, that large parts of Yorkshire were “waste” and sections of northern England had lost over half their population over the 20-year period since 1066.

THE FREE MAN

It is this world that The Free Man explores through the medium of black metal. It’s been thirteen years since the acclaimed Omen in the Sky and Shaw has added Ian Finley (a name fans of Nemorous, Vacivus, or Wodensthrone might recognise) on drums and percussion, but Fyrdsman remains a Shaw-driven project.

Fyrdsman as a project has evolved since we last met. The sound has a more earthy feel to it, reflective perhaps of the time and space we are exploring in this new recording. It’s black metal, but definitely a black metal that will be more familiar to listeners in 2026 than those in 2013.

A DISTINCT FORM OF BLACK METAL

It is The Green Man that opens the album. After the drums kick in, the listener will notice that Shaw has employed relatively clean guitars, with a strong bass line driving the song. The vocals draw us back into the extreme metal realm before Shaw uses vocal harmonies towards the end of the song. It’s a strong opener, delivering on the promise of “a distinct form of black metal rooted in the spirit of its homeland.” Sacred Water retains these themes into the second track.. Here, the atmospheric nature of the Fyrdsman project really shines through.

Dispossession carries a pulsating core riff whilst retaining those melodic moments that are by now familiar to anyone who is new to Fyrdsman. Exile, the sixth track, is by far the longest at nearly nine and a half minutes, but its a journey well worth taking with the album themes of loss and alienation explored in a direct manner.

Album closer The Free Man rounds things off. It’s one of the strongest tracks on the album, drawing together the threads woven throughout the preceding seven tracks. Overall The Free Man is a strong comeback. It both engages key aspects of black metal and softer melodies to create a highly engaging album.

Fyrdsman: Bandcamp

At The Barrier: Facebook / X / Instagram