Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Step beyond the relative calm of Somerset and Dorset and you enter a world of arguably England’s most beautiful and alluring coastlines, and its heritage of myths and legends; Devon and Cornwall, two separate counties divided by a common river but which holds magic deep within its twin souls; and as north Devon’s own myths play in the mind, the customs and folklore of the area are forged in heat, and cast with spells that present Beckon The Wyrd into the conscious of the far flung music lover and give Rise to a drama infused group whose determination and fantastic sound depth and grace to be admired.
The foursome behind the Bideford based group, Angela, Alex, George, and Julian, delve with certainty into the roots of rhythm and generous power of application to bring forth an appetite that the listener cannot get enough of, its overwhelming sense of history, of perhaps a novel reconstructed and reborn in a way that Brian Bates attained in his exploration of mystical Pagan beliefs, The Way Of The Wyrd, but set to music, set to a heartbeat that crushes indifference and pulls apart apathy with a rage in the palms and a sweat of muscle in the arms.
From out of the armoury comes response, a call to the ideals of a heavier rock but with a resonating understanding of another time, when ballads perhaps meant more to many than just love, they were responsibilities, when a song was more than an opening to a grievance aired, Rise is a response to the tamed and cowled in restraint, that songs, albums, art itself is not about being gentle, but about pushing a boundary or reinstating a truth of human feeling.
To be in the company of Beckon The Wyrd before their new album is due to be released, to feel the skin of Rise and know it as well as you know your own mind is to be assured of seeking humility and discovering it is melded with will and passion and undoing of repression in thought, is to understand our own myths are there to be explored and exposed with greater love.
A stunning single, rise and rise again is the order of the day.
Ian D. Hall