Wintersmith

"For all those who expected Steeleye to wear their elder years lightly, gently re-treading earlier glories, Wintersmith might well come as a slap round the head. Wake up and pay attention! Based on the work of Terry Pratcher, by turn it's dark, spectral, steeled, mysterious and sensitive - above all a gothic reflection of one of his Discworld pieces - and it is different ... Winthersmith has echoes of previous form yet manages to present a virtually new canvas ... Span have at long last done what some of us knew they were capable of and shifted axis to produce a CD of original work. Don't look for trad arr here because it's almost absent ... Span's most involving album since Time and the graft and hard labour have all been worth it. Beguiling and enthralling".