The Owl Service His Pride No Spear No Friend Reviewed by Grey Malkin (The Hare & The Moon) The Owl Service almost single handedly resurrected the deep vein of the acidic and wyrd within the tradition of UK folk rock with their superb and highly influential d�but album, A Garland of Song. Here were a band that were once again taking the richly dark ballads of these lands and creating a musical framework that matched the magical, murderous and mud splattered content of the words and stories. A series of essential EPs followed, culminating in the richly detailed and majestic A View From The Hill before the Owls took a sabbatical, emerging in various alternate musical forms (such as Greanvine) and running the splendid Stone Tape label. And then, as though called back when Albion most needed them, they returned with this, their third long player His Pride. No Spear. No Friend (the title a quote from Alan Garners classic novel The Owl Service). An arguably more stripped back and more tra...