Suidakra (originally named Gloryfication) at first, played death metal and thrash.. These crazy Germans have been lucky enough to play Europe, USA, India and China and so they should after all they have been doing this for over a decade! With their first self- released cd in 1997 titled ‘Lupine Essence’ and now on their whopping 11th album ‘Eternal Defiance’ (crikey) After so many albums on some cracking labels, I’m expecting something spectacular…
A stunning thunder effect starts off the album with the track ‘Storming the Walls’, along with violins and a marching feel, which soon turns into the sound of war and mayhem! Yes! Then again with the music, more heavier this time as if it’s a victory theme!
The first track with vocals is ‘Inner Sanctum’, definitely not what I’d expected to hear but impressive nevertheless. The vocals are your usual battle metal black metal stuff, think Amon Amarth but much more high pitched. The drumming is great, but, if I was to be picky, I’d say it’s a little too clean. Very similarly, ‘Beneath the Red Eagle’ is another war styled marching anthem. Slower than the previous at first, but catches up and sounds a little too much. However, the vocals, both male and female are fantastic on this. The female especially makes it sound very 80’s inspired. (Battle metal 80’s hmmm?). Now, possibly my favourite track off the album is ‘March of Conquest’ with its wicked intro (one of those that sounds like a wet fart and then BOOOM epic music!) and of course, the chorus is as catchy as they come!
Moving on to a slower one, ‘The Mindsong’ with the beautiful acoustic guitar and serene female vocals, then unfortunately mid song… which to be fair, gets a little boring. So back to the heavy stuff.. and another firm fave ‘Dragons Head’ just because of the windmill worthy bagpipe riffs… yes you heard it !! bagpipe riffs!
‘Defiant Dreams’ is another good track, but at this point after listening to it for the first time….it just starts to sound the same as the rest of the tracks. ‘Damnatio Memoriae’ on the other hand, is a nice little acoustic piece to chill out to after the furious stuff and perfect to end a gig on get the lighters flying in the air.
*Bonus Track * is ‘Mrs McGrath’ .. think drunken old school Irish people slamming their steins together… it’s that kind of music!
All in all, it’s not a bad album, however, it does get a little samey towards the middle.. but if battle metal and dressing up is your thing then this is your bag!
(5/10 Charlene Rance)
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