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Suidakra - Caledonia

Published Oct. 13 2006


*
=Staff's pick

Highland Hills*
A Blackened Shield
The Ember Deid (Part II)
Evoke The Demon*
Forth-Clyde*
Ramble
Dawning Tempest
The Distant Call*
On Torrid Sand
The IXth Legion*
Farewell


Genre Death/Heavy Metal
Arkadius/Marcel
Vocals
Tracks 11
Arkadius
Guitar
Runningtime 50 Min.
Marcel
Guitar
Label Armageddon Music
Marcus
Bass
Release 17 Nov. 2006
Lars
Drums
Country Germany
-
Keyboards
Similar artists Amon Amarth, Running Wild, Blind Guardian

German band Suidakra are back with their eighth album Caledonia and with it, there are more things that are back. First of all former member Marcel has rejoined the folds and furthermore the style of Suidakra's music is like a look in the rear view mirror since they return fully to the pagan death metal. Caledonia offers you a story with historical contents featuring the Romans on one end and the Picts (the natives of ancient Scotland) on the other end. A story of two worlds colliding and meeting in war told by Suidakra with music that more then well suits the purpose.

It took some listenings for me before the entire album sunk in, but the opening track Highland Hills I embraced immediately. It is an epic eight minute track that is filled to the brink with Suidakra goodies - Celtic melodies, massive riffing with blending melodic leads and it is a great mixture between death and power metal. Highland Hills is a rather representative track for Caledonia as it got everything, and it first struck me as sounding like Running Wild meets Amon Amarth meets Blind Guardian and creates one helluva soundtrack for Braveheart. In addition, Suidakra has picked out many good things from those mentioned bands, and many other influences as well, and created something of their own brand, like a nice well-matured blended whisky.

Caledonia is an album that is rich with layers and full of nuances that make sure that it will hold for a long time, the more you listen to it the more you find hovering beneath the surface. In the tracks The Ember Died and Distant Call, the music is slower and more of the pagan influences come out in these bard metal-ish songs. Distant Call is a very strong song with a powerful melodic refrain made for live performances and the melodic leads by the electric guitar, being backed up by acoustic guitars, are simply brilliant. Suidakra sounds like a tight outfit as they imply the Celtic and power metal influences upon their base of death metal and in perfect harmony with the story, bag-pipes are included at well chosen parts.

The balance is kept well on the album and the elements of bagpipes in tracks like Dawning Tempest and Forth-Clyde is an excellent move. In Dawning Tempest it becomes mighty as hell with the melodic break with bagpipes and military drumming. A Blackened Shield shows the more straightforward side of Suidakra, melodic metal in the vein of Dark Tranquillity and In Flames in their early days before it takes a Celtic twist towards the end before it melts together with The Ember Deid. Apart from Highland Hills, I hold The IXth Legion as a standout track, superb melodic death of the Gothenburg sound with massive razor sharp riffing and a melodic break with bagpipes in mid-tempo where you easily can visualise the Picts marching to battle.

The vocals are shared between Marcel and Arkadius and I cannot make up my mind about the growls, at times I find the growls to be superb and in the same league of Dark Tranquillity's Stanne, but other times they sound a bit pale and powerless. The production is done in a splendid way, even though the music is full of layers the sound level of the different elements is kept well and you can hear all of the many melodies that are in the music if you listen deeply. It is not as complex as Blind Guardian's A Night At The Opera but it is a rich sonic adventure Suidakra comes forth with, not that I am that well oriented in their earlier works but this must be the in the higher regions.

See also review of: Eternal Defiance , Crógacht , Command To Charge , Signs For The Fallen
See also: interview with Arkadius

Production
Vocals
Compositions

9

6

8,5

 
Summary



8,5 chalices of 10 - Thomas


Related links:

www.suidakra.com
www.myspace.com/suidakra