With a reputation that took them nearly 20 years to build, Germany’s Suidakra is known as one of the pioneers of the folk metal movement. With the release of their eleventh album Eternal Defiance, they have proven themselves to be one of the most stable output metal bands. They are back with their eleventh record Eternal Defiance, a perfect blend of melodic death metal, Celtic, and folk music. Known for creating songs centered on mythology and legendary historical battles that revolve around key characters, Suidakra’s Eternal Defiance focuses on The Dream of Macsen Wledig which is a Welsh tale about the emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Magnus Maximus.
The story as it entails, is about Maximus having a dream of a woman, Elen, which he falls in love with. His legion embarks with him to Wales in search of her and once she is found, she falls in love with him just like in the Emperor’s dream. While Maximus is away, a new Emperor takes the throne. Maximus, Elen, and her brother with the help of an army take back the title by overtaking Italy and Gaul.
Through the melodic guitar dueling of Arkadius Antonik and Marius Pesch, the war cries of Alex Romer’s bagpipes, and the heart thumps of Lars Wehner’s drums, Eternal Defiance takes the listener through Maximus’ journey and warfare while they get to headbang and educate fans of this Welsh myth.
Suidakra utilized three vocalists on this record. The female vocalist, Tina Stabel, blends well with vocalist Antonik’s raucous vocals and Sebastian Hintz’s clean vocals as displayed in “Beneath The Red Eagle” and “March of Conquest”. Stabel does a fine job of providing piano throughout the record as well and has been featured in 3 out of 4 of the band’s last records. Hintz adds depth to each track with an acoustic guitar. Tim Siebrecht’s bass solo, Pesch’s guitar, and Romer’s bagpipes on “Pair Dadeni” are epic. By mid-album Suidakra tones things down a notch with some acoustic instrumentals and beautiful vocals of Stabel. “Dragon’s Head”, with a beautiful folk guitar melody by Hintz, “Defiant Dreams,” and “Damnatio Memoriae” finish up the storyline again with harmonious riffage and power.
The material of Eternal Defiance is very strong and rises above Suidakra’s previous album Book of Dowth. The only drawback on the album was on the mastering mix; when listening to the album in high volume levels the sound seems somewhat distorted as all of the instruments and vocals are on the same level. Regardless of that, this album is definitely a beautiful piece of work from Suidakra and is a must-get album of 2013. Cryptic Rock gives Suidakra’s Eternal Defiance 5 out of 5 stars.
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