• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Suidakra have not been doing their best work for a number of years now, with Arkadius seeming to have gotten really into atmospheric music rather than the hard-assed metal the band is known for. Now he has his Realms of Odoric side project for that, maybe Suidakra can get back to work. Echoes of Yore is not really a new album, as it is a re-recording of songs from the band's first five albums as a celebration of 25 years in existence. This was funded by a Kickstarter campaign and the track list was selected by backers voting on it.

Surprisingly, forcing the band to rely on classic material and not letting them pick the track list has produced their best album since Crogacht. This is a brilliant tour de force through some of the strongest tunes of Suidakra's early years, taking songs from albums like Lays from Afar and The Arcanum and fitting them with sharper playing and a modern recording job. The songs sound bigger, tighter, and heavier than they did before, and Arkadius happily resisted the urge to alter the songwriting, so this is almost an hour of crunching, blazing metal like what this band was once good at. If you liked Suidakra's classic albums, then this is something you can grab without hesitation.