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Review: Suidakra - Emprise to Avalon
Suidakra
www.suidakra.com
Emprise to Avalon

Label: Century Media Records
Year released: 2002
Duration: 40:04
Tracks: 9
Genre: Melodic Death Metal

Rating:
4.5/5


Review online: February 6, 2006
Reviewed by: Sargon the Terrible
Readers' Rating
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Rated 3.8/5 (76%) (25 Votes)
Review

Well, I was so blown away – and still am – by Suidakra's 2003 "Signs For The Fallen" that I figured this one, released a year previous, would be almost as awesome. Good call there. Fifth album by this great overlooked German band, who take the Melodic Death approach, mix in folk music and Thrash, and come up with their own high-octane metal brew.

Hard to believe this band has put out so many fine albums, and still remains so unknown. "Emprise To Avalon" is a musical, challenging, face-ripping tour-do-force of melodic metal mastery, and I fail to see why candy-ass crap like Children Of Boredom is so successful while Suidakra languish in obscurity. If you expect Folk Metal to be laid-back and moody, then you are about to get your nutsack ripped off by the pounding war drums and ripping guitars that open up "Darkane Times" and get your head flailing. As on other albums, the riff here will just own you. Mainman Arkadius is a real shredder, and when he's kicking, I don't know if anyone on earth spins out tasty, aggressive folk riffs nearly as well. Back this up with a heavy production job, a solid band behind him, and some killer tunes to carry the riffs, and you have a winner. There are some slower acoustic bits, like the haunting "Dinas Emrys" and "The Spoils Of Annwn", plus an instrumental "And The Giants Dance". Nevertheless, there is no shortage of crushing steel on this disc, and you don't have to worry that it's not metal enough.

Pretty much every Suidakra album is worth getting, and this is within a hair of being as good as the awesome "Signs For The Fallen". With their upcoming album "Caledonia" announced as being more in the vein of this album, rather than the more experimental "Command To Charge", I see good things in the future for this band. If you don't know Suidakra, remedy that fast. Trust me.

More about Suidakra...
Review: 13 Years of Celtic Wartunes (reviewed by Pagan Shadow)
Review: Auld Lang Syne (reviewed by ShadowsFall)
Review: Book of Dowth (reviewed by Christopher Foley)
Review: Caledonia (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Command To Charge (reviewed by Larry Griffin)
Review: Crogacht (reviewed by Pagan Shadow)
Review: Crogacht (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Echoes of Yore (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Eternal Defiance (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: Lays From Afar (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Realms of Odoric (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Signs For The Fallen (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Wolfbite (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
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