Suidakra – Cymbric Yarns

Label: AFM Records  Playing Time: 40 Min  Release 16th November 2018

Suidakra, the band of mastermind Arkadius Antonik, has been part of the German Metal scene for 20 years now. The band plays some sort of melodic Death Metal with some folk elements, especially from the celtic culture, and also includes some influences from Pagan Metal. That’s how you know and love them – or not.

But the new album “Cimbric Yarns ” has not much in common with everything the band did before. All songs are acoustic only and all vocals are sung with clear voices. In addition to Arkadius’ vocals there are also some female voices on some of the songs. Although the album is acoustic, it is much more than only an unplugged album. There are of course two acoustic guitars, but also some orchestral instruments like strings, horns and brass and also orchestral percussions. Those orchestral instruments are being arranged with a lot of caution. In the parts where they are used, they are sometimes only supporting and sometimes they are very dominant. All in all, they bring a nice dynamic to the songs which creates the suspense of the album.

In terms on songwriting, “Cymbric Yarns” is a medal with two sides. There are some great, catchy songs, just like ‘Serpentine Origins’, ‘Black Dawn’ and ‘Assault On Urlár’. But vast parts of the album are not catchy at all. Although there is the dynamic I mentioned above, those songs just pass you by.

https://www.suidakra.com