suidakra book of dowth

Released: 28 March 2011 Label: AFM Records

Somewhat remarkably, this is the tenth album from SuidAkrA, who since debuting with Lupine Essence way back in 1997, have maintained a consistently high level of performance given their rapid turnover of albums. Certainly not a band you’ll find taking five years between releases.

On the evidence of this collection, this band simply doesn’t need that amount of time to produce the goods as Book of Dowth shows no reduction in the quality of their Celtic-flavoured war metal.

True, it doesn’t exactly push the envelope either and there’s little deviation from the melodic black / death metal meets Celtic folk formula of previous albums, but it’s doubtful we would actually want drastic progress from a band like SuidAkrA. At its core, this is celebratory heavy metal designed for maximum headbanging and irresponsible mead guzzling, and isn’t that just what we we’re all looking for?

The urge to dance an unbecoming heavy metal jig is almost irresistible when presented with tracks like the impossibly jaunty Stone of the Seven Sons, while the pulverizing Fury Fomoraigh is heavy enough to encourage some serious neck-breaking action and yet retains a keen melodic edge thanks to some endearing folk instrumentation.

That said, Book of Dowth is far from one dimensional. The female vocals of Birog’s Oath and the gentle acoustics of Mag Mell provide a welcome and ethereal respite mid way through the album and show that while SuidAkrA may not be leading the way in terms of invention and originality, they certainly offer enough to consolidate their status as a solid and enjoyable part of the Euro-metal pantheon.

by Marcus Jervis