'We have to stand out'

Unusual compositions

Metal isn’t just about crashing cymbals and complicated riffs — and no one showcases this spirit better than Suidakra, a German trash metal band whose creative music is as unusual as the band’s name itself.

Their compositions include wholesome heavy metal, infused with the melodic strains of Celtic folk. And although the ensemble appears a little odd in theory, the band makes it work — with a touch of the bagpipes and a heavy emphasis on the guitar, they create music which teems with contemporary energy and emotion.

Metrolife caught up with the band’s vocalist, Arkadius, and guitarist Sebastian
Hinz to find out more about the genre they call ‘melodic metal’.

A large part of the decision, they explain, was to create something that stood apart from the rest. “We wanted a fresh, new element in our music — besides, our songs have different moods and we needed a genre that could understand that. At the time we created the band, our guitar player was heavily into Celtic folk. We thought it was a great idea,” explains Arkadius.

 Sebastian is a touch more frank. “We simply have to stand out in the metal scene,” he states candidly, “Actually, all of us are into Celtic mythology. We read books about it and love the pipes. Combining these two genres was a different idea — but it worked.”

Other than the Celtic strains, the band has a habit of raising eyebrows with its rather unusual name. Suidakra is simply a term coined by flipping around its vocalists’ name: Arkadius. “When we started out, we called ourselves ‘Glorification’, but we weren’t satisfied with that. Our drummer had a teddy bear whose name was his, backward.

We made a lot of fun of him — but then we tried it out on my name, and we liked it. So we named our band Suidakra,’ recollects Arkadius.

As a band that has replaced many of its members from time to time, there are a few challenges in terms of composing — but nothing they can’t handle, explains Arkadius. “We’ve been together for so long that we’ve grown as composers. We don’t have many creative differences. In fact, sometimes we record individually at home, get on the phone with each other to smoothen out stuff then take it further,” he says.

Although they draw heavily from these Celtic influences, Arkadius is quick to add that the band is open to inspiration from all quarters.

“We are inspired by very different types of music. We’re quite open-minded. It can happen if we’re listening to a cool movie soundtrack, Irish rock — and even a bit of pop,” he admits.

This is Arkadius’ second visit to Bangalore — the band played at the Palace Grounds recently with ‘Opeth’ — and he admits to being rather enamoured by the City. “Bangalore is awesome,” he says succinctly, adding, “when we first came here, we didn’t expect such a huge response — we were completely blown away. The metal scene here is pretty huge and it’s growing each day.”

Sebastian confirms this view, saying, “Bangalore may be called the rock capital but I feel there’s a huge demand for metal here. That’s why we’re planning to come here again soon.”