Skiltron - Bruadarach Review

When you think you have heard every combination that is possible around Metal music, there comes Skiltron with “Bruadarach” and their mix of Power Metal and Folk Metal with a strong grip on the bagpipes. And when you think you have heard all the combinations the band could do in an album, there comes “This Battle Is My Own” which is, let’s say, a Celtic Power Metal ballad. Skiltron blend in a very unique Power Metal and Hard Rock features with their distictive bagpipe sound and, sometimes, adding a flute. This combination makes the band one of kind, if you ask me.

Yeah, I know, there are bazillion bands that explore the Celtic Folk Metal features, but what Skiltron do here is really unique. It’s not the features, but the way the band combines them that turn into in a so unique sonancy as we can hear with “Bruadarach.” Put it in a very simple way, the band simply mix Power Metal with the bagpipes. Yeah, it’s simple, but haven’t you heard that the most simple, the best? That’s the motto here. Album opener “As We Fight” without the bagpipes would be just one more song with a Power Metal slant. With them it’s Skiltron pinnacle. “This Battle Is My Own” delves a little more into the Folk Metal sonancy with a flute to reach one of the most perfect combinations the band showcases here in the album. It’s the song I said before which is a Celtic Power Metal ballad with a huge melodic slant. Really unexpected. I liked very much the tone of the guitars. I guess they blend perfectly with the sonancy of the bagpipes and what the band wishes in terms of music. Following track “Where the Heart Is” speeds up a little with an Iron Maiden grip on the instrumentals, plus, of course, the omnipresent bagpipe.

Here we’ve got a great example of a band that got the usual and well-worn out features that bazillion bands use to make their own. It’s not the features, it’s the way a band mix them that really makes a difference. Skiltron are here to prove it. Try “Bruadarach” and see what I’m talking about.

Skiltron “Bruadarach” will be released on December 01st via Trollzorn Records.

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