Background:
On January 22nd, 1879, a British force of nearly 2000 men fought a force of nearly 20,000 Zulu warriors in the battle of Isandlwana, and despite the technological advantages, was nearly totally destroyed. 4000 warriors of the reserve broke off near the end of the battle to cut off some of the British forces, and ended up marching onto a small garrison of roughly 150 men called Rorke’s Drift.
Burdened down with hospital patients, they could not retreat, and decided to stand, and fight. They fortified the grounds and buildings. After eleven hours of fighting – often hand to hand combat – finally collapsing the perimeter to the stone Kraal, the Zulu forces left as a relief column approached the next morning.
Music:
One of the scenes near the end of the movie Zulu, one I saw in my childhood, is still burned in my memory. The thin British line, each row taking turns firing, and the carnage at the end, despite the lack of blood a modern production would have used, was staggering.
Too bad it didn’t really quite happen that way, and there were a number of liberties taken with the actual facts, but it was still a good movie.
The song starts on a fast pace, switching back to a power-metal run driven more by the guitars than a crushing, steady beat. The style, if anything, made me think more of some older Iron Maiden tracks from Powerslave, mixed with a little Dragonforce. But it’s still all Sabaton. This is another track that didn’t catch me at first, but ended up growing on me.
