Band:	Fallen Yggdrasil
Album:	Building Up A Ruin To Come
Style:	Death metal
Release date:	July 2004

01. Intro
02. Building Up A Ruin To Come
03. Bequest
04. The Snake
05. Just Another Lullaby
06. Babylonian Prayer
07. I Burn
08. For Those Masters Of The Undone
09. My Family

With Apophis and Fallen Yggdrasil, I am quite impressed by the latest death metal releases of the German extreme label Supreme Chaos Records. Although the latter is the less overwhelming of the two, it still shows a decent number of qualities that could make them rise out of the underground. About Fallen Yggdrasil now. They are a German death band that, as far as I've heard, has achieved a little fame in the German underground metal world with the present debut album.

Their music is labelled as catchy death metal and this is quite a correct label. When you listen to Building Up A Ruin To Come you have sense that everything runs towards catchiness. Everything has been thought and written in this perspective. The result can be considered good or average. It is good in the sense that it works: this album is indeed catchy as hell, not as much because of the vocals - the growls can sometimes get a bit whiny by the way - and the choruses as because of the music itself. What makes this album so catchy actually is the excellent riff writing. The influences are rather obvious, they are a mix between US and Swedish old school death and atmospheric death metal à la old Tiamat. This results in some truly astounding melodic moments such as that little break right in the middle of "I Burn". Building Up A Ruin To Come is an interesting listen altogether when you want music that is not mind-challenging.

Yes but. This album also clearly lacks originality and personality. Their death metal does not really have any personal, brand new feature that could make them stand out. There is no real variation of tempo, most of the album is played at a fast but not too fast pace. It is not the most extreme, or the most melodic, or the most groovy (although it has a serious sense of groove) death metal album. This is a good album of the kind that you listen to four or five times and then forget on a shelf. This album lacks something. Something indefinable, like a some more complexity in the songwriting or more conviction during the atmospheric moments. Besides, this is not a hardcore or grindcore album, therefore 34 minutes is an unacceptable running time. Seriously.

Anyway, once Fallen Yggdrasil find their clear own way, everything shall be fine. Despite my constant ranting, this is a band with an enormous potential. Proof is this high-standard Building Up A Ruin To Come, recommended to any death metal fan out there. It has all the qualities required for you to enjoy it a lot. Me? I was expecting better, dunno why.

Highlights: Building Up A Ruin To Come, I Burn, My Family