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Yggdrasil > Vedergällning > Reviews > Lord_Lexy
Yggdrasil - Vedergällning

Solid folk metal - 95%

Lord_Lexy, July 25th, 2009

At the time of writing this review, nearly a year has passed since the announcement that Yggdrasil would record a new album. Let me start with a little anecdote of how I experienced the waiting. Nearly every day I checked the band’s site to see what the progress on the new album was. One day came the announcement that the release was set for the 27th of March. Great! I pre-ordered it at my local metal store and knew that within a month I would have my copy of Yggdrasil’s second album. Unfortunately, when you look forward to something very much, bad things are bound to happen (thank you, mr. Murphy). So it was, that I walked into the shop on the 27th of March and that I did not find ‘Vedergällning’. In the weeks following, each Friday I went to the store to search for the album. But, after a three month delay (due to technical and communication problems of the label), ‘Vedergällning’ was finally released. Never before I had been looking forward to a release with the same eagerness. But was all the waiting (and the € 13.90) worth it? Hell, yes it was! Yggdrasil, by the time of recording a two man project, did a very good job and succeeded in making an album that at least equals their debut. The new album is harder and more diverse than its predecessor. Let’s have a closer look.

My absolute favourite on the first album was the opener, ‘I Nordens Rike’. At had an intro of three minutes, and was interesting for the entire nine minutes. What to say of ‘Oskorei’, the opener for ‘Vedergällning’. We hear birds and water, as if we were in a forest. Than a keyboard begins to play immediately followed by a cacophony of drums and guitars. But after this part, a steady rhythm arises from the chaos and more melodic guitars are added. Great: except for that keyboard part, I like it. The intro goes on about two minutes and contains even a great part with an acoustic guitar. After that, grunts and a background choir. This kind of music chills me to the bones. The diversity of components used in the songs (acoustic, very sharp lead guitar at certain points in the song, grunts, background choir) makes this song and the album very interesting. Melodies do return but often they’re played with a different way. ‘Oskorei’ is a worthy opener for the album, that’s for sure.

‘Vedergällning’ is the head banger song. And the darkest of the album. The guitars are doing a very steady melody, the drums and bass sound like a train and a violin is added to the whole. As I see it, the violin is most important to the music of Yggdrasil. In the chorus the grunting is replaced by a male choir, singing in a deep tone and accompanied by the violin. Very interesting and, I don’t know how to say it different, ‘emotional’ of melancholic song.

The rest of the songs on these album are more or less made from the same components but there are no two songs sounding alike. ‘Ekot Av Skogens Sang’ has a flute and sounds like a drinking song at certain points, ‘Valkyria’ ends with a guitar solo (never heard a real guitar solo before in Yggdrasil’s song) and ‘Storm’ is a very short song (two and a half minute) of which the second half is mostly focused on clean vocals. The entire album sounds different from ‘Kvällningsvindar Över Nordrönt Land’ but to say that one is better than the other wouldn’t be fair. Both are very strong albums, interesting and with a strong hint of Norse mythology.

‘Vedergällning’ is an album that uses the right ingredients to make good folk/viking metal: catchy melodies, violins and flutes, grunts and male choirs. The lyrics are sung in Swedish so vocals really are just another instrument. The use of Yggdrasil’s mother tongue is a great plus.

To conclude: ‘Vedergällning’ is a very solid album, offering diversity in its songs. Favourites: ‘Oskorei’ and ‘Vedergällning’.