Band:	Yggdrasil
Album:	I Nordens Rike
Style:	Folk metal
Release date:	2003
A review by:	Undercraft

01. I Nordens Rike
02. Frid
03. Kvällning Över Trolska Landskap
04. Vinter
05. Midnatt
06. Gryningstid

Yggdrasil are a young band hailing from Sweden, they play Folk Metal with some Doom/Death Influences, and this is their second demo. This band formed only 2 years ago, and they come us with a really professional work, despite minor setbacks, but we'll get to that later.

The thing that impressed me the most when I heard this demo was the use of mouth harp as a instrument! Sounds weird, but it really helps to create the atmosphere. The compositions are well done and some are lengthy, from the start you get 9 minutes of the opener 'I Nordens Rike' with a great acoustic intro, transforms into a great epic song.

'Frid' starts with a flute, then the guitar enters and a chanting begins, I couldn't understand a thing, since the whole album is sung in Swedish , it also comes with a booklet with lyrics, of which I didn't understand nothing either.

Some female vocals appear, that would impressed me years ago, but nowadays listening to guest female vocalist is very common in the metal scene. That doesn't mean that female vocals suck, as a matter fact, they are really good, and much better than male vocals, which need a lot of work, because musically this band is really good, but the singing kills the experience for me.

I should mention 'Griningstid', the last song of the album, great guitar work and nice elaboration. I think that these young Swedes could bring us a better work, because they have the talent. It's just a matter of practicing and fixing one or two minor problems [singing one of those]. This band with a better production, more practice could achieve something! I'll be waiting for the next album, something tells me that we're going to hear a lot more from these guys.