Band:	Unleashed
Album:	As Yggdrasil Trembles
Style:	Death metal
Release date:	March 19, 2010
A review by:	Baz Anderson

01. Courage Today, Victory Tomorrow!
02. So It Begins
03. As Yggdrasil Trembles
04. Wir Kapitulieren Niemals
05. This Time We Fight
06. Master Of The Ancient Art
07. Chief Einherjar
08. Return Fire
09. Far Beyond Hell
10. Dead To Me
11. Yahweh And The Chosen Ones
12. Cannibalistic Epidemic Continues
13. Evil Dead [Death cover] [bonus]

Melodic Death metal
Nuclear Blast
Sweden
Length: 45:08


Unleashed might have been around for a while, and with the band's tenth album certainly know how things work by now. You would have then thought that the band would have realised that the material written for As Yggdrasil Trembles, however cool the album title might sound, or the cover might look, is not quite up to par.

All the melodic death metal trademarks are here; train-like guitar riffs chugging along, deep growled vocals, a few blasts from the drums and that all-so familiar melodic guitar sound. Yes, we've been here before. Unleashed don't exactly provide anything original, but tend to recycle the whole of the melodic death metal genre into this album.

The lyrics are terrible, especially with "Wir Kapitulieren Niemals" among others. This is the kind of music that will benefit from the live environment, which would be fine if we weren't sat here with the CD. As Yggdrasil Trembles has a real methodical pace about it, it never reaches any kind of blistering speeds, but also doesn't get too slow to become tedious. Unleashed sound cliché; the whole album has somewhat of a Dethklok feel to it, it is impossible to take the album seriously.

As Yggdrasil Trembles is not necessarily a bad album. The production is fantastic, and the album does have some moments to go back and listen to a second time such as the more pacey "Return Fire", but the overall feeling is one of complete and utter mediocrity. We've all been and done this years ago. However cool the harsh vocals might sound, or the odd guitar solo or riff, the song writing of the album is its downfall. Plain and simple, there is nothing on As Yggdrasil Trembles that will really catch your attention as something original and interesting.

Unleashed are a band that after all these years could have done so much better for their tenth album. Instead, As Yggdrasil Trembles is a regular, run-of-the-mill, ordinary melodic death metal that will entertain for one or two listens, but certainly won't keep your attention long enough to stop you moving onto something a little more interesting.