Artist: Erdling
Title: Yggdrasil
Genre: Dark Metal / Industrial
Release Date: 10th January 2020
Label: Out Of Line
Album Review
‘Yggdrasil’ is the latest offering from German NDH band ERDLING (Earthling). I’d not heard of them before this album, ‘Yggdrasil’ being my doorway into their world. My first impressions are thus: It’s anthemic Industrial Metal which is a bit hit and miss. I can’t really get my teeth into this at all. The first half of the album is crowd pleasing chant Metal with sugary call and response allusions. The first track to perk my interest is ‘Am Heiligen Hain’ but it’s all over in under four minutes. ‘Im Namen Der Krähe’ is ok, it has a satisfying Nu-Metal guitar riff that comes in at various points to lift the track up onto a wave, again it’s over in within four minutes. This is formulaic to the Teutonic meter but I think RAMMSTEIN and OOMPH! do it better. The 2nd half of the album from ‘Sturmfänger’ onwards perks my interest somewhat before I lose it again. The 2nd CD of the album comprises cinematic versions of ‘Yggdrasil’, ‘Am Heiligen Hein’, ‘Sturmfänger’ and ‘Wölfe Der Nacht’ along with two tracks from the albums ‘Supernova’ and one from ‘Dämon’.
I really can’t get into this at all, I’m not engaged. I want the tracks to finish so I can move on to the next and the next and the next. The fact that it’s all sung in German makes not one blind bit of difference to how I feel about this album. There are many other artists who sing in languages other than English that still have me at a level of engagement higher than the engagement I have here. It feels, oh I don’t know, flat and uninspired. I have no goose-bumps or chill racing up and down my spine, there’s no “wow!” factor! Until ‘Absolute Rex’ starts. The spat-out lyrics and martial beat and emphatic ominous keyboard refrain draw me away from some other task and keep me focused for nearly four minutes. It’s a shame the whole album didn’t achieve this!
You, dear reader, may disagree with my thoughts and you may think that I write a load of garbage. At the end of the day I was underwhelmed for the most part and still felt underwhelmed after a hat trick of listens. There were a few good moments but alas my fire failed to burn bright for the duration.
Tracklist
CD1
01. Hel - Intro
02. Blizzard
03. Wir Sind Midgard
04. Hundert Welten
05. Am Heiligen Hain
06. Im Namen Der Krähe - Robse Dahn
07. Sturmfänger
08. Blut Und Erde
09. Grendel
10. Wölfe Der Nacht
11: Yggdrasil
CD2
01. Yggdrasil - Cinematic Medieval Version
02. Am Heiligen Hain - Cinematic Medieval Version
03. Sturmfänger - Cinematic Medieval Version
04. Wölfe Der Nacht - Cinematic Medieval Version
05. Kein Schatten Ohne Licht - Cinematic Medieval Version
06. Absolute Rex - Cinematic Medieval Version
07. Winterhertz - Cinematic Medieval Version
Line-up
Neil Freiwald - Vocals and Programming
Neno Knuckle - Guitars
Robin Sem Vedrfolnir - Bass
Christian Eichlinger - Drums
Website
https://www.facebook.com/erdlingofficial/
Cover Picture
Rating
Music:5
Sound:5
Total: 5 / 10
Comments powered by CComment