FALLEN UTOPIA were formed in 2006 and they are from Feldkirchen, Austria. The Death Metal outfit released so far one EP and one full-length album. Their sophomore album “Ruin“ was mastered by Norbert Leitner (AEONS OF ASHES). It has a length of more than 40 minutes. The album is an independent release. The album starts very powerful with the track “What My Soul Recalls My Tongue Shall Tell”, which is a mixture of mid-tempo and fast pace. The guitar riffing is devastating and so is the relentless double-bass drumming. The vocals are growls ranging between the low to medium end of the guttural range with very few screams included. There are occasionally backing vocals, which intensify the grim vocals. “Artificial Life Creation” has a hammering starts with a blast-beat thunderstorm, transitioning into a slower verse part at a measured tempo with epic and dark melodies. There are twists in tempo and rhythm throughout ranging from head-banging parts via epic melodic parts, to the blast-beat driven parts at crazy pace. The track has even a few catchy parts for the chorus with sing-along chorus lines. “Artificial Life Creation” was released as video and the YouTube link is provided below. Speaking about catchiness, “Regicide” has certainly some elements of it with the melodic framework of the track almost being anthemic. It is a very good track with many subtle rhythm changes around mid-tempo. The riffing is simple and direct, and the key feature of the track is the main melody.

 A short guitar-driven interlude provides the main melody for the mid-tempo track “The Work Of Giants”. The melodies are spine-chilling and at times melancholic. The track is driven by the thunderous riffing and the never-ending blast-beat attacks. The vocals fit perfectly into this dark song, and they are versatile by including a few tonal shifts towards higher growls. “The Curse Of Akkad” is one of the fast album tracks. Driven by the powerful and crushing guitar riffing, the very prominent double-bass drumming combined with a few blast-beats, “The Curse Of Akkad” switches tempo and rhythm several times, where the faster parts are more aggressive, while the slower parts are more epic with some melancholic features in the melodies. “Entering Utopia” starts with the lead guitars providing the main melody for the track. The riffing is again powerful and simple and the tempo changes throughout the track centered around mid-tempo. The vocals shift towards higher growls and screams for the chorus parts. “Entering Utopia” consists of many bits and pieces, and this makes it difficult to follow, at least I fail to see a clear song structure. For me, the track is not one of the album highlights.

 “My Name Is Legion; For We Are Many” is a very direct and aggressive track with crushing riffs, blast-beats, and growls and screams from the abyss. Even though it is one of the few pummeling and blood-freezing tracks, there is added complexity with rhythm and melody changes that take off the aggression and anger a bit, which is unfortunate. However, “My Name Is Legion; For We Are Many” is one of the album highlights. “Meister Frantz, Executioner Of Nuremburg” is a head-banger with fast verse parts and mid-tempo chorus parts where the chorus line is anthemic. The riffing is direct and simple for verse and chorus parts. The fast verse parts are introduced by short blast-beat hammerings. I like the simplicity of the track and it is one of my album favourites. The album finishes with “The Drought”, which, after a start at measured tempo, goes into mid-tempo mode with a few fast parts. The melodies are once again epic and grim, but there is a bit of repetition in the melodies compared to the previous tracks. The riffing is a mixture of being playful during some parts and being direct for some other parts. The final part of the track is a switch towards melancholic melodies which slowly fade out.

 FALLEN UTOPIA deliver a decent modern Death Metal album. “Ruin” is a mixture between traditional Death Metal and melodic Death Metal, where the melodic parts are more prominent. The melodic framework of the album is chilling, epic, and melancholic at times. While the first few and the final tracks have all the ingredients of great Death Metal songs, the middle part of the album cannot quite keep up. At times, songs are too complex and some of the melodies are repetitive. The album is well produced. Death Metal fans who like the melodic, dark, and epic components of the genre will dig the new album of FALLEN UTOPIA.