Can a person love an album based solely on the guitar sound? Yes, but only when that sound is combined with amazing song writing ability as well. Vreid is one of the two bands that emerged from the demise of Windir, due to the unfortunate death of its leader, Valfar. But with all due respect, both bands turned out to be better, the little known Cor Scorpii and the mighty Vreid.
, I Krig comes across as a very professional and mature album, even though these guys may not have had much of a chance to contribute to Windir. Then again, it is the bands third effort and hopefully this will be the album in which Vreid finally escapes from the shadow of their fallen former band mate.
Vreid is led by Sture, who bares a slight resemblance to Motörheads Lemmy. Harsh black metal with some thrashy moments are the name of the game here, as well as some incredibly beautiful cello and violin work done by guest musicians. For a band whose name means “wrath” and whose album title translates to “at war”, the whole affair is surprisingly melodic.
The first real highlight of this masterpiece is Under Isen, a speedy tune which features some of the catchiest riffs ever. You’ll be humming it for days after you hear it just once! Not to be outdone is the epic title track, which mixes Vreid black metal brew with the aforementioned string instruments. There are no fillers here.
This is a must buy for fans of black metal and even fans of viking metal.
The vocals from Sture are really good: a sort of raw bark which fits the music perfectly. I’ve seen them described as being rather like Valfar’s, but I don’t exactly agree with this. Valfar’s voice was always a bit more rash and chaotic, at least in my opinion. Sture’s voice always strikes me as a bit more collected, a bit cooler if you will. Vreid also utilises some clean, soaring backing vocals much like Cosmocrator did on the Windir albums. To limit the Windir comparison to one more point: it will surprise no-one to discover that these musicians are the same ones who played on the last two Windir albums; however, it’s also very clear that Vreid is a different band, with a different style.
This is a great album. As black metal goes, I reckon it’s pretty accessible and could be enjoyed by many people normally turned off by the black metal label. The main obstacle could be the vocals but, to my mind, these are also more accessible than the typical black metal shrieks.
rafazardly 