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Vreid: V

05/04/11 || Khlysty

Y’know, tonight I’m in the mood for norsk black metal. So, after a good dose of super-trad black metal from Hat, I decided that it was high time to pay my respects to Vreid, one of the few Norwegian dwellers of the Dark Art that really tickle my pleasure centers, and their newest opus, the aptly titled “V”, seeing as this is Vreid’s fifth long player. And, my, oh my, what a long player it is!

Look, this ain’t no Metal Archives, so I won’t say jack-shit about Vreid’s history. If youse interested, go look at tha internetz. All I’m gonna say is that, this is one of the few Norwegian bands that display such incredible quality control over the material it puts out. There’s nary a record in Vreid’s œuvre that doesn’t fucking command attention and admiration, and fuck you if you don’t like rock’n’roll-ized black metal, or blackened rock’n’roll, or whatever the fuck one chooses to call what these guys are playing.

The band’s anthemic and surprisingly catchy take on their favorite genre is on full display on “V”, with each and every song containing enough venom to make the wimps leave the building and at least one big, fat hook for the cognoscenti to sink their teeth into and chomp mightily. At the same time, though, the band displays its already established tendency to fuck with the listener’s perception of what it’s capable of doing. Thus, “V” contains enough curveballs to keep the blood a-boilin’ and the nerves a-bunched.

One of the things that I always enjoyed about Vreid is the fact that they understand that the dark magick of black metal doesn’t lie in da rulez, but in the attitude. Thus, the clean and bright production does not detract the listener from the power of the songs, but actually enhances it. Also, things like the melodic, cleanly-sung bridges in “The Sound Of The River” or “Fire On The Mountain”, not only empower the songs, but clearly show how much a band can make out of humble raw material, if it has talent, bravado and buttfucks the rules.

By the way, when Vreid decides to step on it, the results are deliciously demented, like listening to Judas Priest-on-steroids-and-speed. There are moments when blasts and tremolo-picking make appearances, but the main goal here seems to be strong songwriting and on that front “V” is pig-heaven. The riffs are simple but exceedingly effective, the songs move easily from go-for-the-jugular aggression to stomp-and-stomp-again heavosity to rock-yer-socks-off catchiness to atmospheric passages of controlled beauty, without ever losing focus. See, “V” is a start-to-finish winner. The guitar work is splendid, the bass is pretty audible, the drumming is perfect, the vocals are as black metal as black metal goes, the prog tendencies are tightly woven into the fabric of every song…, fuck, everything here is as it should/would/must be.

Look, I’ll come clean: along with Ulcerate’s newest, “V” is a prime contender for me end-of-the-year top five records. The more I listen to it, the more I get the feeling that in years to come this will be one of the landmark albums of the ‘10s. So I tell you to do yourselves the favor and listen to it. It’s so fucking good that it demands you to buy it. Fuck your preconceptions, this is the real shit.

Information
Released: 2011
Label: Indie Recordings
Website: www.vreid.no
Band
Sture Dingsøyr: vocals, guitar
Stian “Strom” Bakketeig: guitar
Jarle “Hváll” Kvåle: bass
Jørn “Steingrim” Holen: drums

Tracklist
01. Arche
02. The Blood Eagle
03. Wolverine Bastards
04. The Sound of the River
05. Fire on the Mountain
06. The Others and the Look
07. Slave
08. Welcome to the Asylum
09. Then We Die

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