Vreid – Pitch Black Brigade
“Pitch Black Brigade” is a much more concentrated and consistent effort from Norway’s Vreid since the band chose to forge on after the untimely demise of Windir leader, Valfar. “Kraft” did have a lot of good ideas as Vreig attempted to carry on with Valfar’s knack for writing true Norwegian BM, but many of the songs lacked a cohesion, often branching off into unrelated ideas, making the album feel more like a collection of fragments. “Pitch Black Brigade” benefits from far simpler song structures and a stylistic slant that finds traditional Norge BM riff ideas sitting quite comfortably alongside a black-n-roll, hook laden pulse in the songs that’s based more on sticking with the listener through simplistic rhythmic movement. The dissonance within the riffs provides a periodically atmospheric aura to open up the song structures for Vreid to work on a slight bit of repetition and even some clean guitar work as found on the excellent track, “Hengebjorki”, only for the dreamlike façade to be stripped away for straight forward power chords and exacting speed blasts to provide the tension and well considered intensity shifts that gives this album a nice depth. Mid-ranged screams are at the forefront of Vreid’s attack, but the occasional clean chorus chimes in for more diversity when you least expect it, which keeps this album fresh to the ears. Vreid finally seem comfortable in their own skin as songwriters and it’s good to have this album to throw on and not become bothered by unusual choices or music breaks as found on the debut. Everything flows along interestingly and skillfully. I can only imagine that album #3 will be even better as the band further realizes their musical destiny. -Marty
CANDLELIGHT USA
Worm Gear 