Band:	Vreid
Album:	V
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	February 2011

01. Arche
02. The Blood Eagle
03. Wolverine Bastards
04. The Sound Of The River
05. Fire On The Mountain
06. The Others & The Look
07. Slave
08. Welcome To The Asylum
09. Then We Die

Well, this album starts of well, and gets even better. In saying that, former members of Windir, minus the late Valfar (R.I.P.), show off their skills in a upheaving battle towards catchy and heavy anthems with their 5th full length since 2004's Kraft. Think of I vocals, melodies and "black-and-roll" style with Abbath like shrieks, and you find yourself listening to one of the top early black metal releases of 2011. Starting off, this album is very easy to listen to for beginners of black metal. It is abrasive without being too "raw" like newer infamous Scandinavian and USBM, but doesn't give up on more seasoned listeners of the genre.

The song "Arche", the album's first song, kicks off as a fist pumping double kick beat with layered rhythm guitars, and finds mid-tempo breaks and sudden stops with virtuosic epic sounding leads, paired along with vocalist Sture Dingsøyr commanding his strong lyrical standpoint. No Satanic, corpse-painted or sac-religious referendum here like the genres past.

The album as a whole sounds like an attempt to dedicate to the founding forefathers of black metal, and is simply a progression into a deep and dark realm, which we hear with song's like "The Blood Eagle", and the organic "The Sound of the River" which pulls off some great lead guitar work and rolling snare beats, with the lyrics saying, and I quote, "The sound of the river, the source of my life!" Awesome!

The album's first highlight and mid placed song on V, "Fire on the Mountain" is a kick off of sheer gut wrenching guitar leads in the vain of older Megadeth which quickly turns into a rebellious and fast tempo song and ends with acoustic melodies and clean sung vocals. This sounds almost like it could be a good closer of the album itself, but simply serves as a prelude to the performance and everlasting flame V carries within itself. The over 10 minute song "The Others and the Look", has an epic memorable main riff filled with older Dissection-like hooks and drumming parts.

The rest of the album (2 songs or so) ends up being a bit heavier in terms of vocal shrieks/screams, and you can almost sense the members of the band wanted to close their just under 50 minutes album with a bang, and add even more positive credentials to their "newer" project that is Vreid.

In conclusion, V is hands down a must-listen album of 2011! Hopefully reading this review makes you want to check it out. Go do it!