Vreid - Wild North West (Season Of Mist)
Norwegian band Vreid are a band who are pioneers of both the Black n Roll and anti-fascist black metal scene in their native country. Now I won't go into the anti-fascist part that much here as Paul Scoble would do it much more justice to it than me but, I can just say that Vreid have been crusading against the tumultuous history of black metal of Norway and they have always been a band that have been evolving with concepts running throughout their albums. On this ninth record they have brought to the masses a fully realised concept based around an entire movie, all of it stemming from bassist/founder Jarle Hváll Kvåle who said that this dark journey into the mountains is based around his own life but taken to theatrical lengths for effect.
The entire project is massive in scope not just with this album but the creative media and filmography behind it, much of these melodies having been around since 2002 when Kvåle was in Windir with Terje ‘Valfar’ Bakken, whose death was the end of Windir but the beginning of Vreid. Valfar's keyboard demos have been fully realised on the song Into The Mountains adding a some history to this record for long time followers of the band. So then what of Wild North West, well it's once again got a fully panoramic scope of Vreid's musical menagerie, the black n roll sound at it's nastiness on the opening title track, taking your mind to the L.G Petrov and co at their most aggressive.
It's aggression that fills this dark concept as the blistering Wolves At Sea keeps the vicious pace of the record the dissonant riffs and blast beats balanced with melodic keys, The Morning Red is doomier while Shadows Of Aurora ups the thrash quotient before we go back into vicious black metal with Spikes Of God. At 49 minutes Wild North West makes the most of its time on your stereo, taking away from the extreme metal sound with Dazed And Reduced which actually sounds like Ghost as we get the black n roll sound back for the Into The Mountains a short blast of violence before the nine minute gothic organ drenched Shadowland a fitting finale for this album. Those who are aware of Vreid, or have seen one of their numerous live shows, or have bought their sold out first run of beer from Balder Brewery will be well aware of Vreid's influence, but one listen to Wild North West you understand why they are held in high regard. 7/10
Bristol based rage slingers The Malefic Grip are a band that if you are familiar with, will have you getting a little nervous about before you press play. Their rage-filled rants about the world today are punctuated by sludgy, window rattling riffs and powered by lots of cider, all without having an official drummer as a member. The Malefic Grip were starting to gain steam when their drummer decided to part, leaving just Liam (screaming, bass, additional things) and Helen (guitar, additional screaming), both of Levitas, stuck in a lockdown world, trying to avoid the never-ending cycle of media shitstorms and political/social and moral corruption it's all entailed.
Aphonic Threnody - All Consuming Void (Self Released)
Funeral Doom is always approached with caution by myself, a large amount of it does very little for me. I can count on one hand how many bands I actually enjoy on one hand. In opposition to traditional doom, the addition of atmospheric extremity borrowed from black metal bands, means that the songs are usually way over well over 10 minutes long, without very much differentiation in the riffs except for an occasional shift into gothic ethereals. Aphonic Threnody is one such record that does funeral doom at its most enclosing, encircling you in a pit of despair. Take Chamber Of Parasites which is a 20 minute song, nearly a quarter of the whole run time. It what I can make out as three riffs that are played slowly, lowly and with bone shaking distortion. It also has vocals so guttural, it would have been easier just to put it near an idling engine. All Consuming Void is certainly an album that lives up to the album title, for me it's just too much like every other funeral doom band. 5/10