Vreid's first two albums,
Kraft and
Pitch Black Brigade, made it crystal clear that
Vreid had no intention of being a carbon copy of
Windir despite the fact that
Vreid included three ex-members of
Windir: lead singer/guitarist
Sture Dingsøyr, bassist Hvàll (Jarle Kvåle), and drummer Steingrim (Jørn Holen). In contrast to the elaborate, symphonic black metal that
Windir provided,
Kraft and
Pitch Black Brigade thrived on rawness and were gritty, thrashy, punk-minded throwback to the pioneering black metal bands of the late '80s and early '90s. But
Vreid's third album,
I Krig, is a definite departure from
Kraft and
Pitch Black Brigade -- not only because all of the lyrics are in Norwegian this time (English lyrics are excluded), but also, because
I Krig brings
Vreid somewhat closer to
Windir without actually emulating
Windir. While
I Krig isn't symphonic black metal in the way that
Windir's albums were, this 2006/2007 recording is decidedly more musical than either
Kraft or
Pitch Black Brigade.
I Krig falls short of the lushness of symphonic black metal (there aren't a lot of clean vocals to go along with
Sture's black metal rasp), but the 45-minute disc brings
Vreid into the folk-metal realm and does so with compelling results. Traditional Scandinavian folk is a strong influence, and this is an album that -- for all its blistering, in-your-face intensity -- has a real sense of craftsmanship. If
Sture, Hvàll, Steingrim, and lead guitarist Ese (the only
Vreid member who wasn't in
Windir) set out to make an album that gave
Vreid a more melodic identity without sounding very much like the melodic
Windir, they accomplished their goal. Creatively,
I Krig is an impressive step forward for this Norwegian combo. ~ Alex Henderson