Vredehammer is ready to take on its new challenge.
For this fourth album, entitled God Slayer, Per Valla (guitar/vocals/bass/keyboards, ex-Allfader, ex-Nordjevel) has called Nils “Dominator” Fjellström (Odium, ex-Aeon, ex-Dark Funeral, ex-Nordjevel…) on drums.
The album opens with a relatively modern introduction that seems to warn us off, but nothing could have prepared us for the violence of From The Abyss, which immediately unleashes a barrage of overpowering riffs over which the vocalist’s vociferations find their place. Somewhere between Black and Death Metal, the duo bludgeons us, offering only a disturbing break and a dissonant final that leads us to The Joker and its equally aggressive approach, where massive rhythm meets unbridled blast. A few more jerky parts round out the composition, which becomes epic at times, as does the impressive God Slayer, the eponymous track, which takes barely a handful of seconds to come crashing down on us, becoming slightly more measured on the unifying choruses. Choruses haunt the final moments before joining the dark but catchy The Dragons Burn, where choppy patterns create a rather heavy, almost martial atmosphere at times, which proves as catchy as it is oppressive. The album continues with the savage Blood Of Wolves and its sharp Thrash edge, which blends perfectly with the rest to convey the chilling sound of the race through majestic landscapes, before modern keyboards return to present Death Becomes The New Day, before violence regains its rightful place. The track slows down again to develop menacing tones, but it’s in rage that it’s most effective, and returns there for a final strike before giving way to Product Human Slave and its raw jerky groove that will be responsible for many a neck-sore session. A few harmonically-driven passages also appear from time to time, and the record comes to a close with Obliterator, where the two musicians unleash themselves to close the album in style.
This new Vredehammer album is a veritable block of pure efficiency. The combination of these two musicians, masters of the Black Metal scene by virtue of their experience, has turned God Slayer into a veritable compendium of raw violence.
90/100