Vreid Goddamnit

I’ve seen Vreid live twice now (three times technically, if you count this DVD). The first time was in 2011 with Kampfar and Necronomicon supporting the V album, and the second was a week ago opening up for Melechesh in Toronto. At both shows they had this DVD for sale, and for some stupid reason I didn’t buy it the first time, but was lucky that they still had some copies when I saw them again. After a few days of reminiscing about the show that passed (which was amazing), I popped this puppy in the DVD player and let’s just say it was worth the wait, which shouldn’t be a surprise because after all it’s Vreid, Goddamnit!

So what’s exactly on this DVD anyway? Well aside from an awesome performance at the Inferno festival captured by apparently 7 cameras (which I’ll talk about in just a little bit), we have almost 2 hours of bonus features comprised into 3 separate segments (NOTE: You may have to watch the bonus features on your computer. This might just be my copy, but I was having lots of trouble navigating the DVD menus on both the DVD player and Playstation 3). The first segment is an interview with Sture and Hvall by Metal Hammer talking about the history of the band and its members, and this interview is really quite interesting because it’s not just comprised of the usual facts about Windir and Vreid that we all know courtesy of Google, Wikipedia, and the ever-so-cherished Metal Archives. It also has a lot of information regarding Ulcus, the early beginnings of the band members’ journey into playing music, and their relationships they have with each other and had with Valfar, which is something that isn’t always touched upon (did you know that Sture and Hvall are cousins?). This is especially cool because they not only show clips of the members playing with Windir, but also go as far as showing clips of a jam session and live show of Ulcus, as well as pictures of the band members AND VALFAR as kids – in some they couldn’t have been more than 5 years old. That part particularly is very touching as it really makes you realize how close and tightly knit they are as a group, and could also explain why everything Windir and Vreid have written has been amazing – the members simply have perfect chemistry. There’s also lots of talk about their writing and their mindsets during their times with Windir and Vreid, but I’m not going to give everything away.

The other 2 segments are compilations of various clips from the band. The first segment is a blog of their first North American tour and the second consists of clips from over the years, although it is worth noting that the second segment (entitled “The Good, the Bad, and the Bullshit”) is spoken entirely in Norwegian, so if you don’t speak the language you may not get some of the humour (don’t get me wrong, there are still amusing and interesting parts of it but a lot flies over your head). These two segments consist of clips of them on stage, off the stage, in the recording studio and are also filled with loads of surprising and hilarious antics (hint: the title of this review). Now if I elaborate on each and every detail, not only would it leave nothing to be discovered for the viewer but it would also make this review excessively long, so I’ll sum up the two clip compilations briefly: These are absolutely wonderful because they show you the band out of their element. They’re just being normal people like you and me, and it’s refreshing to see because nowadays we often forget that these bands are also just regular people who play music. Especially considering how important and legendary the members of Vreid are to the black metal community, it’s very relieving to know that they're just regular people like you and me.

The last part that obviously needs to be talked about is the main feature of this DVD, which is the live performance at the Inferno festival. In a way I sort of feel like I’m reviewing Vreid’s live shows as a whole because what you see on the DVD really isn’t that much different from what you see in person (minus the pyrotechnics). I can start off by saying that Vreid is easily one of the more exciting bands in the black metal genre, and definitely one of the tightest. Every note is spot on and they never miss a beat. They have great energy live, but not a running around, jumping off the walls type of energy, and also not the usual aggressive demeanor that most black/thrash bands have. I guess their “black ‘n roll” title relates to more than just their music, because I find they remind me of an old school classic rock or heavy metal band on stage. I sort of feel like my dad telling me of concerts he saw back in the day, and I have a feeling I’ll be telling my kids the same thing (“Oh man, I saw Vreid back when they released the “V” album, they played with Kampfar and they were AMAZING!”).

Another thing I love about their shows is that they add little things to their songs that aren’t on the record that give the songs a new sense of character. For example, in parts of “Alarm” they drop the rhythm guitar line altogether and instead Sture and Ese play harmonized leads which weren’t heard on the Milorg album. Another example is that in “I Krig” they had a guest on stage playing the violin parts and she not only played the intro (I unfortunately don’t know her name), but she also added leads to parts of the song that originally didn’t have them. Moments like this are really cool because music should have room to breathe and grow, and these moments give the songs a new life and flavour, in the sense that while they are indeed playing said song, it’s not necessarily the same song as you hear it on the record.

Despite how great they are though, there are 2 things about their performances that bug me a little, and I find it more apparent on this DVD. The first is that they seem to have fallen into a rut of closing with “Pitch Black,” which to me personally doesn’t sound like the best choice for a closer. It’s never been one of my favourite Vreid songs, although it’s not necessarily a bad song – in fact it’s quite good, I just think there are other songs that could have fit much better (I just hope for their sake that they like that song more than Lamb Of God likes “Black Label”). To me it just feels like the whole show is great, and the ending is just good. Other fans will probably disagree, but I guess I’m just a black sheep in this case. It couldn’t hurt to switch it up every so often.

The second thing that brings down their performance a bit is that I find that at times Sture lacks energy on stage, particularly as a vocalist. It’s not the sound of his vocals per se – in fact I like the sound of his screams – but it’s the way he delivers them, the lack of energy making him sound somewhat dull or monotone. Now I recently bought the Melissa Cross “Zen Of Screaming” DVD and one of the key points to doing harsh vocals is not to push it too much (so it makes sense as to why he wouldn’t be screaming his guts out), but I feel at times Sture can sound a bit lifeless on stage. Not only that, but I’m also surprised he doesn’t move around more on stage, considering the songs his band writes (they’re made for the stage). He does move around and get into it, but at times it seems like he’s somewhat bored, and especially considering that this show is in his home country I’m surprised he wouldn’t have some extra fire in him. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s not all the time and it’s not as bad as it sounds, but sometimes it just seems that he’s not as psyched as the rest of the band. Also keep in mind that the reason why I say sometimes is because it literally is only sometimes. I’m probably making this sound worse than it actually is, and if it were a serious problem I wouldn’t have been raving about their performance earlier. Vreid as a whole is still an incredible live band and they still prove it on this DVD (and if Sture ever reads this, I don’t mean what I said in an insulting or offense manner. I’m just offering constructive criticism.).

To put all rambling aside, this DVD is absolutely fantastic. Vreid’s live performance at the Inferno festival is absolutely stellar, and all of the extras give a beautiful insight to who the band members really are. I would recommend this not only to black metal fans, but also to metal fans of all kinds as well as open minded old school rock and metal fans (some of their stuff I feel would be quite accessible to them as long as they can see past the screaming). This DVD offers a beautiful introduction to Vreid and their music, and to long-time fans it’s a great gift that keeps on giving.