Nightfly Violator is the second album from Norwegian black/death metal band Vredehammer. They had originally started as a Per Valla (Elite, Allfader and Abbath) solo project but by the release of their debut Vinteroffer were a bona-fide band. Since then though they have slimmed from a 4 piece to a trio and only Per Valla remains from that album. Responsible for all the songwriting, guitar, vocals and keyboards it’s pretty clear who calls the shots here.

There’s an obvious contrast between this and Vinteroffer released in 2014. A quality black metal album, Violator see’s the band adding a hefty dose of death metal to the proceedings and it’s all the better for it packing more punch. They haven’t totally abandoned black metal though and it’s at it’s purest on last of the 7 tracks, Blodhevn. Blackened death metal is pretty much where this albums at though with some thrash thrown in too. This album is full of killer riffs, none more so than opener Light The Fucking Sky which belts along at a fair pace for the most part and injects some melody too. Spawn Tyrant is bordering on brutal but the title track overshadows it with its infectious Vader style riffing. In fact this album never lets up and there’s not a weak moment to be found which is just as well as it’s only just over 30 minutes long. Black metal is more prevalent on the melodic Ursus but Cyclone ups the death quotient considerably and an album highlight.

Vredehammer have made a stunningly good album which should appeal to extreme metal fans of all persuasions. I was hovering on 4.5 stars but there’s absolutely nothing to criticize about this slab of blackened death metal that I want to immediately stick it on again so 5 stars it is. One of the best albums I’ve heard this year.