Nightfly I was blown away by Vredehammer’s 2016 album Violator, a near perfect slab of blackened death metal, awarding it 5 stars in my review here on MMA. Not surprisingly I was eager to see if they could do it again on album number three, Viperous. Seems like all Vredehammer album titles are going to begin with a V, their debut being called Vinteroffer. Anyway, I digress…

Fortunately they have done it again. After a surprising pulsing synth intro Winds Of Dysphoria kicks in with all guns blazing with the kind of incendiary riffing that drew me to Violator. The line up has changed again with only band leader Per Valla remaining from the Violator album but it does see the return of guitarist Kristoffer Hansen from the debut album. Fortunately the changes hasn’t affected the quality of the songs or the overall sound of the band, although the afore mentioned synths do return from time to time, used more for effect than any major role it has to be said. The pace of the songs is generally fast though they do slow the tempo down from time which is always more effective than relentless blast beats and warp speed double kicks, as important as they are. The riffs are razor sharp and like last time, they inject just enough melody into the songs that make them instantly memorable, but not that much that it affects the brutality of it all. That’s not to say that repeated listens won’t bring further rewards – as with all great albums Viperous takes a few plays to establish its true greatness. The overall quality is very consistent throughout and for examples of what encapsulates their blackened death metal you can more or less take your pick though I have a particular soft spot for the title track and In Shadow.

My initial thoughts on Viperous were that it wasn’t quite as good as Violator but it didn’t take many plays to make me realise that it was equally brilliant. For that reason, like last time I have to award it the full 5 stars. This is going to be one of the albums of this shitty covid infected year for sure. A few more albums of this quality will help raise our spirits no end.

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.