Vehemency On this EP from last year, Vordr has managed to create a perfectly working whole. While the third album was somewhat flawed due to the amount of songs, here Vordr has reduced the amount of tracks to just six, and there’s also more variation between tracks.

Musically, Vordr continues to play in its weird style: combining the harshness of black metal and odd thrashy, punky ferocity. On top, the weird high-pitched vocals are once again the most distinguishable element of the band. ”Wild of Glory” and ”Legends in the Bark” open the EP this rapid style, until ”Vitterlicht” brings its fresh air as a mid-tempo instrumental. ”In the Summer Fields” and ”Mouldy Heart” return to the basic Vordr pattern, and the last song, unbelievably an 8-minute one, ”Weeping the Seas” is another very welcome change from the regular style with its surprisingly emotional guitar work and different approach to singing (no worries, they are still quite weird). Could very well be the best song the band has composed so far.

I can’t help thinking that Vordr has definitely created its best effort to date here. The utterly evil riffs and the more emotional side of things are nicely balanced so that there’s no moments of boredom to be experienced while listening to this disc. Having just six tracks, the riffs are rememberable and easier to digest, and I find myself having these tunes in my head from time to time. If you’re planning to check out this band, I would start from here.

Vehemency Vordr has always been an odd bird in the Finnish black metal scene - so odd that I never got really interested in it. But after getting my hands on the third Vordr full-length and listening to the music closely along with the lyrics, it did open my eyes more wider.

When compared to earlier works, this third album doesn’t differ much from them: over a dozen of short, fast, and almost punkish songs with high-pitched cleanish vocals that inevitably remind me of some young lunatic boy. Then there’s also some cowbell on ”A Slashing Chill” and lyrics based on sauna on ”Steam and Smoke”. But after multiple spins, it all starts to make sense: Vordr is something that doesn’t care about any certain codes that should be followed; yet still they play in underground, raw and evil black metal spirit and focus on northern and, especially, Finnish nature.

With 14 tracks of which most sound very similar to each other - as easily happens with songs that have only 2-4 different punky and thrashy riffs - this album tends to be dragging, and real highlights appear too infrequently. Fast riffs are fired all the time so that the album is not an easy piece and will undoubtedly sound tedious to many after the first song. Luckily I didn’t give up, because the album does offer some great moments if you give it some time. I still do think that Vordr managed to create a better whole on the 2009 EP with some more variation between tracks.