Milorg

Imagine staring over a beautiful coastline, cold morning breeze blowing through your hair, and mountains lie behind you like sleeping titans. Not a single thought stirs in your mind, as you stare, mesmerized by the flight patterns of gulls circling above. "Nothing can spoil such majesty" you think to yourself...until... An alarm sounds! Startled, you break away from your skyward gaze. "What in the fucking hell?", you reflexively say aloud. Now irate, you glance around until you spot something in the horizon. A huge, gray object approaches. A few seconds pass, and you can make it out little better. You can discern several protruding tubes, a large deck with what seems hundreds of tiny insects scurrying about, and a couple of large masts, Above all this you see a swastika embroidered flag waving ominously in the air. The only thought that crosses your mind is to rush to the nearest armory and fucking get ready... It's time for war.

This description is exactly the image the opening track of Vreid‘s Milorg- the aptly named Alarm - paints in even my horrible joke ridden, attention -span deprived, shit receptacle of a mind. How did the guys in Vreid (an offshoot of the now legendary Windir) do this? The answer lies not only in the crisp and clear production, but also in this band’s skillful, dynamic heavy approach. The opening track begins with a nice synth piece - laying violin with a series of wind instruments to invoke a feeling of calm. A moment after that sinks an alarm sound effect place and then some chugging style power chords come in to build up tension. After that some fierce, but melodic black metal riffs just take off from there, layered with harsh black metal vocals to give you the sense of being thrust into bloody war! Part ways through the song, some nice harmonized melodies creep in to sort of give your bearings on the situation. Some chanted vocals are used around this point giving the song a sort of anthem-like feel. The song eventually breaks into a folk riff played by a single guitar, joined in by a second guitar - adding to the epic feel of the song (an element obviously taken from their experience in Windir). The song then continues off with some almost bluesy riffs and eventually cycles back to the fierce black metal riffs played earlier to complete the song. Obviously these guys combine elements of black metal (the main driving force behind the music), thrash, folk and even some old-school rock , and turn it into a viable creation of their own.
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Throughout the songs dynamics are used appropriately to help present a strong image of tumultuous times. To clarify, Vreid uses the songs to portray specific events that occurred in Norway during World War II. All, the songs have specific themes to them and each of them are backed by specific musical approaches. The aforementioned Alarm for example, set out to show an invasion initiated by Nazi Germany into Norway and the rest of Europe, and like I mentioned, did it rather well. The third track ‘Speak Goddamnit’ is another good example. The song is about being a Norwegian soldier being beaten and interrogated by Nazi soldiers, while still resisting the temptation to give out information about the resistance. This played out by giving the song black-thrash punk feel, and integrating with both fast and slow melodic parts. The thrash, and punk elements help provide the feeling of rebellion that the soldier may be feeling in the face of the torturers. The slow melodic parts help provide a sense of gloom as the steadfast warrior is close to facing death. All the other songs in this album are equally as good - no filler here at all. Every track on this album is explained not only by appropriately informative and detailed booklet, but also by the music itself. The members of Vreid are certainly true composers.

The beauty of this album definitely lies in the entirety of experience, so pointing out all the aspects (drumming, guitar, etc) would be pretty difficult. It unfolds an epic film: you don’t watch just to find out the end or to watch specific scenes; you watch it because the journey to the end (Windir pun not intentional) is such a riveting experience. I honestly cannot believed how often I overlooked these guys. Initially I did write these guys off as a Windir rip-off (did I mention that it’s really hard not to say Windir in this damned review?), but after hearing a clip from Milorg I realized that these guys really have merit on their own, and were worth checking out. These guys really continue where Valfar left off. Instead of taking the warrior Viking approach: writing about long journeys through mountains, explaining events that seem both beyond our time and scope - Vreid opted to put the idea of warrior into a much more modern context. Where the old warrior was laid to rest buried with sword and shield; a new one arises - rifle in hand ready for combat against a power hungry regime. Milorg is definitely a must buy for anyone who misses the good of days of Windir, and also for those who like a bit of variety in their black metal.