releasedate: February 25th 2013
Recordlabel: Indie Recordings

By: Ingrid
I’ve always liked Vreid. But after the release of Milorg in 2009, which I still absolutely love, I lost track of them. Their latest album ‘V’ didn’t touch me like Milorg did, and I started listening less and less to Vreid. Nevertheless, I was excited to hear that they were bringing out a new album.

Being a Norwegian Black Metal band, Vreid doesn’t stick to this genre and has a lot of input from other genres as well. This results in their so called ‘Black & Roll’ genre.
Welcome Farewell isn’t very different than the other albums. The basic principle still is black metal of course, but it as a huge melodic twist to it. When hitting the play button, you immediately get a straight-in-your-face Vreid song: The Ramble. It is aggressive, dark, but yet still melodic. The tone is set for the rest of the album.

As up-tempo as The Devil’s Hand is, as mixed is title song Welcome Farewell. This is probably the most heavy loaded song on the album. It’s varied with Thrash-, black- and dark metal, with an unexpected, but yet great instrumental part at the end of the song. This song certainly shows how talented the gentlemen of Vreid are, and their capabilities when it comes to playing and controlling their instruments.

The Reap probably reminds me the most of the previous albums. The riffs are very Vreid-ish and catchy, and this will probably be the ultimate song to play live and to get the crowd going, since it’s a nice up-tempo song.
Don’t get mislead by the calm opening tunes of Sight Of Old, because when those are done, the song turns into absolute aggression! The typical dark and raw vocals of Sture take you away, and have some outshining moments during this song.
The album ends with At The Brook, which I can’t describe else than just typical Vreid. It has the typical Vreid sound, but with some unexpected guitar lines, and is a good summary of this album.

In the end, Vreid created a decent album. It is a bit more melodic than what we are used to from them, but their professionalism didn’t make them lose their own sound. They show some nice craftsmanship with this album. My favorite song is the most catchy one, The Reap, because it immediately reminds me of all the great live shows I have seen of Vreid.

Rating: 75/100

Tracklist:
1. The Ramble
2. Way of the Serpent
3. The Devil’s Hans
4. Welcome Farewell
5. The Reap
6. Sights of Old
7. Black Waves
8. At the Brook