review by: Mladen Škot

Third album into their post-Windir career, yet the Vreid crew shows little improvement. There's a soldier with a helmet on the cover, and a Norwegian flag behind him... and the album title translates into "In War." So, why do we not get a war soundtrack instead of an attempt at dance-rock black metal?

It's almost as Vreid had a task to do: write an album. For each track, set a tempo. Then, decide how long the song is going to be, and just fill it with riffs in the chosen tempo. They don't have to be memorable, original, or mean anything, as long as they can be called riffs. The opening riff is almost nu-metal, the others vary from mechanical rock to too simple to be called anything.

No point in looking for signs of life in the drumming either: Except for an occasional cowbell or a bass drum/cymbal dance rhythm, there's little to nothing happening. If they were meant to be simple and rocking, they simply failed. The vocals just do straightforward predictable screams, not much more or less.

Obviously, Vreid are trying to say something here, and have a style of their own, but the lack of atmosphere and any dynamics leave much space for improvement. Although there is some diversity, as usual, during the last quarter of the album (clean vocals, ambient breaks a few actual melodies), I Krig is, now, the third Vreid album with the same set of problems. Is it time to stop hoping? (5/10)

review by: Roberto Martinelli