Vredehammer - God Slayer

 

It's been four long years since the last album from Norway's blackened death metal stalwarts, Vredehammer. There new album, God Slayer is wonderfully fierce and a potent extension on all that the band has done over the past fifteen years. This is a record that benefits from sumptuous, all encompassing production, twisted black metal vocals and an overarching sense of skull cracking sorcery that makes for some truly compelling work. Vredehammer is punishing, unrelenting and highly polished, a clear step up for the band. 

God Slayer is magical in how it feels larger than life. Every blast beat hits like a hammer and the guitar tones are some of the most impressive of Vredehammer's career. They've been able to take what they've been crafting over the years and bring their brand of angular, slicing blackened death metal and execute it in inspiring new ways. The athletic performances on tracks like the hectic "Blood Of Wolves" make for a headbanging good time, and it's hard to distance yourself from the bludgeoning crush of the rhythm section. Yet counterbalancing this is an ambition in the songwriting and a willingness to experiment with outside elements (Like the industrial fringes you hear throughout the album) that take it to the next level.

Ultimately - Vredehammer understand that the best Norwegian black metal has to rock and at their best, God Slayer truly rocks. These are songs that will snap your neck and which are fit to fill arenas. The band has clearly been hard at work over the pandemic and after it in order to give us their most salient possible recordings. God Slayer is the path to the future that Vredehammer needed, and a record that devotees of underground music will be enamored with for years to come.

Pre-order the album! 

https://vredehammer.bandcamp.com/album/god-slayer