When attempting to recollect Vreid's discography, I only recalled five albums. I wasn't very pleased with Welcome Farewell, and as it turns out, I had forgotten all about it.
It quickly obvious that Sólverv is a step in the right direction. It wont give their best moments a run for the money, though.

All song titles are equipped with separate links, but there's even a Youtube play-list available covering all of Sólverv.
All lyrical excerpts has been loosely translated with claims of artistic freedom on my own behalf.

Haust [Autumn]
«...Frost kills. Mountaintops clothed in shrouds. The light will never return...»
With melancholy guitar tones and poignant drums, the journey goes from presence toward winter; nature's self-destructive season.
The song has nice melodies and driving rhythms, and appears as comfortable, but not surprising.

Sólverv [Solstice]
«...From darkness we have come. Out from the tomb of hibernation...»
The second track proceeds in the same sense, contributing relaxing melodic Sogna-metal as the sun heats once again, and breaths new life into mother nature. Alluring tones from viral guitars swirl like dust in the sunlight, and just when the song gives every sign of fading out as the sunset, the last rays of sunlight cast a magic play of colours. The spirit of Windir lives on, and Valfar would have been proud.

Geitaskadl [Goat Skull]
«...Will shall prevail. Force of nature shall rule...»
With focus on lifestyle and individual freedom and stubbornness, this song presents philosophical themes that can't be said to conflict with the parent genre's basic ideology.
An all right song with moderate black metallic drift and an atmospheric section at the end. Not on pair with ...Mountain Of Goats (Windir), though.

Ætti sitt Fjedl [Mountain of the ancestry]
«...Long shadows. No path to follow...»
Melancholia prevail in the mountains. Bare rock, moss, shed antlers and deer shit. Nope, time to get going down to the lowlands again, at least below the tree line. I held that attitude for a long time. But as I got used to the desolated nature, the sun's rays penetrated the clouds here too, and life among lemmings and trout, each in his element, ain't so bad.

Når Byane Brenn [As the Cities Burn]
«...A dark time will come. Corpses will fill the streets. Bodies will burn...»
Some things are more tangible and eternal than materially and superficial things. The mountain peaks will still stand as monoliths long after our fragile civilization has ceased to exist, just as memories of good experiences will survive any object acquired on materialistic impulse.
With assertive attitude and intense gaze, Vreid provide doomsday prophecies, backed by determined and flowing satanic black metal.

Storm frå Vest [Storm from (the) west]
«...Nature's wild force. Let the flames rage. Like Hells choir...»
Nature shows off its destructive energy. Drums whips and riffs chase as strong winds. A short song where room is still made for all the elements that is Vreid.

Fridom med daudens klang [Freedom with death's chime]
«...The smell of death leave traces. Wounds become scars that will never grow...»
With over nine minutes the album ends with grandeur. We commemorate the war heroes. Those who fell for our freedom. We march to the same rhythm through thoughts and music. We take part in the battle, albeit only in the mind. The combat bears little resemblance to glorifying picture of action and excitement through TV games. Coldness, chaos, fear, pain, toil, sorrow, distress and death. Massive death. With strong melody lines from guitars weeping for the fallen and drums that rids itself of frustration and anger, the song flows naturally through multifaceted landscape.

Bass player Hváll, drummer Steingrim, guitarist Strom and guitarist/vocalist Sture is an experienced crew. Together they've wandered the long path from Ulcus Molle, via Windir onto more than ten years under the Vreid moniker. Steingrim and Strom has even stopped by Cor Scorpii.
In addition to his main task, Hváll has contributed additional guitars and vocals, along with programming the synth that colours the music in autumn dressed splendour.
Together with sound engineer Helge Bentsen they have, as usual, produced the album themselves. I wouldn't minded if the bass were a bit louder, but I'm not complaining. The sound is solid. Steingrim is doing a formidable job and the guitars shine. With Vreid the instrumental qualities are always top shelf.
Sture's dry sandpaper vocal is a matter of taste, but its reasonably clear phonetic diction is highly valued by me because of its ancient sounding dialect.

Despite a lot of good instrumentation, Sólverv doesn't come to close to Vreid's best products. They do have albums with stronger compositions. Sólverv still kicks the ass of the two last albums, which is of course satisfactory. This is not really an exciting album, but the songs are still very good. After a wide number of spins it's actually very close to five points.

In connection with Indie Recordings 10 years anniversary tour, Vreid, Keep Of Kalessin and Vredehammer will be on the road in parts of Europe in November.

As mentioned, here is one link to play them all and in the darkness bind them.

Like Haggard, Molllust has a strong presence of symphony and opera, but where the former occasionally use heavy riffs and growl Molllust incorporates a friendlier metallic expressions as spice into their chamber music.

I was unsure of what I was getting into when I said yes to give In Deep Waters a go. I was anticipating something in the vain of either gothic metal, as Theatre of Tragedy (which I enjoy), or something in keeping with epic female-fronted metal, as Within Temptation (which I detest), but I didn't know in which direction the compass needle would point.
Although both these genres have elements of classical and opera in common, the orientation of Molllust don't lean toward any of them.
This is the German octet's second album since its inception in 2011. The band consists of four men and ditto femmes fatales, and they use a considerable amount of piano, violin and cello to form their expression.

In Deep Waters lasts for as much as 75 minutes, which feels like a solid overdose when the appearance is as harmless as what Molllust offers. Purely subjective, I could have gone for 3 points, but the band has achieved such strong positive attributes of rather objective nature that it feels wrong to go below four.

The band has succeeded in creating an authentic touch of symphony and operetta that deserve recognition. In addition to the instruments, genuine classical/operatic vocals are used.
There's a wide number of sub-genres to this kind of music, usually sorted by eras. I can't really say whether Molllust's approach(es) are inspired by styles like galant rococo, viennese, romanticism or neoclassicism . I have a feelin that the renaissance (1400 - 1600) and baroque (1600 - 1760) can be excluded, as our German friends sounds more updated. Still, I'm no expert, and I can't comment on this with professional competence.
Despite - or perhaps because of - lack of experience, there are many passages without metallic instrumentation that could have fooled me both due to their compositions and the bands thoroughly conducted reproduction.

The album is produced by Andy Schmidt ( Disillusion), and the sound has glass clear treble, the midrange is light on its feet and the bass has the consistency as dark velor. (Sorry 'bout the pretentious formulation).

Summary and conclusion:
The band delivers a credible interpretation of symphonic opera with metallic spices, moderate and mild in style.
Purely subjectively three points would do as In Deep Waters won't become a regular visitor in my stereo, but I raise the grade to four points due to the skilled compositions and proficient implementation.

Are you a bigger admirer of sonatas, suites, overtures, preludes, fugues, requiems and such than me ...or to Haggard for that matter, than In Deep Waters might just be a total must. If you are less enthusiastic toward symphonic metal more remnant of victorian tea parties than to romantic vamirism however, you might as well steer clear.

Watch the video to Voices of the Dead. Sceptics may settle with the Radio Edit of the same song.

He might be right. I haven't been following the band closely after the first five albums, and this is number fifteen in the row. One thing is for sure however, I have not enjoyed a W.A.S.P. album this much with since The Crimson Idol.

Nothing about W.A.S.P. is shocking in 2015, but that's not something they've tried to do either. Blackie is even one of those born again christians (yuck). When one hears the man's magnificent voice, however, that is quickly forgotten. For being a veteran of the early school he has kept his magnificent distinctive voice impressively.

I mention the absence of shock value because the expression on Golgotha is fairly friendly. Overall, the album has a rather melancholic touch with the mood and lyricism reminiscent of heartbreaks. And what singer is more suitable to convey exactly such feelings than Mr. Lawless?

There are of course exceptions to this mood. After a somewhat mournful opening with Scream, Last Runaway is let loose with a tiny degree of sentimental reminiscing over youthful lack of care and worries. Without snot and tears, though. The mind is pulled towards cheerful California based rock/metal in a familiar “cruising on Sunset Boulevard” fashion. W.A.S.P. hails from Los Angeles, you know. Small associations to Van Halen, David Lee Roth and Mötley Crüe is kind of flickering in the back of my consciousness.
An overconfident, cocky mood prevails even in Shotgun.

In good accordance with 80s heavy metal, all the songs have their unique feel, with easily recognizable melodies that make the songs easy to distinguish from each other, while they still fit together. Just like puzzle pieces they hang easily together despite different motives, and together they form a larger image.
The structures comes (not surprisingly) in verse-chorus form, but with so many bands (especially in extreme metal) having gone away from this, it actually feels quite fresh. Especially with such strong melodies.

If one is to be faithful to 80s metal ideals, one must naturally include an almost obligatory ballad. While Falling Under and the title track has some semi-ballad feel, I Miss You is the albums real tear wet weeper. Well over half the track is devoted to amazing guitar works. These guitars doesn't weep, they cry and howl for fairness in a cruel world. This makes the song explosive even if you normally prefer more harsh tones.

Nine strong songs with distinctive melodies and fiery guitar work extends from 5 to 8 minutes, and when it's all over after 56 minutes I give in to the temptation of pressing play again and again. I prefer not to analyse the music, but rather just enjoy it.
Along with the chief himself, Doug Blair are doing guitar duties, and a great job has been done! We find at least one guitar solo in every song, and the unwritten rule of placing these approximately in the middle of the last half of the songs is retained in traditional manners. Drumsticks are handled with sturdy control by Mike Dupke, while namesake Mike Dudas' bass colours the night crimson red along with delightful (hammond?) organs, signed Blackie Lawless, that forms a rear wall of sound in W.A.S.P.'s tasty pastries.
With superb sound this smells strongly of freshly baked croissant and freshly brewed coffee, which will make most folks with a cherished relationship toward archetypal metal take a reminiscing trip down memory lane themselves.

If you prefer your W.A.S.P. raw, bloody and reckless, as on the very first albums, I have to disappoint you, though you of course already knew that.
If however you settle for a bit calmer tunes, tightly packed with good melodies and beautiful guitar playing, you shouldn't ignore that Golgotha may have a great deal to contribute with. Blackie has spent the past six years well. Although the band doesn't deliver as killer as they did in the 80s, they nonetheless still delivers the gods very strongly.

Hear Last Runaway below, and check the lyric video for Scream.

A few other groups suffered the same “fate”, but as time passed the amount of music made that sort of attitude impossible. The I eventually realized that no discographies was flawless also reduced the collector-madness to an unnecessary burden.

The last fifteen years hasn't brought much enthusiasm on my part, though of course it was a benefit getting King Dickinson back where he belongs. The period of Blaze Bayley on vocals were nothing but lamentable.

Cut to the chase: The Book of Souls
With the coolest cover since the days of Derek Riggs, where Eddie has hardly looked as infernal and murderous on an album cover since Killers, and with a double CD and a title that invites fantasies about themes bordering on concept albums, The Book of Souls lit a spark of anticipation in my soul that I haven't known since the vocalist's re-resurrection with Brave New World (after being speared to death for treason by Eddie . Eddie was ferocious even then, but only in single format. It shall, however, be said that Eddie retaliated Dickinson when he was perforated in the iron maiden by Simon Drake).
Have my expectation has been met than?
Yes and no.

The duration ain't as overwhelming as the dual disc might lead you to believe. The album only exceeds the maximum playtime limit of a single CD with just over 12 minutes, and it's only just over a quarter longer than the previous album The Final Frontier (which, by the way, was the band's longest disc when it was released five years ago).
The cover is cool, but not at all representative of the content. Nothing tastes of voodoo and the lyrics diverge in all possible directions.

Isolated, No Prayer for the Dying held a number of more than okay songs. They didn't have any common mood, however, and so they didn't really fit together as a whole. These divergent tracks and along with a disjointed atmosphere helped make the band's first sacrificial lamb among both writers and listeners. The songs on The Book of Souls fortunately doesn't deviate as much musically, even if the lyrics are not pulling in the same direction. The album still lacks the overall atmosphere that made Seventh Son of a Seventh Son the world's best heavy metal album. The atmosphere here is... confident but relaxed? The album can hardly be said to have any conceptual mood, as several of the records from the 80s had.

Another important aspect of Iron Maiden's music is the associations it provides. The Brits have, amongst so much, much more, taken us aboard an old sailing ship, to Pharaoh dynasty of ancient Egypt and into a Spitfire fighter plane. We return to the air this time, albeit in a triplan, and an airship, but I don't feel the band's themes on the skin this time. The album gives more associations to a bunch of musicians in a studio than to the topics each song is trying to convey.

Musically my mind is brought to Brave New World. It was a pretty good album that still wasn't close to the band's earlier qualities. Though not able to recreate the magic of the “wasted” years, it was nevertheless an al right CD compared to many other bands. The three successive releases unfortunately left me with a more impaired impression.

I don't intend to describe every single song, but they have plenty of variety and a lots of elements that could have been mentioned, as guitar solo and piano usage in Empire of the Clouds or memory friendly melodies and sing-along parts in The Red and the Black (that brings Wicker Man to mind ). The overall feeling The Book of Souls gives can be fairly devoid of structural roller coasters, but each song has its rich diversity.
By the way, Empire of the Clouds is, with its 18 minutes, Maidens new “magnum opus”. It beats the former title holder Rime of the Ancient Mariner by 4.5 minutes. In addition the mentioned The Red and the Black is just as long as ...Ancient Mariner.
Still, the song about the airship R101 can't compete with any of the longer songs from the Paul Di'Anno era or the first Dickinson period.

Bruce has his vocal might intact, even if the 57-year-old has started to struggle a bit with the high pitch peaks. That thee man has been diagnosed recovered and healthy after a cancerous tumour being found on his tongue early this year is of course a huge relief! The bands senior, the always equally inarticulate and completely crazed 63 year old Nicko McBrain is steady and diverse in his, as always, eminent drumming. Needless to say, three guitars are also beneficial in impeccable ways (although you can't hear Janick throw his guitar up in the air on the album), and President Harris as always delivers galloping low frequency with a smile on his lips.
The guys deliver, and the sound is of course good. It even has reasonably good dynamic characteristics.

Conclusion:
I am a bit disappointed because of the above normally high expectations for an Iron Maiden album. Absence of lyrical continuity and lack of moods with ability to create cinematic images on the retina pulls down the ranking somewhat. Nevertheless, The Book of Souls has become a disc with lots of good music, characterized by relatively clever structuring, a nose for good melodies and lively diversity. For the longest time I considered this record as the “best since Brave New World” (sadly no difficult achievement), but I do believe I must go further back in time, and so I appoint The Book of Souls to be the best since Fear of the Dark.

Iron Maiden's digital initiatives under the Blaze Bayley regime wasn't necessarily always successful, but the digital video to Speed Of Light has worked out very well.

I immediately fell for the opening track, Riphyon - The Tree of Assiyah Putrescent, but isn't it normally a bad sign when the music is that easily accessible from the very first listen?

1557 – Rites of Nullification is a majestic work that easily brings especially Behemoth and Watain to mind. The band's black metal has an occult doom touch, and elements of epic death metal. If references are desired, you can also mix in Acherontas, Belphegor, Dark Funeral, Dimmu Borgir, Sear Bliss and Secrets Of The Moon. (Had I been autistic, the list could have been considerably longer). These are albeit associated with different aspects of the music.
Mephorash has absorbed the essence of these and hereby presents a work that borrows considerably what regards stereotypical ingredients, but that still sews it all so well together that I find it impossible not to be impressed.

Riphyon - The Tree of Assiyah Putrescent, the song that first got me hooked on the spectral sphere of the Swedes, starts of crawling, heavy and mighty with ritual chanting vocals, before hypnotic melody lines reinforces the ceremonial atmosphere. During nearly ten minutes this moves through several changes in melodies, moods, rhythms and paces. More than I'm bothered to enumerate. Towards the end of the song, female choir creates a sacral touch that elevates the heretical rite to new heights.
The three remaining tracks are roughly 11 minutes long, and continues in this vein.
Phezur - Dissolving the Sea of Yetzirah doesn't open quite as strong as the previous track, but it surely has its share of moods to offer. The part that starts around six minutes, where the vocalist almost seems to drown in unmentionable secretions, must be mentioned. It's also totally killer when the blast beats breaks loose after just over a minute. Here we also find suitable orchestral remedies in the form of flamboyant trombones.
The last two songs are equipped with corresponding immodest titles, bordering on the pretentious, but it absolutely suits the musics pompous splendour.
Cheidolun - Breaking the Blade of Beriah is even, bombastic and solid, although it doesn't really have any sequences which stands out with prominent signature.
Berberioth - Vandalising the Throne of Atziluth concludes on the same high level where it all started. Infectious^* thematic melody lines are repeated throughout the changing musical landscape, before it literally ends right where Riphyon... started. ^*For reasons of principle, I refuse to use the word “catchy”.

The lyrics ain't easy to grasp. This might have something to do with the font. The band is obviously committed to antagonistic occult chaos gnosticism, like Dissection et al.
Nor is it easy to find information about the recording, and which guests that contributed with what, but members of ensembles with similar ideology has at least been involved in the process. Vocalist Nebiros have a foot in Malign and he took care of the vocals on the first Ofermod releases. Besides, Embrace of Thorns, Acherontas, Fides Inversa og Hetroertzen are mentioned by name.

The band delivers the gods in each and every aspect, and pulls the towering grandiloquence together, and the sound is of course well produced and powerful. Purely objectively I'd probably ought to moderate my enthusiasm and reduce the ranking by a point for lack of distinctiveness and use of genre-related clichés, but I absolutely relish this album and I absolutely don't seem to tire from listening to it. Therefore I leave the top grade untouched.

Die-hard versions in the form of 50 hand numbered CDs is du at the end of the month. Ditto LPs will be released later this year. Both accompanied by a comprehensive book written by G. De Laval. Apart from finding that he has published several books on subjects within occultism and black magic, I know very little about this obscure author.

The band was founded fifteen years ago by singer, guitarist and bassist M., and Darkside took over the sticks from the band's original drummer just as they started becoming active releasing stuff almost ten years ago.

Hopelessness over the loathsome, despicable worthlessness of existence lays thick and bitter on the skin of the music, and even permeates the lyrics. This black metal is in truth in conformity with the title of this vile work.

Exercises in Futility is a tragedy in six acts, a sonata for bleeding hearts, withered dreams, misery and loathing, lasting for more than forty minutes. Each track carries the album's title, followed by Roman numerals. Two of these rests shortly under five minutes, while the four remaining clocks in at around eight.

The music is put in pale minor keys, as a resigned anaemic God looking to earth to check the status, before he shudders, grieves, loathes and recapitulates. Depression. Aversion. Abhorrence. Hopelessness. These emotions roam and reign.
The guitar is like barbed wire wrapped in razor wire around detested paddocks separating man under a tyrannical regime. Sharp. Melodic. Comfortless. The drums are sovereign. Darkside leads the way with explicitly varied use of all four limbs. The whole drum set is in use, and frequent, quick strokes at the cymbals creates an almost urban, metallic character. Listen, for example, to how the drums clatter as destructive machines in IV and V.
Together the instruments form cunning moods, rather than just habitual primitive savagery.
The biting poignant vocals radiate suppressed disgust, and fits the music excellently.

Where the music is vital, the sound is cold and inhuman. Sharp, yes, but not stinging. The aural side still takes time to befriend. It is outright exclusionary. One comes to locked doors and the listener should anticipate having to be left out in the cold for a long time before one is granted audience.

This is an album that grows, but it requires time before embarking on the final step along the thermometer. I never really had a fours in mind, as I was convinced that the album would grow and stabilize on five points. The album sat very long on a steady “fiver”, while I was fumbling for the right words.
When the verbal door opened, and the words fell into place, I was also eventually let into the heart of Exercises in Futility.
It turns out that it is just as cold and uncomfortable inside.

Does the concept of a “weak six” even exist? Mgła delivers such a sufficiently strong gunpowder five-pointer that I see myself forced to round up to six, to best imply just how hellaciously ripping this is. But as said, spending time in its oppressive presence is essential to achieve full advantage.

The Bjørgvin-based quartet has since 2008 consisted of the same harsh clan, all residing in (for me unknown) Enchanting Darkness, from Stord, an iland south of Bergen. Sindre and Gjermund are former and current live-members of Taake. The latter is also found in Syrach. Rune and Einar have sweated and bled for Byfrost and Gravemachine.
Guest contributions from V'gandr (Helheim) and Hoest (Taake) didn't lower the expectations either.
Audio and instrumental delivery had something appealing connected to it. Something almost organic but at the same time occasionally industrial (however strange this may sound). In addition, the lyrics are delivered with traditional raspy Bergens vocal, characterized by guttural R.
What could possibly go wrong?

It doesn't take long before an idea, that Taake have left to certain influence, starts forming in my mind. Let's not beat around the bush; I've got some points to put your finger on. Where Taake has come up with both many and great melody lines and braided these cleverly together whilst also generously adding abundantly original and unpredictable passages, Orkan doesn't significantly do so.
That Orkan blends in rocking thrash-parts also helps to distinguish them from “the original”, but I would say that the advantage goes in the “mother band's” favour.

It's not all sorrow, though. Livlaus (Lifeless) is not as lifeless as the title suggests. I pretty much enjoy listening to this album, and it is vital in more ways than one. That the album, except from vocals and effects, was recorded live in the studio, has maybe helped to contribute to the “relaxed” feel the music. There is something natural over the performance, yet this doesn't necessarily mean much to me, as I also love music that is composed in a more perfectionistic sense. However, I like diversity, and Orkan has an underflow of something pure and heartfelt, quite possibly thanks to this production method.

Another element the band uses, and that really helps to create both mood and character is the effects they've added afterwards. Futuristic, creepy effects with metallic timbre is very suited where they are supplemented. They also fits extremely well along with the instrumentation and the melodies in these sequences. This creates a wonderful eerie atmosphere, which unfortunately evaporate as soon as these brief glimpses of horror/sci-fi comes and goes as the cold breath of spirits. When the music quickly resumes its more traditional work, I'm still craving for a continuation.

Otherwise, the guys do a decent job and I will not deny that the seven songs, with their overall three quarters, has a decent amount of transitions and variation, which in turn prevents me from ever feeling boredom, even after a reasonable high number of spins.
I've always liked the vocals in Helheim and V'gandr's talk-singing with rasping dialect never hurts. Hoest does what he tend to vocally, but it probably never was the vocal has drawn me toward Taake.

Before I finished writing this review, but after having made up my mind, I read two fairly random reviews of the album.
J. Nepper from Eternal Terror is highly captivated by both sound and content, whilst Madam X from Angry Metal Guy on the other hand feels that the tunes glides along well, as they smoothly slides rather pointlessly into one ear and out the other, without much purpose other than their own presence. In a sense I understand the arguments from both parties, but I also disagree somewhat with both. I mention this because if you calculate the average of these two, you will find me.
That sounded diplomatic, so let me compensate: They're wrong, I'm right.

Stridens Hus, Taake's last album, received a relatively weak 5 points, and Orkan is a slightly pale shadow compared to this helmsman. Livlaus is by no means lifeless. It is rather swell to listen to when it has crawled properly under the skin, even if the way thereto can be a little bit cumbersome. When it has reached thither, and set to rest, one easily begins to ponder. Was it all worth it? What am I left with? Yes and no. I'm not left with many memorable parts, but I'm still left with the feeling of having spent time with something more valuablethan worthless. The music has many nooks and crannies that requires time, but that is exciting to explore. If posterity shows that there wasn't very much exciting there, at least the chase was exciting. If I can have a bit more atmosphere, passion and eeriness by our next meeting, Orkan will climb quickly up the hierarchy. I award three strong points
Short Conclusion: I like this album. Slightly.