Review Summary: Unapologetic headbangery for the blackened masses
There are certain rules that imbue themselves into the minds of children through repeated exposure, instinct, or unintentional trial by fire. The achievement of understanding these rules is made clear at different stages in a child's life; stopping at traffic lights without parental guidance, using correct dining etiquette, putting the lid down after flushing. For Per Valla, it was understanding one idea; the importance of the riff.
Violator seems to be born out of this simple idea, as every blackened, death-thrash riff unleashed is just as memorable as the last, while never straying from decent songwriting to accommodate the almost gratuitous riff count. The pure austerity of Vredehammer's second album is almost to a fault, but that doesn't prevent
Violator from being one of the most addictive head-bangers of 2016.
It's a two-way street with Vredehammer. Either you headbang or you don't. The album's intentions are made pretty clear from opening riff of opening track, "Light the F***ing Sky" (go figure) which wastes no time causing severe neck damage to the uninitiated. Every song is a concoction of blasts, riffs, double kick, and rumbling bass. This purely remorseless approach to songwriting might seem like a tiring aspect, but the short run-time and occasional dynamic switch keep the overall sound from going stale. However, the use of quieter, less crowded sections is spread far and thin between, and this can prove to be detrimental on repeated listens. The pure energy of the album is best digested in a shuffled playlist, or in tandem with other albums. That's not to say the album lacks depth, but sequencial listens won't reveal all too many undiscovered nuances or undeniably genius composition facets.
Violator is the audio representation of a car crash filmed with a cinema camera. You might be curious as to how the crash happened to begin with, but hitting the replay button and seeing the front end crumple in slow motion is more than enough entertainment to fuel your vicariism. Production on this record is wonderful; the gloomy atmosphere of "Ursus" is captured with utmost clarity while still retaining a punchy edge. Full-force blasts of "Spawn Tyrant" are adequately hefty, the album's guitar tones bite hard, and the bass tone is both wonderfully round, and always clearly audible. While dynamics aren't frequently used in the record, when they do crop up, the mix is wide enough to cater for calmer segments without noticeable compression issues.
By paring their Immortal-esque sound with decent doses of dissonance and atmosphere, Vredehammer have managed to craft an album that is faithful to it's roots without any aged qualities. From the album's first riff, to "Bloodhevn"'s final chord,
Violator seamlessly crafts songs that are both technically deft and addictive in their simplicity. While the lack of variation and dynamic songwriting does become evident over repeated listens, Vredehammer know exactly what they excel at, and that is exactly what they have given. This isn't a layered epic for the higher echelon. This is purely and simply, a product of unapologetic headbangery for the blackened masses.
