Ever since the end of Windir in 2004, the remaining members have kept their spirit of exploration alive through Vreid, taking their style of melodic black metal and blending it with their passion for classic hard rock. This year, the voyage continues with their new concept album (and movie!) Wild North West, “a concept story about life itself and its eternal shadow: death.” Decibel is pleased to present the latest chapter in that story, “The Morning Red.”
According to the band, “‘The Morning Red’ is one our heaviest songs ever, and clearly shows our musical DNA rooted in ’70s and ’80s classic heavy rock coated with Nordic blackness. A blueprint of our eternal creative duality of melancholia and primal aggression.” The song is a creepy, atmospheric number that slowly emerges through the mist into an infectious double-bass groove. As for the video’s dark and ominous setting, the band notes that the backdrop: “is also the centerpiece of our full movie, Wild North West … this haunted architectural eagle’s nest.” They go on to describe it in detail:
“The more than 100-year-old sanatorium lies completely isolated in the mountainside above the world’s longest fjord, Sognefjorden. Once built to shield people from infectious diseases and later the asylum of the wild northwest, it became our creative center during the pandemic. With the world closed down, we admitted ourselves to one of Scandinavia’s most mythical and majestic buildings to record the movie. The massive building has been abandoned for almost 30 years, and the harsh climate has taken its toll as the building are being consumed by nature day by day. The history and destinies that these roughed walls embrace are fascinating, vile and dark to say the least. And with Wild North West, we have become a part of this majestic white castle’s history.”
Wild North West is out April 30 via Season of Mist. Fun fact for Windir fans: Track seven on the album, “Into the Mountains,” was originally written in 2002 by Hváll and Valfar!
