VreidApril was being a malicious bitch and throwing snow out the sky. Luckily it did not stop a healthy crowd getting to the venue or the hardened Norsemen on the first day of this rather special 14 date tour.

I thought this was the first time over here for In Vain but they announced they had been over before in 2007. Mind you I am a recent convert to the band having only really heard them on new and very impressive album ‘Ænigma.’ There were six of them lined up on the small stage and at first their sound needed work on and was leaden in the mix as we looked for a vantage place and got acclimatised to the rather busy venue. Everything clicked much more cleanly into place on latest single ‘Against The Grain’ though and Andreas Frigstad who had been adrift on the first number burst into life adding some ‘head biting off’ harsh vocals to the more harmonious croons coming from Sindre Nedland and the backing vocalists. Musically this is a band with lots going on, twisting and turning riffs in a constant ever flowing state of flux. It was quite a lot to take in with them all packing the stage both visually and musically. They announced older song ‘Det Rakner’ as being Norwegian and so they wanted us all singing along which got response from a Finn saying he would try his best. With feral vocals and thundering drums this was really thrown out at a neck cracking pace and had my feet stomping along working overtime to it. The clean vocals, well they are not a million miles from Solefald but this is not only their backing band but also Sindre is Lazare’s brother and the striking similarity (someone kindly shouted he was fatter) in most aspects have been mentioned. It was all involving, complex and expertly played. At one stage the band seemed to effortlessly jam into a very Led Zep flavoured weave and brought a large progressive flair to proceedings before moving straight into a galloping fervour changing styles on their heads. Numbers like ‘The Titan’ really impressed and the band had a nice length of time for us to get well and truly into the swing of things. It was much better than packing touring bands on with pointless local supports and it’s fair to say that both audience and band really made the most of this show.

This was the first time Solefald had ever played London and the first tour they had embarked on since 1998. Reasons for this will be gone into more on an interview which should be posted later in the week but needless to say that a lot of interest was focussed on them and people were here from Greece, Germany and other European places, in fact I reckon the visitors made up half the audience. Lazare was not up for touring leaving us in the capable hands of his brother but as they took to the stage all eyes were focused on eccentrically garbed Cornelius and as the words “Coco Chanel, welcome to hell. Let me out of my prison cell” surged out the speakers and the band burst into CKII Chanel Number 6 we were off on a mad ride for the next breath-taking hour. It was thankfully no disappointment as it frankly was when the aloof Ulver finally took the stage and it was instantly evident that this was going to be as intense and theatrical as the skewed and deranged music that the band are renowned for. We were also taken through a lot of material from all their works. ‘Red Vein’ completely owned it and the manic dash of ‘Backpacker Baba’ inspired by a flight out of Goa retained the heady air and mysticism of the journey and the full rave madness of the place. With some eccentric guitar grooves, hand clapping action we were put in a real party mood. It charged through the front ranks having us boogying down to infectious flamenco flanges (well that’s what I wrote at the time so am standing by it).

A highly charged yell of “The USA Don’t Exist’ sounded out and this was another one we had hoped for. You could pogo easily to this and the sound was spot on and incredibly rich for something so heavy. It is evident that the guys from In Vain are every bit as great as Leprous are for Ihsahn and the mix of performers worked fantastically together and this sounded like a band who had been playing these songs for years rather than one who had just set out doing them. What a pumping anthem and with the main vocal chant it’s one that mini dictatorpot from N Korea should adopt!

‘Sun I Call’ chilled us out a bit as it took us to the Icelandic odyssey. The woodwind sound may have been sampled but we cannot have it all and we were allowed a moment to sway in its caress before rising up and dashing us against the rocks in all its atmospheric glory. “We will have to come back to you” Cornelius told us before ‘Jernlov’ belted back to ‘The Linear Scaffold’ and even got some very well-mannered arm linked head-banging pit action started. After apologizing for putting humour into Black Metal it was time to play the only song of the night from outstanding last album ‘Norrøn Livskunst’ ‘Vitets Vidd I Verdi’. Seriously what a cracker. The mad carnival dash of this would have had even the most depressed person in the world laughing along to it and even if the guest vocals from Agnete Kjolsrud were sampled it felt like she was here in spirit.

Although we had waited patiently for a long time we really got the goods here and it was one of those shows I doubt I will forget in a long time. After a bit of a ‘Philosophical Revolt’ it was almost time to go leaving the words of Byron to finish off with ‘When The Moon Is On The Wave.’ If it were not so cold I thought I could go up Harrow On The Hill on the way home and sit on his tomb but that would have been daft. Excellent set and already hoping they come back as promised.

After this it was a bit of an anti-climax I’m afraid and it was a much emptier affair as quite a few seemed to leave. Vreid simply playing their somewhat workmanlike craft just couldn’t follow such a mental performance and they really should have been supporting in my mind.  The band have been incredibly good to us and are no strangers to London and I feel quite shitty in saying it but despite seeing them on various occasions and at least giving their albums the once over they fail to stir anything in me. Not that there is anything wrong in what they do, they are a tight unit and dynamic force on stage and their set starting off with the ragged duo of ‘The Ramble’ and ‘The Reap’ both from new album ‘Welcome Farewell’ should have won me over but their pitch black dynamics just did not get through. I certainly appreciated the way they simply flung themselves into things on stage with a massive salvo of drum beats from Steingrim who thundered through the set in a blur at the back but this is one of those bands that once a song has finished I just forget it Their brand of black death and thrash mixed up does go down well with others here though and I am certainly alone. There is something a bit Voivodian about some of the swirling guitar work and the harsh grating vocals from singer Sture are thick and gravid. Green and sharp bright white lights illuminate the stage and this band unlike the others have much more freedom to move around in. The Reap has a bounce laden chug about it and the cleaving mid paced intensity cuts a rugged furrow through things compelling many to head-bang.

Moving back to their first album ‘Songen Åt Fangen’ has me impressed by the precision but then again it seems like they are doing things by numbers almost on auto pilot. Intensity is there but where is the atmosphere? A bit of an acoustic breakdown works well and the warping guitar sounds and thundering drums of ‘Welcome Farewell’ with a good degree of technicality can certainly be appreciated but being totally honest I have to admit I am bored. I stick around though and on ‘Sights Of Old’ I find some salvation. The green lights and wafts of dry ice combined with some progressive meandering textures win me over a bit. There is more of a spark here, it has a soul that reminds a little of just how storming Enslaved were recently but then it’s back to black n roll of Raped By Light and this diminishes. It’s obviously time to admit defeat and head to the hills.

Review and photos © Pete Woods