VANANIDR formed in Stockholm, Sweden during 2018.  The artist had gone by a different name, SYNADUS HORRENDA, for several years prior to that. Under the name VANANIDR the band has two albums to its credit. The first one, the self-titled "Vananidr," was released in 2018 and is the one I'll be reviewing today.

"Raging Blizzards" gets the album started. The melodic intro leads to something that eventually sounds far more Black Metal by the time the singing commences. I am impressed by how the backing music and the vocals manage to balance each other so well; neither one overpowers the other throughout the song. Unfortunately, after the promising start the track loses power about halfway through as the speed slows down significantly. Even once the pace picks up again it doesn't make much of a difference because the original enthusiasm is gone. The following track, "Frostbitten Kingdom," has a more traditional Black Metal sound to it right away and moves at a much faster pace. Featuring a decent guitar solo the song is good if not very exceptional. The third track on the album, "Abomination Of Evil," starts out promising then fades much like the opening track did. What should've been a powerful song becomes oddly flat after a point, leaving me wondering why the energy within it changed so drastically.

However, the rest of the album easily makes up for those first three tracks. "Projections" is a great instrumental composition which starts out with a barely audible guitar that soon becomes much louder and demanding as the volume increases. The tension builds and builds as the guitar continues to play then it's gone as a synthesizer takes over for the remainder of the track. The abrupt change is oddly enjoyable as your mind attempts to catch up. "Rise," and "Warfare" are both much more Black Metal with regard to their sound and style. Both feature excellent, aggressive vocals as well as brutal background music featuring plenty of heavy guitar riffs and heavy percussion for even the pickiest metal-heads. My favorite from the album, "Enter Eternity," has a more melodic tone at first as well as a slower pace which does nothing to rob it of its power. The vocals are a bit more subtle as well which makes them even better in my opinion. The pace, great melody mixed with just enough distortion and the excellent vocal performance make this THE song to check out from the album if you have any doubts about it. Finally, the last track, "Psalm Till Doden," features a pipe organ that still manages to sound metal even without the addition of other instruments. It's a stark contrast to the other songs that will take you to another time and place when Classical music was the Heavy Metal of its day.

 I definitely recommend "Vananidr" as as album that you should consider acquiring for your own collection. It starts out a little weak, but quickly improves as you listen to it.