E.P. Review: Vittra - Wardens
Reviewed by Richard Oliver
Whilst there are lots of bands throwing back to the old school HM-2 buzzsaw Swedish death metal sound, Vittra are a band throwing back to another pioneering sound in Swedish death metal. The band formed in 2017 put together by former Helvegen vocalist David Döragrip and guitarist Johan Murmester (ex- Nattas) who got together to start a new project. They were joined by Alex Smith (drums) and bassist Gustav Svensson in 2018 and April 2021 sees the release of their debut E.P. Wardens.
I mentioned earlier that the band are throwing back to another old school Swedish death metal sound and that is the early melodic death metal sound. Two clear influences on their sound are the early works of In Flames and the thrasher melodic death metal sound of At The Gates. The E.P. is made up of four songs with opener Necrotic Apocalypse employing more of a thrashy death metal sound with crunching riffs and a pummelling rhythm as well as a melodic sensibility. The melodic death metal influences come to the fore on Modest Charade and Cloudbreaker with melodies that would sound right at home on those classic early In Flames albums. Modest Charade even includes a sweet acoustic mid-section which gave me huge The Jester Race vibes. The closing song Wardens Of The Grove goes a bit into more extreme territory and has a looming influence of early Dissection with a blackened edge and use of blast beats as well as those essential melodies.
Even though it is very short, Wardens is a very sweet little E.P. The band sound incredibly accomplished with their debut release and have four songs written and performed to an extremely high standard. Even though Vittra don’t really offer anything new to the table Wardens is a great E.P reminding us how good the Swedish melodic death metal sound was back in the day. I for one approve of this throwback and hope to hear more from Vittra very soon.
