Vreid
Amager Bio, Copenhagen - 2026
Text: Tobias Nilsson Photo: Lunah Lauridsen
A low droning hum filled the dark room of Amager Bio, a droning that lasted several minutes until the tension was amped up by the addition of an air-raid siren. Vreid was about to enter the fray…
“Good evening, Copenhagen! We are Vreid from Norway.”
- Jarle ‘Hváll’ Kvåle (bass)
Vreid actually not only entered during the intro, but they joined in on playing it, or so I thought at first, but apparently we had moved swiftly from recorded intro directly into Kraken, the instrumental track from their latest album, The Skies Turn Black, as well as being part of the soundtrack for the brand new Pål Øie horror film Kraken. Regardless of that bit of exposition, the use of the track here as an extended intro to the show was nothing but brilliant. It was a great passageway leading us from recorded intro to the tracks that were to follow, letting the band take over in a seamless way, while laying down a good amount of atmosphere, and letting the band connect with the audience. Yes, if you remember my issues with Vomitory, I’d say Vreid managed to not only make a better connection but also appear livelier in these first couple of minutes than their tour mates managed for their entire set.
“Alright Copenhagen, how are you doing out there? Are you having fun?! We’re gonna take you back to Norway, the home of Sognametal!”
- Sture Dingsøyr (vocals/guitar)
Vreid kept it up however, and really kicked off their set with Pitch Black, a real banger track of unadulterated black ‘n’ roll that got some necks swinging for sure.
The latest album was of course the most well represented one in the set, but even though they had a woefully short time to play - actually it was the same 30 minutes as Vomitory had had - they managed to spread the rest of the songs around from their 20+ year career. Would we have liked to hear more? Of course, but the band managed their time as well as could be expected, and even though they were good at engaging the crowd, they didn’t dilly-dally. If you wanted the crowd to sing or move, you might as well say it during a song as between them, right?
“C’mon, Copenhagen! I know you can do some headbanging, so show me!”
- Dingsøyr (vocals/guitar)
Surely, the crowd had grown quite a bit by now, and the room was filling up nicely, but even though the band was doing everything in their power, I’m sad to say the response felt a little weak. Sure, there were shouts and applause of appreciation between songs, but very little action was to be seen in the ranks of the Danish - and a few Swedish - concert goers. Admittedly, Vreid has never played large venues here, but they have been frequent visitors of Denmark, and have even played some of our largest metal festivals, so the lack of engagement from the crowd surprised me. I hope it won’t deter them from further visits to our country, because I want more of this. I’d even go as far as saying that this was nigh on the best concert of the evening, beating both Vomitory and their countrymen in Abbath easily off the table.
Setlist:
Kraken
Pitch Black
The Skies Turn Black
Into The Mountains
From These Woods
Lifehunger
“Good evening, Copenhagen! We are Vreid from Norway.”
- Jarle ‘Hváll’ Kvåle (bass)
Vreid actually not only entered during the intro, but they joined in on playing it, or so I thought at first, but apparently we had moved swiftly from recorded intro directly into Kraken, the instrumental track from their latest album, The Skies Turn Black, as well as being part of the soundtrack for the brand new Pål Øie horror film Kraken. Regardless of that bit of exposition, the use of the track here as an extended intro to the show was nothing but brilliant. It was a great passageway leading us from recorded intro to the tracks that were to follow, letting the band take over in a seamless way, while laying down a good amount of atmosphere, and letting the band connect with the audience. Yes, if you remember my issues with Vomitory, I’d say Vreid managed to not only make a better connection but also appear livelier in these first couple of minutes than their tour mates managed for their entire set.
“Alright Copenhagen, how are you doing out there? Are you having fun?! We’re gonna take you back to Norway, the home of Sognametal!”
- Sture Dingsøyr (vocals/guitar)
Vreid kept it up however, and really kicked off their set with Pitch Black, a real banger track of unadulterated black ‘n’ roll that got some necks swinging for sure.
The latest album was of course the most well represented one in the set, but even though they had a woefully short time to play - actually it was the same 30 minutes as Vomitory had had - they managed to spread the rest of the songs around from their 20+ year career. Would we have liked to hear more? Of course, but the band managed their time as well as could be expected, and even though they were good at engaging the crowd, they didn’t dilly-dally. If you wanted the crowd to sing or move, you might as well say it during a song as between them, right?
“C’mon, Copenhagen! I know you can do some headbanging, so show me!”
- Dingsøyr (vocals/guitar)
Surely, the crowd had grown quite a bit by now, and the room was filling up nicely, but even though the band was doing everything in their power, I’m sad to say the response felt a little weak. Sure, there were shouts and applause of appreciation between songs, but very little action was to be seen in the ranks of the Danish - and a few Swedish - concert goers. Admittedly, Vreid has never played large venues here, but they have been frequent visitors of Denmark, and have even played some of our largest metal festivals, so the lack of engagement from the crowd surprised me. I hope it won’t deter them from further visits to our country, because I want more of this. I’d even go as far as saying that this was nigh on the best concert of the evening, beating both Vomitory and their countrymen in Abbath easily off the table.
Setlist:
Kraken
Pitch Black
The Skies Turn Black
Into The Mountains
From These Woods
Lifehunger
Vreid
