Vriess - Vriess

2021 seems like a year for the Alien movie franchise themed albums in metal. Earlier we had an EP from Hideous Divinity, and now we have another group named Vriess out of France with a less obvious ‘Alien’ themed album, but at least the band name is taken from the fourth film. The project is formed from the masterminds behind Project For Bastards, a rather gritty mix of thrash, death metal, and even grind core due to its raw production and short track lengths.

Vriess is the cleaner sounding offspring, featuring a bit more melody on the guitars but a very similar vocal approach, even though it still slays when one gets past the first few minutes of the dramatic opening of ‘The Fight.’ The heavy focus on melody with the guitar solos is really what separates Vriess from Bastards, though the drumming and some of the pummeling riffs draw similar comparisons. For those who like no holds barred kind of thrash and death metal combined, ‘The Curse’ is more up their alley. While being a bit more chuggy and rumbling, it has that ferocious bite that Bastards does and is sure to be a pit grinder for sure.

Other tracks like ‘The Reborn’ and ‘The Reality’ are a bit more mid paced and slow things down a bit. One even might sense a bit of melodeath in there akin to At The Gates with rather groovy moments as it hammers along, and others might feel it is sorely lacking the thrash punch that the earlier tracks have. However, it does vary up the EP. The album does go by very quick but think of it as a mix of Spite attitude with the grooves of At The Gates and a touch of Dew Scented. It will leave listeners interested for more and hopefully more perpetual Alien themed work that will be as explosive as “Chestburster” from the album “Lv-426.”

3 / 5 STARS


1. Chapter I - The Fight
2. Chapter II - The Curse
3. Chapter III - The Reality
4. Chapter IV - The Reborn
5. Chapter V - The Father