Norwegian black metallers VREID check in with the following update:

"We open the new year with important news for you.

In late December we got the news from (guitarist) Ese that he could not continue to play with Vreid. This was of course very sad news, as Ese has been a member of Vreid since the beginning in 2004. We respect his decision, and want to thank him for all his great work during the 5 years, 4 album and almost 200 shows for the Vreid brigade.

Here is a statement from Ese himself concerning the matter: “I have decided to quit as guitarist in Vreid, and chosen to do so of personal reasons. I have had a blast these years, both in the studio and on the road. It has been exciting to see and be a part of Vreid growing into something to be proud of. I look forward to see Vreid continuing to do so, and wish my comrades all the best.“

After the news from Ese, we immediately had a band meeting to look into the situation. 2009 was a demanding and hard working year for Vreid, and it doesn’t seem as 2010 will be in any different. We will do a lot of shows, and we will spend a lot of time recording our 5th album. This meant that we had to start looking for a new guitarist.

Our first choice was a choice without discussions. We asked Stian Bakketeig aka Strom to join us. To our delight he was ready for the task, and is now officially the new Vreid guitarist. We have known Strom since the early 1990’s, and he joined our previous band ULCUS back in 1996, later on we played with him for several years in WINDIR. Strom was our number 1 choice as he is the best guitar player we know, the social connection is perfect, and we have a strong history together.

Strom himself commented the news as following: "When I was asked to be a part of Vreid, the decision was easy. I know these guys both personally and as skilled musicians, and to be a part of this great band is to me an honour. I'm proud to join forces with Vreid."

We will use the first 2 months of 2010 working on new material and rehearsing our live set with Strom. We have made a list of songs that we will rehearse to play live. This list consist of songs we haven't played in a long while an also songs we have never played live before. We will do our first live shows with Strom in March, and give you more info about this soon.

Hváll, Steingrim & Sture."