Coming after a tenuous period in which the band almost split up, The Skies Turn Black sees melodic black-metal titans Vreid return with a new sense of purpose. The Norwegian veterans come out of the gate strong with “From These Woods,” a searing epic in which vocalist/guitarist Sture Dingsøyr provides a Ghost-like backing chorus to his own craggy growl. Written by bassist/keyboardist Jarle “Hváll” Kvåle, the rocking title track is a tribute to heavy metal’s fallen godfather, Ozzy Osbourne. “A Second Death” is a hard-charging throwback to ’90s thrash while the synth-driven instrumental “Kraken” was specifically written for a monster movie produced by the band’s first music teacher. The biggest outlier is “Loving the Dead,” featuring Agnete Kjølsrud of Djerv, who goes from pixie to harpy and back again on the sprawling eight-minute tune.