Morild – Så kom mørket og tog mig på ordet En sort sky af minder I afgørende stunder Frosset fast til mit indre Jeg håber det forsvinder med lyset At dø eller blive fri
Band: Morild
Title: Så kom mørket og tog mig på ordet En sort sky af minder I afgørende stunder Frosset fast til mit indre Jeg håber det forsvinder med lyset At dø eller blive fri
Label: Indisciplinarian
Release date: 1 February 2019
Country: Denmark
Format reviewed: MP3 320kb
Even if you’re a metal purist or one that embraces the modern era, you can’t deny the spectacular changes that black metal has gone through. It has become a sub-genre that is full of contrast, with themes and sounds ranging from the occult to describing lush, beautiful landscapes. I for one, embrace this diversity and find it exciting, because there are so many things to explore without getting a feeling of redundancy. In one of these musical adventures I stumbled upon Morild, an atmospheric black metal band from Copenhagen. They formed in 2016 and their name translates to “phosphorescence” or according to their explanation it’s referring to “the embellishing phenomenon of bioluminescent plankton”.
They released their debut full-length earlier this February and the title sure is a handful: “Så kom mørket og tog mig på ordet En sort sky af minder I afgørende stunder Frosset fast til mit indre Jeg håber det forsvinder med lyset At dø eller blive fri”, which translates to “Thus came the darkness and took me by my word A dark cloud of memories In crucial moments Frozen inside of me I hope it disappears with the light To die or become free”. The title actually consists of all the six song titles in order, or rather, as I like to think of them, six parts of a journey.
The albums opens with “Så kom mørket og tog mig på ordet”, the shortest song on the full-length, but with the important mission of giving the listener an idea of what’s to come in the following 40 minutes. Some clean chants are present in the beginning, before being almost completely overwhelmed by a wall of harsh noise and pained screams, but with a rather minimalist instrumentation. Before the four minutes are up, you are prepared for an introspective pilgrimage through the unknown and vast space, ready to reflect upon your existence.The rest of the album, save for one interlude, makes use of more formulaic structures, but with personal touches from the band, so the listener will have a familiar feeling, but not enough to bore him and stop paying attention.
The second song is a head first plunge into darkness, while enveloped by a storm of blast beats and echoing screams. At first it will seem a bit suffocating and disorienting, but you get to embrace it and accept the fact that you can’t reach the end of this journey without going through hardship. This one and the next two pieces have a similar feeling of uncertainty, some kind of fear of not knowing how all this will end, but they are succeeded by an interlude that uses a clean sound that dissipates all those sentiments and shows a glimpse of the end. After the interlude sets the atmosphere, the final piece erupts in a grandiose display of emotions and, as the title “To die or become free” suggests, it decides to leave an open ending to this story and lets the listeners decide their own fate.
What I really appreciate about “Så kom mørket…” is the fact that everything I mentioned above is conveyed through the music and the appropriate title of each song. While listening to it, it’s clear that the message does not rely on the lyrics, and the vocals have only an atmospheric role in this amazing album that feels like it has a soul of it’s very own, made up of pieces of the talented artists that poured their hearts into it. Each and every song taken out of context sounds stellar, but the complete package can offer you an experience you don’t get to enjoy often.
To conclude, I will use an analogy I read once. Morild does not reinvent the wheel, but it takes it and dips it in gold. They know what they want to express and they do it in the best manner possible. 9/10 Metal Gentleman
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9/10 Epic Storm
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