ALBUM REVIEW: Mork – Det Svarte Juv

1 Mørkeleggelse sets things in with eerie cello that is haunting and eerie. The blasting drums and spectral guitars soon come in with total force, a bleak ensemble of despairing classic Black Metal riffs. There are some excellent chilling cleans before the churning snarled vocals complete the classic soundscape. With the primal nature of the song despite some experimental touches it grows and dissipates nicely before coming back in with some punchy grooves, straight out of the 90s. The crunchy bass, powerful drums and insane riffing prowess hit with total aggression, much like the tormenting screams that are carefully laid over the tight instrumentals. This opening song was a fantastic start to the album.

2 Da Himmelen Falt follows up with more grim guitars, static distortion present and punchy drum hits. The melancholic chord progressions are beautifully contrasted by the upbeat drums to create an immediately well balanced, enticing song style. The vocals and drums alone sound absolutely menacing, a really interesting use of songwriting that allows the guitars to rejoin with increased impact, especially with the pristine lead picking. This track is supreme in its punchiness but also has tons of atmospheric value, in the vein of Darkthrone back in the early 90s, pure nostalgic brilliance but in a way that feels renewed and fresh.

3 På Tvers Av Tidene begins with bleak riffs, crawling along in a haunting yet groovy way. The song builds into some weird convulsive instrumental work that hooks nicely in a way the is discomforting. Punky drum hits and riffs blast out menacing aggression that is gorgeously transcended into atmospheric clean singing over piercing instrumentals before we come back to the killer main grooves of the piece. I love the drum and bass section with the guitars stunningly rebuilt, it feels so classically anthemic to me. Such ambience and strength is present in this piece that clearly had a lot of thought and effort put into, brilliant work.

4 Den Utstøtte fires out monstrous grooves after a couple drum hits that sound absolutely huge. Snarling vocals accompany the dark, contorting guitar riffs with such a well matched style, allowing for the piercingly sombre nature of the track to have full impact from the monolithic onset, while couple with some graceful melodic nuance. The headbangers will adore the primal hooks from the instrumentals that have such a strong rhythm that you will be ensnared by the songs catchiness. Another fiercely brutal song with some really nice thrashy sections thrown in for good measure.

5 I Flammens Favn throws us right in with menacing blastbeats and ferocious guitar riffs, played with total strength. Creepy vocal growls and dissonant instrumentals always make for a great combination and Mork nails it. With slightly stranger songwriting than usual, this melodic yet grisly piece has some of the most and also least melodic sounding guitars, a killer juxtaposition. With gorgeously picked riffs but also hammering chords, reliably tight drumming and well spaced snarls, this piece has a more modern feel, showcasing the diverse ability of the project. Great stuff.

6 Skarpretterens Øks churns out more immediately loveable grooves, perfectly hitting us with precise drums and grim riffs, snarled grisly vocals accompanying the exciting instrumentals in a, once again, well spaced and high octane manner. I think the thing that makes this music, especially on tracks such as this, so appealing is the general simplicity that lets everything hit with such strength and speak for itself. The use of doomy, drawn out sections lets the tension build before hitting us again with that punchy, primal main riff. Blistering lead atmospherics surprise me with folky melodies that are stunning and really bring out the more beautiful side of the project with the murky layers of darkness before dropping into some more depressive sections too. A fantastically masterful and diverse song.

7 Den Kalde Blodsvei brings in more eerie atmospherics filled with melody and gorgeous songwriting. With more melancholically churning chords and upbeat drumming, this song also has some slight discordance that works beautifully to create a stunningly mesmerising yet unnerving soundscape. This song contains some of the most hypnotically punchy and well drawn out material in a simplistically enjoyable package, hitting hard for the fans of melody and skilful riff-craft but in a non-pretentious manner. Simply wonderful.

8 Siste Reis starts off with drawn out guitars, built in drums and demonic howls before lurching forth into menacingly grinding instrumentals. Utilising some excellent cymbal hits to bring forth the brutish nature of the cavernous riffs and vocals in incredibly effective, assisting the pieces ability to fiercely attack us with pure classic Black Metal hellfire. The meandering pace of the song is filled with foreboding and has a great rise and fall type momentum to it that is just captivating, truly allowing maximum destruction on the more fast-paced sections that remain balanced by a more sombre side, accompanied in part with some richly dark lead work (and gorgeous tapping solos). Another astoundingly good track.

9 Karantene follows on in the bleaker nature of the previous track beautifully. The dismally churned out guitars and slower drum fills is depressive but also tranquil in creating a darkness encompassing soundscape, featuring another cool bass/drum solo section before being dropped into heavier material. The howled vocal before contorting instrumentals and dissonant ferocity allows for a menacing, monolithic wall of sound to punish us with truly crushing Black Metal, decimating us with unrivalled aggression. This is one of the more “experimental” Mork songs that sounds a bit more modern, while keeping the classic sound involved, and one of the strongest, most unnerving tracks from the project to date that is filled with despairing angst and also piercing hatred in perfect harmony.

10 Det Svarte Juv has the duty of successfully closing this album, which really needs to feel like a complete package after such excellent material. The piece has a depressive onset that follows from the more sombre predecessor well, the drums building tension underneath the drawn out guitar chords. We are abruptly thrown into more nostalgically brilliant guitar riffs and head stomping drums with some of the most gut- wrenching screams and tormenting clean vocals yet. This song truly conjures up some of the darkness visuals of the album, letting the release leave a final taste of depravity on our tongues that yearns for more material in the future. An absolutely gruesome ending to the album that is well fitted, constructed and executed.

This album is yet another masterfully crafted slab of Black Metal nostalgia in a welcomingly new and revived manner. While creating the early 90s Norwegian Black Metal sound so perfectly, the material itself is fresh and does not feel reused. Some excellent experimentation too from Mork that pays off and creates some of the most impressive material yet. -8.5/10