MORK
Dypet

Featuring guest appearances from Dimmu Borgir’s Silenoz and 1349’s Seidemann.

Primarily inspired by the works of Darkthrone & Burzum, Mork’s third album Eremittens Dal stands as a tribute to the spirit of old-school Norwegian Black Metal. Raw production and ice-cold riffs combine with the band's dynamic and atmospheric twists and the album effortlessly alternates between the ferocious and the melancholy. Covering themes of hate, death, seclusion and misanthropy, both lyrically and in the way that a one-man-band makes music in solitude, the music is perfectly fitting of the title (translated as Valley Of The Hermit).

The suitably grim pencil cover art comes courtesy of Jannicke Wiese-Hansen, who famously made artwork for early Burzum and Satyricon releases. Having featured guest vocals from Darkthrone’s Nocturno Culto on its previous album, Eremittens Dal includes special guest appearances from Dimmu Borgir's Silenoz who contributes vocals on two tracks, plus additional bass parts from 1349's Seidemann.
 

Dopo l'EP ""Pesta"" del 2020, giustamente intitolato, i norvegesi Mork riprendono la loro ascesa tra i ranghi della scena BLACK METAL scandinava con il quinto capitolo, ""Katedralen"", avventurandosi sempre più lontano dalle primitive fondamenta dei primi Darkthrone, pur mantenendo viva la fiamma cupa della vecchia scuola nel suo DNA. “Katedralen” è senza dubbio il lavoro più completo dei Mork fino ad oggi, spingendo nuove frontiere creative con un approccio più dinamico alla composizione delle canzoni e un'ampiezza estesa ai riff e alle melodie, tessendo un nuovo capolavoro di groove, durezza, grandiosità, tristezza, bellezza e potenza. “Katedralen” è stato eseguito, registrato e mixato dal leader Thomas Eriksen, con il mastering ancora una volta effettuato da Jack Control a Enormous Door (Darkthrone). L'album include anche notevoli apparizioni di Nocturno Culto dei compagni di etichetta Darkthrone, Dolk dei connazionali Kampfar, e infine Eero Pöyry dei maestri del doom Skepticism. L'artwork adeguatamente oscuro appare ancora una volta per gentile concessione del riverito artista francese David Thiérrée. Un album assolutamente imperdibile per i fan di Darkthrone, Taake, Burzum, Kampfar, Craft, Satyricon, Sarke e Aura Noir!"

‘Den Svevende Festning’ features six tracks and over 32 minutes of raw and atmospheric Norwegian black metal, most notably containing exclusive and unreleased material recorded during the ‘Katedralen’ album sessions, in the shape of the title track (also the theme for the cover image, an old drawing of Fredriksten Fortress in Eriksen’s home-town of Halden), and ‘Ormtunge’. Side A is completed by the alternate arrangement of the track ‘Født Til Å Herske’, previously only available digitally. Side B contains a selection of live tracks from Mork’s recent shows, featuring a series of tracks from the ‘Katedralen’ opus.

A DEEP, INNOVATIVE & ECLECTIC CONCOCTION OF NORTHERN MAJESTY, FOR THE SEVENTH STUDIO OPUS IN THE MORK SAGA, AS THE BAND MARKS THE MILESTONE OF TWENTY YEARS OF EXISTENCE.

Following on from mastermind Thomas Eriksen’s self-titled Udåd project debut earlier this year; a dark release which explored the more underground & murkier-sounding waters of primitive black metal from a by-gone era, ‘Syv’ emerges as the new pinnacle of Mork’s and Eriksen’s ever-evolving journey, as well as a creative expansion both sonically & compositionally over all prior works.

Norwegian titan, Mork, was created by Thomas Eriksen in 2004, with the debut album ‘Isebakke’ eventually surfacing in 2013. Since then, Mork has been ceaselessly rising through the echelons of Black Metal, and on the heels of 2024’s intense and groundbreaking ‘Syv’ opus - which has resulted in the band branching out with tours in the Far East & Australia - Eriksen continues on this evolutionary path with the new album, and what is undoubtedly set to be a new benchmark, ‘Monolitt’.

“A stark monument to the unrelenting brutality of reality, the monolith looms above us, immovable, indifferent, eternal. Its crushing presence bears down on the spirit, suffocating hope and testing the limits of endurance. It is an experience carved in stone, unyielding”.

‘Monolitt’ is an album that further expands the sonic and atmospheric depth of existing Mork releases; unafraid to challenge the listener, while steadfastly rooted in the cold traditions of the genre. With this uncompromising vision and direction for ‘Monolitt’, Mork delivers a sound which is brutal yet expansive, whilst also heavy and epic, for a relentless journey through the shadows of Norwegian Black Metal, while forging new paths within that ancient and revered framework.

Across these songs, themes of collapse, transformation, isolation, and destruction form the central pillars. From the crushing burden of existence to spectral wanderings through forgotten landscapes, ‘Monolitt’ explores the human condition through bleak introspection and grand imagery. Nature rages, giants awaken, faith crumbles, all in pursuit of experience beyond the limits of flesh and mind.