Myrkur, by Myrkur- Album review- Elemental feminine black metal

Bandcamp page:
https://myrkur.bandcamp.com/

Music video (Watch it NOW): 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32KB0epn21E



I’ve been listening to this album for a few weeks now, but for some reason I’ve been delaying my review. That’s not like me at all. Anybody who has had a brief chat with me will know that I am a very opinionated man, a man who doesn’t really care if expressing his opinions is going to damage him in a social setting. I just don’t care. Take your bland niceness and stick it. We ain’t here forever, so let’s talk about interesting things, things that actually matter.

If I have something to say, I say it. Hence, this blog. An outlet for my overly opinionated rants about everything under the sun, all done under the ‘review’ platform, where I can launch into discussing whatever the hell I like.

So why the delay in reviewing this album?

A very talented lady

It’s not because it leaves me feeling indifferent, because it doesn’t do that at all. If I were indifferent about it then I’d listen to it for a couple of days, give it a scathing review, and then never listen to it ever again. Myrkur has been burning its way into my consciousness for weeks now and I can’t get enough of it. I love it. It’s the number one album on my car stereo as I navigate my way through the traffic jams of school run, keep my head down, support the troops, vote for slavery repeaters all around me.

So why have I been purposefully delaying this review? The truth of the matter is that I know that it’s going to be difficult for me to succinctly capture the feel of the album in just a few words on my rant happy blog. Go to the top of this little review now and click on the YouTube link, listen to the song and hopefully you’ll get what I’m trying to say here.

Myrkur has been labelled as ‘Black metal’ and it kind of is, but not really. There are screams, blast beat drums and furiously riffing guitars, but there’s a lot more going on here. There is a feminine feel to it all that’s new to me. It’s not the old beauty and beast thing, with male and female vocals contrasting with each other to create an effect, instead it is pure femininity, with choir like vocals, screams and anger, but not the tear you apart anger that Black metal usually consists of. It’s self-contained, yet expansive. A lone female voice crying out to the mountains. You can feel an elemental, eternal longing in the music, but there is no despair. It feels strong, yet soft, powerful, confident, alone but not alone, all that you need is within, and that within is connected to what is outside.

The standout track is ‘Nattens Barn’ the song I’ve linked to at the top of the review. It starts with the female choir, then progresses through a labyrinth of soundscapes that represent the feel of the album very well as a whole. Listen to it, if you like it buy the album. I also want to mention Dybt/Skoven, a track that is a trip to somewhere strange, but so beautiful, mesmerising and elemental, as I mentioned above.

I’m not sure that I did the music credit here, but that’s why I was delaying the review. I can’t capture it in words; the music is beyond that. I’m a huge Black metal fan, but this is music that transcends that limited genre categorisation. This is a debut album, and there’s more to come. How fantastic is that? Something is beginning here, jump on board and let’s see where the ride takes us.

Rating: 10/10