Myrkur – Myrkur

Release date: 16-09-2014
Label: Relapse Records

By Laetitia
If the name Myrkur has not crossed your path recently, you might not have been paying attention. This Danish one-woman black metal project will release her debut on the sixteenth of September via Relapse.

Both Myrkur’s so far unknown identity and her music have stirred something in the metal scene. If you want to read about the first, check out this interview. If you want to read about her music, which some praise and others dismiss to ‘a mix between Enya and black metal’, this is the right place.

The opening track, Ravnens Banner, instantly reveals the so-called feminine touch of this record: ethereal chants that can be heard throughout the album. You instantly arrive at the crux of Myrkur: does the dark versus light dichotomy in the songs appeal to you, or will it put you off? Either way, don’t be misguided by the choral intro, within a minute raw, cutting-edge tremolo riff will guide you to the darker shades of the music.

Songs such as Må Du Brænde i Helvede and Nattens Barn tap deeper into Myrkur’s liking for black metal. These songs have a quite straightforward, but nevertheless a fine black metal sound, that is primarily composed of a bone-chilling, lancinating guitar sound. That Myrkur is partially inspired by folk is demonstrated by the upbeat rhythms in Dybt i Skoven, the medieval sounding interlude Frosne Vind and Latvian Fegurð, of which the intro is based upon an old Swedish children’s folk song.

All in all, this debut is a fine black metal record that certainly has put Myrkur on the map. Even if you may not like the ambient, arguably feminine sound it cannot be denied that she brought something new to the table. You may call it ‘a mix between Enya and black metal,’ but I’d say it rather emphasizes the aesthetics of black metal.

Rating: 8/10
Track list:
1. Ravnens Banner
2. Frosne Vind
3. Må Du Brænde i Helvede
4. Latvian Fegurð
5. Dybt i Skoven
6. Nattens Barn
7. Ulvesangen

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