Review: Myrkur

Myrkur is a folk based black metal act from a single woman (mostly) from New York City, but you’d swear she was from the actual Scandinavian lands from how heavily Nordic and authentic this sounds. Myrkur is a bi-polar experience of beauty/majesty and then darkness/evil. Myrkur also brings out the best of both worlds when it comes to folk based experimental ambient that is very true to the Scandinavian area as we as classic and modern black metal. She handles most of the music and can sing like Chelsea Wolfe then belt out throat shattering screams on par with Gorgoroth & Mayhem. The debut album M is powerful and pretty fucking neat.

The thing about M though is that it’s constantly going back and forth between beauty and the beast. So much so that it becomes a nuisance in how the album flows. So many times does the vocals switch as much as the music that it’s not fully grasping, it’s always a roller coaster of super violent or epic folk. It’s not that the songs bounce back and forth, it’s also how the direction changes within the songs itself. There are only a few tracks that really stand out and sound consistently good. Which is sad because there is a ton of talent behind this release.

Focusing on the black metal: it’s damn good. Orchestral moments rise up as well as post-rock influences that add to the aggressive nature of the music. Her black metal vocals are true and aggressive as hell. As for the clean folk style of Myrkur: the music is indeed authentic and filled with amazing clean vocals that are layered with rich instrumentation and composition. She is like a one person choir.

Production wise, it sounds very similar to Myrkur’s EP from last year and that is a good thing. There is a very good ambiance here, making it sound like stellar atmospheric black metal here at times. Instruments are clear, well composed and thought out carefully. Some songs are forgettable on M but most of these are very well written and performed. Some of my favorite tracks include “Onde Born”, “Mordet” and lastly “Dybt i Skogen”. M is interesting and mysterious and I can see this gaining momentum amongst the black metal fan base. It may not top any charts but this is deserving of your time. Myrkur is unique, powerful and enjoyable.

7.5 out of 10