From the very first second I heard Myrkur, which was when her self-titled debut EP was released, I immediately loved it. This is some really beautiful, intense music. After this self-titled EP, her debut full-length M was released in 2015, followed by Mausoleum, a very nice live album recorded in the Emanuel Vigeland Mausoleum in Oslo, Norway. Now it’s time for Myrkur’s next full-length album, titled Mareridt, being released through Relapse Records on September 15th.
Mareridt, Danish for nightmare, revolves around the nightmares of Amalie Bruun, the mastermind of Myrkur. Instead of shoving them away, she started listening to these nightmares, to make songs of them.
Right from the start of Mareridt, in the title-track, you can hear that Amalie learned kulning, a Swedish traditional cow herding call, which sounds really beautiful. Mareridt, besides the standard instrumentation, also contains some traditional instruments. For example, violin, mandola and nyckelharpa (an ancient Swedish key harp). Another nice, extra addition to this release is that, not only there are the usual drums, but also other forms of percussion.
Amalie’s beautiful, clean vocals really shine through on Mareridt, in Danish as well as in English. For example, when you listen to the fourth track Crown which is less heavy, there are almost orchestral vocals over an epic, haunting melody and there’s even one sentence in French in it.
Of course, Myrkur’s heavier tracks are also present on Mareridt, for example Måneblôt and Elleskudt. In these tracks, it can be heard that Amalie, besides her beautiful clean singing and the recently learned kulning, can also still bring a very intense scream. The end of Elleskudt, the fifth track of Mareridt, let’s us clearly hear a nightmarish vibe, of which you almost get chills.
Funeral gives us a collaboration between Myrkur and Chelsea Wolfe, which is absolutely a very nice combination! She also appears on the bonus track Kvindelil.
Mareridt ends with Børnehjem, which is more of a spoken word outro, but not just a normal spoken word outro. Børnehjem has a very haunting vibe with spoken words from a demon-like voice. A perfect ending for a perfect album.
Myrkur releases a real masterpiece with Mareridt. I was curious whether or not Mareridt could surpass all earlier released beautiful music of Myrkur, but it sure did. Very recommended!
You can also check part 2 of Promoting Bands in which we mentioned Myrkur here, and our live review of Myrkur and Deafheaven here.
Myrkur Official Website
Myrkur Facebook
Hi!
I’m Tim van Velthuysen and I started DutchMetalManiac back in 2014. I’m 29 years old and I live in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Of course, I like metal, but I can also appreciate other musical styles.
In addition to DutchMetalManiac I also have a personal website on which I’ll post various things that won’t fit on DutchMetalManiac, but might be interesting for you as well. It’s in Dutch though.
