Review Summary: Lana Del Wraith
The only people who care about the fact Myrkur continues manipulating black metal’s origins are the ones that no one is listening to anymore. Between the release of her debut album
“M” and successor
“Mareridt”, these puritans were shouting so loudly that It was impossible to ignore what the Danish multi-instrumentalist and songwriter was doing. Those that found her folky spells cast across black metal’s bleak and icy landscape worth their attention were richly rewarded with her ethereal singing and beautiful hooks, performed on ancient folk instruments, which frolicked around distorted guitars and thunderous drums. Not since Behemoth’s magnum opus
“The Satanist” had extreme metal presented a vision so ready to stride into metal’s wider consciousness.
Following the widespread success of
“Mareridt”, Myrkur now releases an EP which annoyingly does not start with the letter M, as the remainder of Myrkur’s discography does. Nevertheless, Amalie Brunn loses none of her alluring atmosphere across her latest release. Commencing in a seemingly light-hearted manner, the respiring violins in the title track take on a daunting tone when her dark vocals sinisterly detail treachery, banishment the cleansing of spirit while sudden torrents of string arrangements and soaring cries compose the chorus. “Bonden og Kragen” is an acoustic reinterpretation of a Danish folk song. Tenderly sung in its native tongue, the tale details how a peasant shoots a crow in the woods. After claiming the kill as his, the Church demands possession of the carrion, however, the peasant refuses and lists an exhaustive number of ways he will use his prize as an act of rebellion. Although the lyrics are incompressible unless you speak the language, Myrkur’s musical voice repeats certain phrases which are clearly relating to the peasant’s list as her musical tone continuously rises and falls atop the simplistic guitars.
Whilst
“Juniper” is much like any other EP ever released- either an extension of an album or simply a collection of additional songs- it does hint at what the possible product of Myrkur’s anticipated third full length will sound like. Undoubtedly, Myrkur is not likely to sacrifice the sinister edge that makes her music sound so raw, but, expect a more centralised focus on clean vocals, the crucial aspect that makes her music so compelling. Myrkur strikes a balance between modernity and antiquity with such a level of professionalism and a profound sense of beauty in ways that only a few bands are capable of imitating.
