Fasornas Tid by Mork Gryning is fucking relentless.
It’s what I imagine a war between Lucifer’s army and God’s angels would’ve sounded like, with the heat of battle raging and the blood of Immortal’s flowing in rivers, as the darkened skies rained fire and brimstone upon those foolish children below. Because Fasornas Tid feels biblical in scope.
It is so fucking huge, so fucking layered, that there isn’t enough explosive material in the world that could penetrate past its crust, meaning that even on repeated listening you can only scratch at its surface, like a man buried alive, trying to claw your way out. There is a reason for this and that is due to the way that Mork Gryning approach their veraion of Melodic Black Metal.
Normally, most Melodic Black Metal bands will focus on the melody side of what they do and, I don’t want to say neglect, use the Black Metal element of their music as more of a suggestion on how they should drive their work forward. There is nothing wrong with this, of course. There have been more than enough brilliant Melodic Black Metal bands who have followed this formula and released classic albums, but Mork Gryning choose to not do this.
They consider each of these parts as equally important. They spend just as much time on the pounding, relentless Black Metal side of their art as they do on crafting pieces of music that are as beautiful and desolate as the end of the world will one day look. This is the sound of the fucking apocalypse, my friends, and it is glorious.
A large reason behind why Fasornas Tid is such a great record is the work of Draaka Kimera, Goth Gorgon, S-L, and Aeon, who provide the meat of the record, through guitar, bass, keyboard, and vocal work that spans genres and takes in everything from folk and classical music to unadulterated black metal of the highest order, but for me – and I rarely, if ever, single a member of a band out – the MVP of Fasornas Tid and Mork Gryning is their drummer, C-G.
This motherfucker is on another level.
He’s like being caught under the constant artillery fire of WWI when you’re buried deep in the trenches while rats try to eat your leg. He’s like jumping the wire into No Man’s Land while the enemy opens up with a never ending supply of machine gun fire. He’s like being caught in the London blitz while the Luftwaffe screams overhead. He is constant. He is beyond amazing and I have a sneaking feeling he might be eternal.
Fasornas Tid by Mork Gryning should be seen as a standard bearer for Melodic Black Metal and goes to show that you don’t need to sacrifice either side of that coin to make a near perfect record.
Head on over to the Mork Gryning Bandcamp page and get Fasornas Tid for yourself.
