Mork - Dypet

Sinking into unknown depths.

(Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on January 25th 2024.)  

There are times where you find an artist whom you want to see get better. Despite them starting off rather disappointingly, there is palpable potential within them, and you just can’t help but root for them and hope they end up realising it. That artist for me is Mork. Thomas Eriksen’s one man black metal project didn’t exactly convince me with its first couple of releases, but the signs of improvement were there, culminating in the engrossing Katedralen, which saw him shed the more plodding and unengaging aspects of his early work and actually write some riffs worth giving a damn about. It’s been a minute since then, and now we have his sixth full-length in our hands, Dypet, an album that I was very much looking forward to. Truthfully though, even so long after it has come out, I can’t quite tell how I feel about it.

Dypet, like its predecessors, is unabashedly worshipping at the second wave of black metal. There’s frigid tremolo picked passages, blast beats, and raspy screams aplenty to be found, and that’s alright. Lord knows I’ve a soft spot for that sound and Mork is one of the few modern bands that I find do it justice. That being said, it’s not a full cover of Transilvanian Hunger, and Thomas manages to sprinkle in details that help make it more than the sum of its parts. It’s evident that he has expanded his arsenal in terms of songwriting, and having a firmer grasp on dynamics, as evidenced on the rising tension found throughout the introductory track, “Indre Demoner”. The song is quite the slow burn, starting off with a long-winded acoustic segment, after which it flows through many different passages, all increasing in tempo and intensity, culminating in a double bass-driven segment adorned by some trilling basslines at the end. It’s a tune that shows great improvement, and its placement at the beginning is very much a sign of what’s to come.

There’s generally a handful of new additions that help some of the tunes here stand out, breaking up what would otherwise be a very straightforward, if not slightly stale, project. The aforementioned basslines are a particular standout, as evidenced on “Et kall fra dypet” and “Tilbake til opprinnelsen”, where they add some spunk and detail to the pre-existing melodies. Even the vocals manage to have some variety to them this time around by the addition of some cleaner vocals on songs like “Svik”, as well as Hjelvik’s guest appearance on “Høye murer”, providing a more feral foil to Thomas’ rasp. It’s small additions like these that allow Dypet to stand as an independent work, rather than a companion to Katedralen.

Nevertheless, the aforementioned second wave worship could prove to be a dealbreaker for some, and it’s more pronounced than it has ever been in Mork’s discography. Me mentioning Transilvanian Hunger by name wasn’t an accident, seeing as the album not only takes its forlorn and sorrowful tone from it, but also seems to draw more inspiration than usual from it, as seen on the desperate introduction of “Tillbake til opprinnelsen”. Admittedly, pointing out that the music here sounds like what is arguably THE black metal blueprint and complaining about it is the equivalent of going for a swim and being upset that I’m wet, but it’s something that is worth acknowledging for those unacquainted with Mork’s body of work. There are a few attempts at breaking out of the mold, such as the latent thrashiness of “Avskum”, and the rocking drumming of “Forført av kulden”, but the former is a one-off and the latter is a reminder of the band’s weaker aspects.

On the whole, Dypet tries to go places, with its adherence to tradition being both a boon and a bane. There are moments where the music wants to be more than traditional black metal, but they are few and far in between. For all the improvements in songwriting that Mork has showcased, there are also ideas that require looking forward into the future in order to be fully realised, rather than the past, and perhaps it’s high time that started to be the case.

Highlights: Indre Demoner, Et kall fra dypet, Avskum

Rating: 75%