Mortem – Mørketid
Release Date: 3rd July 2026
Label: Peaceville
Bandcamp
Genre: Black Metal, Atmospheric Black Metal, Melodic Black Metal, Symphonic Black Metal.
FFO: Old Man’s Child, Dimmu Borgir, Mayhem, Emperor, Windir.
Review By: Rick Farley
“Mortem was originally known as the Norwegian cult band which preceded Arcturus. Formed by Marius Vold and Steinar Sverd Johnsen in 1989, Mortem was one of the first black metal bands to crawl out of the woodwork in Norway, releasing the highly coveted and brutal Slow Death demo, With Euronymous and Dead of Mayhem acting as producer and cover artist respectively (whilst also featuring Hellhammer on session drums).”
The band would split shortly after their demo was released in 1989. While some of the members would go on to form and be part of acclaimed black metal legends Arcturus and Thorns, it wasn’t until 2019 that Mortem was rebirthed in darkened brutality with their debut album Ravnsvart. A wicked callback to the original incarnation showing its traditional gnarled teeth while progressing forward in their black metal fury. In 2022 the band followed up their debut album with a brutal release of reworked and re-recorded tracks from the Slow Death demo, which also included the original recordings. This release offered completely sickening versions of the same songs from both the time periods.
Now with the release of Mørketid, the bands second full length album unleashed by Peaceville, the band is in top form once again with their savage take on atmospheric, hypnotic sounding black metal with a gnarly taste for death metal structures. There’s a ferocious crunch to the dark riffs and guitars that feel deliberately punishing. Wintery, spidery, atmospheric melodies and searing tremolo picked hellfire all meld together with harsh nastiness of their crunchy, thrashy approach. Synth passages and symphonics dance around maliciously in the background enhancing the dark soundscape but not overtaking it. It’s an element that adds an evil, icy carnival sound to the record while you’re being utterly smashed with blast beats and demonic vocals. The illuminated textures here feel thick and layered but still easily digested and heard. The percussive force of drummer Hellhammer with the shrieky growls of Marius Vold, the world building eerie synths from Sverd combined with the stormy nastiness of ferocity from guitarist Astennu and dynamic low end from bassist Seidmann as they hellishly blaze their way through the soundscapes is a recipe for black metal mastery. Darkly black-hearted, epic in scope, deeply memorable and enriched by modern production, Mørketid is easily a triumphant return from a band that was literally there during black metals origins.
Longtime black metal fans will not find anything new here really but the name quality of the band’s musicians, the energetic songwriting and execution of the record will surely please almost everyone who’s not afraid of shimmering, modern production in black metal. This above all else, is an engaging, nasty, fun black metal record for nearly anyone to sink their teeth into.
(4 / 5)
