Many moons ago I heard John Peel play a track from Anathema’s album Serenades, which was my first foray into a more extreme form of metal. It would be many years before I’d be strangely drawn to black metal with the emergence of Deafheaven’s crossover Sunbather album. While some purists may be dismissive of such fusions of genres, I can only stomach black metal if it has something tangible and melodic for me to latch onto. So here I am listening to Danish black metal/folk band Myrkur for the first time, despite Spine being their fourth album. Inspired by the birth of her child multi-instrumentalist Amalie Bruun finds herself trying to make sense of the emotions that being a mother brings.
Recorded in the same studio that hosts Sigur Rós, Sundlaugin, the album has been produced by Randall Dunn (Sunn (((O))), Wolves In The Throne Room, Anna Von Hauswolff) and his masterful way for making music sound massive brings out the best in Myrkur. Their powerful fusion of black metal and folk is taken to a new level with this stunning album.
The album begins with ‘Balfaerd’ which to these Irish ears has a Celtic tone, as droning violins and maybe some form of pipes create a haunting intro piece. The atmospherics continue with the tension building ‘Like Humans’, which erupts into a glorious chorus that reminds me of Irish folk legends Clannad, only with a booming doom metal backdrop. Amalie’s voice soars like a bird in flight weaving in and out of the instrumentation. There’s a noticeable presence of more keyboards throughout the album and the flourishes of atmospheric synths bring a cinematic feel to the epic sounds.
In the astonishing ‘Mothlike’, synths flicker over a taut electro beat, these are new textures for Myrkur and it works brilliantly, as guitars shimmer beneath waves of keyboards. As the song winds along, the first black metal elements drop in. It reminds me of the last Deafheaven album, mostly clean vocals, then those guttural shrieks appear taking you by surprise and bringing a new dimension to the song. ‘My Blood Is Gold’ is a stunning song built on a deep piano/keyboard base with ghostly strings. Amalie’s vocals are truly astounding as she’s layered up, while soaring through a glorious melody. This song is far removed from some of Myrkur’s more abrasive black metal tracks. When the final moments of the song reach their crescendo it’s simply breath-taking.
If you didn’t know it, you’d think Myrkur were Irish, rather than Danish, the atmospherics and melodies are laden with traditional Irish folk. Perhaps there are unknown to me similarities between the two genres. ‘Spine’ combines beautiful melodies with crashing waves of black metal and experimental sounds. It’s a superb fusion of modern sounds with ancient music and utterly beguiling.
A real highlight of the album is the centre piece song ‘Valkyriernes Sang’ which rips into a fierce start with blast beats and snarling guitars before slamming into a powerful and pounding groove. Amalie spins out the most incredible melodies in her native tongue. This is a perfect combination of seismic metal and folk with hints of pop music, such is the hook of that melody. Myrkur make it sound so effortless and the black metal section is once again a tumultuous climax. For a final show of strength, Amalie really pushes her voice to the limit with a powerful and lengthy wail.
Crashing cymbals and a solid chugging groove herald the start of ‘Blazing Sky’ which drops in a massive earworm of a chorus. It kind of reminds me of Heart, if they’d upped their metal edge a little. ‘Devil in the Detail’ blends pop, folk and metal in ways I’ve never heard before. It’s actually something I could imagine prime Madonna aiming for. There’s a smattering of electronic textures and tones with delicate picked strings as the guitars and blast beats are held back until the song’s conclusion. The devil is indeed in the detail of all of the various elements of this track. Yet it still works. The final track ‘Menneskebarn’ is a beautiful ballad with a sweet melody over acoustic guitar and a warm cello hum. For a newbie to Myrkur’s music, I find this totally acceptable, not sure where this fits into a more knowledgeable fan’s appreciation. But then their last album was entirely folk with not a metal tone on it.
With Spine Myrkur have absolutely hit the spot in terms of accumulating all of the sounds from their back catalogue. The introduction of more keyboards is a masterstroke as it pushes their sound into a more polished and accessible place. My musical leanings are definitely more metal than folk, but I found appeal in the brilliant Lankum album earlier this year. I think this has widened my range in terms of musical appreciation. I found some of the previous albums a little disjointed and almost as if there was a clumsy welding of folk to metal that didn’t always work. But here, the mix is extremely gratifying, and every song works so well dynamically. I’ve also found the more I listen to this album the more I really appreciate it. Spine somehow manages to confound, by merging two opposing musical genres into one very appealing body of work. Incredible.
