Band:	Myrkur
Album:	Mareridt
Style:	Folk, Black metal
Release date:	September 15, 2017
A review by:	ScreamingSteelUS

01. Mareridt
02. Måneblôt
03. The Serpent
04. Crown
05. Elleskudt
06. De Tre Piker
07. Funeral [feat: Chelsea Wolfe]
08. Ulvinde
09. Gladiatrix
10. Kætteren
11. Børnehjem
12. Death Οf Days [bonus]
13. Kvindelil [bonus] [feat: Chelsea Wolfe]
14. Løven [bonus]
15. Himlen Blev Sort [bonus]
16. Två Konungabarn [bonus]

Myrkur hasn't stopped making waves in the metal scene since unveiling her self-titled EP in 2014, and Mareridt, the project's second full-length, suggests that those waves are only going to get bigger and bigger with the passage of time.

Myrkur explores further the blend of dramatic, reverberant vocal music and atmosphere-driven black metal that we previously heard on M, now a stronger and more established artist. Mareridt focuses less on the black metal overall; the use of harsh vocals and blastbeats has greatly diminished in favor of less metal elements, particularly folk. Many critics, and I'd probably count myself among them, found the pure black metal passages among the weakest moments of M, so hearing Myrkur continue to expand her sonic palette here is a major plus. The instruments in play and the genres they're applied to have both multiplied. The somber, vespertine mysticism whispering through the halls of this album, best exemplified on tracks like "Crown" and "Elleskudt," has not only a distinctly Nordic flavor that echoes very root-conscious artists like Wardruna, but gothic elegance and an overwhelming impression of unearthly age.

Mareridt could be called a black metal album, yes, but that is often a result of the atmosphere more than the actual musical content. More often than straight black metal, the album calls on folk, ambient, and choral music, and beyond that, no two songs seem to share a soul, no two quite belonging to the same genre. The album constantly evolves, constantly alters its flow, introducing new techniques and ideas while preserving the same rich and rustically frightening atmosphere. "Funeral," a collaboration with Chelsea Wolfe, is a heady dirge recognizable as an appropriate Wolfe feature, while its successor, "Ulvinde," is about the most traditional black metal piece on the album - and even then, layers of astral vocal harmonies make the tune as much oneiric odyssey as raw evil.

This album strikes me as the aural equivalent of the film The Witch. There's an enforced greyness, a haunting minimalism, that, rather than restricting the work from producing new and interesting methods of mood-making, proves how versatile and colorful a few simple tricks can be when arranged properly. There's a sense of solitude that is almost calming but still pricks up the hairs on the back of your neck; Myrkur's chilling voice swings back and forth from style to style, a perfect fit for all the sounds this album encompasses.

I would call Mareridt, without reservation, the strongest entry in Myrkur's discography thus far. M is itself a very strong atmospheric black metal album, but the maturation and improvement that Myrkur has undergone between these two releases is incredible. Mareridt's sound is so much broader and more interesting, the songwriting so much stronger that Myrkur is officially more than a competent atmoblack project with interesting vocal techniques; this is now a changed band with its own personality that can hold its own against all comers.