Black metal solo acts are a dime a dozen but how often is a FEMALE solo black metal project out on the scene? MYRKUR burst onto the battlefield with blazing glory with her debut self-titled EP. Hailing from the northern darkness of Denmark, Myrkur makes her presence known through this debut EP on Relapse Records. Upon listening, you can hear the influence of second wave black metal like Ulver and Darkthrone but Myrkur brings in her own mix of elegance and ethereal sound. The name Myrkur translate from Icelandic to mean “Darkness” and as she has stated, darkness has no boundaries or limits like her sound. Her music is not stricken to a straight forward black metal sound but does strongly draw influences from it.
The whole EP does bring a strong presence but what stands out most is the track “Nattens Barn” which begins with a female choir before transitioning into a familiar black metal sound with pounding blast beats and overdriven guitars which bring that feeling of listening to a true cult release on tape. The murky production and distorted vocals add to the atmosphere when most would say in other genres, it takes away from the sound. The combination of tremolo picking, blasting drums and resonating vocals are perfectly blended and right up there with bands like Taake and Burzum.
There is not a single thing wrong with this debut release by this female pioneer of true frostbitten black metal and with this release, it will hopefully inspire not only more females to take this leap into more extreme metal genres but inspire more musicians who may want to start a project or already have one to work hard at it because from my view, this release is one of the best black metal releases on my list, up there with Taake, Krieg and Hades Almighty.
MY VOTE:
5.0/5.0
