Track List:
1. Født til å herske, Part I
2. Født til å herske, Part II
2. Født til å herske, Part II
After serving as bass player for
Norwegian black metal legends Emperor between 1991 and 1992, during which time he appeared on the Wrath of the Tyrant demo and self-titled
EP, Mortiis (a.k.a. Håvard Ellefsen) decided to up sticks and go it alone with
his own self-named solo project; donning the infamous troll mask and abandoning
his previous metal leanings to instead produce a style of ethereal ambient he
branded "dark dungeon music".
Født til å herske (translated
from Norwegian as "Born to Rule") marked Mortiis' first full-length
release; a sombre journey of dark, brooding soundscapes split over the course
of two tracks each approaching the thirty minute mark. While this may at first
seem like a recipe for over-simplicity and endless repetition as can often be
the case with many ambient works, what Mortiis manages to create is nothing
short of a masterpiece of medieval imagery and atmosphere as each half-hour
tracks winds its way onwards through fantastical lands of densely forested
valleys, fetid swamps, monolithic towers and foreboding castles through a
gradual building and development of various core thematic elements and sonic motifs.
The main stumbling block for many when first encountering Født til å herske is the sound of the instrumentation itself. It's important to remember that Mortiis was working with a very limited budget at this early stage of his career, and subsequently pretty much the entire album is composed with relatively cheap keyboards which can at times feel slightly cheesy upon first listen. That said, Født til å herske is executed a hell of a lot better than the infamous first keyboard-only Burzum album Dauði Baldrs which at times borders on the hilarious. Unlike Varg's ill-considered synth patches like that awful saxophone on the first track, Mortiis manages to utilise only sounds which actually complement the medieval atmosphere he's trying to create, and this certainly goes a long way to overcome the shortcomings of the equipment he had access to at the time.
The album's two tracks themselves really work together as one long piece of music, and I can only assume the main reason for splitting them was to make the album fit onto two sides of a vinyl. Musically the entire experience is made up of extensive use of drones underlying a variety of mainly horn and string-based melodies ranging from epic to sorrowful in tone, interspersed with some ghostly interludes and ambiance. While the album is purely instrumental for the most part, the second half of Født til å herske does feature some limited vocal contributions from Mortiis himself, although these are heavily processed and really used more as an additional texture to the music than to delivery any actual lyrics. Along with these actual recorded vocals, track two also makes use of some Gregorian-chant type synths to enhance the atmosphere.
Despite containing absolutely no metal-related content whatsoever, Født til å herske is one of those ambient works inextricably linked to the black metal pantheon; not merely because of Mortiis' Emperor connection, but more so that the music here manages to evoke many of the same images, atmospheres and feelings of the early Norwegian scene, albeit through entirely different means. In particular, albums such as the earlier works of Burzum, Darkthrone, Satyricon and Ulver, along with Emperor themselves all resonate with the same aura of long-forgotten eras and realms of fantasy. It, along with the other "Era I" Mortiis albums, sits as a perfect companion piece to the harsh, abrasive metal produced by his contemporaries, and indeed full ambient pieces with similar atmospheric qualities can be found within several black metal albums of the period.
Født til å herske is absolutely essential listening for anybody interested in black metal, or indeed darker ambient music in general. Once you overcome the limitations of the equipment used in the production of this record, it is undoubtedly an absolute highlight in Mortiis' back catalogue and a true classic of dark ambient.
The main stumbling block for many when first encountering Født til å herske is the sound of the instrumentation itself. It's important to remember that Mortiis was working with a very limited budget at this early stage of his career, and subsequently pretty much the entire album is composed with relatively cheap keyboards which can at times feel slightly cheesy upon first listen. That said, Født til å herske is executed a hell of a lot better than the infamous first keyboard-only Burzum album Dauði Baldrs which at times borders on the hilarious. Unlike Varg's ill-considered synth patches like that awful saxophone on the first track, Mortiis manages to utilise only sounds which actually complement the medieval atmosphere he's trying to create, and this certainly goes a long way to overcome the shortcomings of the equipment he had access to at the time.
The album's two tracks themselves really work together as one long piece of music, and I can only assume the main reason for splitting them was to make the album fit onto two sides of a vinyl. Musically the entire experience is made up of extensive use of drones underlying a variety of mainly horn and string-based melodies ranging from epic to sorrowful in tone, interspersed with some ghostly interludes and ambiance. While the album is purely instrumental for the most part, the second half of Født til å herske does feature some limited vocal contributions from Mortiis himself, although these are heavily processed and really used more as an additional texture to the music than to delivery any actual lyrics. Along with these actual recorded vocals, track two also makes use of some Gregorian-chant type synths to enhance the atmosphere.
Despite containing absolutely no metal-related content whatsoever, Født til å herske is one of those ambient works inextricably linked to the black metal pantheon; not merely because of Mortiis' Emperor connection, but more so that the music here manages to evoke many of the same images, atmospheres and feelings of the early Norwegian scene, albeit through entirely different means. In particular, albums such as the earlier works of Burzum, Darkthrone, Satyricon and Ulver, along with Emperor themselves all resonate with the same aura of long-forgotten eras and realms of fantasy. It, along with the other "Era I" Mortiis albums, sits as a perfect companion piece to the harsh, abrasive metal produced by his contemporaries, and indeed full ambient pieces with similar atmospheric qualities can be found within several black metal albums of the period.
Født til å herske is absolutely essential listening for anybody interested in black metal, or indeed darker ambient music in general. Once you overcome the limitations of the equipment used in the production of this record, it is undoubtedly an absolute highlight in Mortiis' back catalogue and a true classic of dark ambient.
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