Nortt
Mournful Monuments 1998-2002

Mornful Monuments 1998-2002 is a collection that brings together the best of the material from the early works of the mysterious and elusive Danish entity Nortt, created back in 1995 when the musician was still a member of a local Death/Black Metal band, Apollyon.

Nortt is currently one of the most interesting projects in the extreme field, for the consistently high quality of his works, and especially for the contribution he has made in shaping such a difficult and risky subgenre as Black-Doom. Nortt defines his style as "Pure Depressive Black Funeral Doom Metal" (a bit cumbersome…), and the music truly reflects this definition, blending the black soul (minimalism, repetitiveness, and melody) with that of Doom (granite riffs, slowness, suffocating atmosphere). If considered unilaterally, Nortt's proposal would verge on mediocrity from every angle: too flat for a Doom record (even Funeral Doom), too slow for Black. The strong cohesion of the two natures (already attempted by Unearthly Trance, Dolorian, Forgotten Tomb…) sees in these early songs a formulation already mature and original (although perhaps to the detriment of the music).

The collection opens with Graven, from 1999, the first demo to obtain distribution on a European scale. The album is presented in full, without being remastered or retouched in the mixing: 6 tracks that testify to an extremely high level for a project still in its break-in phase, with peaks of remarkable depth. "Sorgesalmen" is, in my opinion, the pinnacle of this first part of his career: the riffing is very slow, accompanied by the slow progress of the drums and a cavernous growl, like smoke in the folds of the notes; to this sulphurous soul are added unexpected melodic cues, which return a touch of humanity to the atmosphere that can alleviate the heaviness of the music. Guitar arpeggios, keyboards, and piano enrich the songs, not just as accompaniment, but significantly impacting the structure of the tracks themselves. The album (the duration and production quality would suggest more of an EP than a demo) slips away relatively smoothly, alternating some notable tracks with others that are frankly more innocuous.

It continues with the faithful reproduction of the following work, the EP Hedengang, from 2002. The two tracks present already markedly manifest that change which will be best perceived in the grooves of the first LP Gudsforladt (to be released in 2003); the structure of the tracks remains unchanged, but the power is entirely new, partly highlighted by the further improved production, partly by the more abrasive guitar sounds, tied to a riffing that is now personal, equally distant from both Black and Doom. Additionally, noises, off-stage voices, and wails make increasingly persistent appearances, which will become a hallmark of the last Ligfaerd, though not yet perfectly integrated with the music here.

The collection closes with two noteworthy unreleased tracks: the first is a gem dating back to the pre-Graven period, "Evig Hvile", a track that owes much to the Burzumian style, revisited and exaggerated in slowness; finally, "Dystert Sind Outro", a brief closure that will later be used for the Split with Xasthur in 2004.

I find that Mornful Monuments is an excellent way to make the best of what is good in the first part of Nortt's production; the quality may not often reach the standards to deserve such a high rating, but this lack is compensated by the rarity of the material and the historical value these songs bear.

To be continued…