"Mother North - How can they sleep while their beds are burning?
Mother North - Your fields are bleeding
Memories... The invisible wounds
Pictures that enshrine your throne (gone??)
A future benighted still they are blind
Pigeonhearted beings of flesh and blood
Keeps closing their eyes for the dangers that threat... ourselves and our nature
And that is why
They all enrage me
Sometimes in the dead of the night I mesmerize my soul
Sughts and visions prophecies and horror
They all come to me
Mother North - United we stand (together we walk)
Phantom North - I'll be there when you hunt them down
Satyr"
Part of Nemesis Divina, "Mother North" was released in a crucial year for Norwegian music: 1996. If the murder of Euronymous on August 8, 1993, ended the local black scene (eliminating Mayhem, halting Emperor's activities, limiting Burzum), it is true that for a few years, great albums continued to be produced. Nemesis Divina represents one of the genre's compositional peaks as well as one of the three or four most significant Norwegian albums: folk breaks, icy and intricate riffs, high speed, and tempo changes make it one of the rare examples of "Techno-Black".
"Mother North!" is the center of the album, its synthesis: an anthem on par with "Inno a Satana" (Emperor) and "Freezing Moon" (Mayhem), yet it is a more cerebral and complex track: it starts with a tight but melodic riff, almost Swedish, then settles into a mid-tempo that acts as a backdrop to Satyr's vocals; after a frenzy and a "C'mon" from the singer, the most moving part comes, slow with keyboards accompanying the guitars, a sense of melody yet to be matched today; the track is entirely played between fast rhythms and slower, more melodic ones. The keyboards play a fundamental role, giving the track an ethereal and dreamy aura, which will become melancholic and sad in light of the lyrics.
A sense of precariousness permeates the track, a convinced but distrustful glorification of one's land, emotional without unnecessarily reviving nationalist claims. There's no room for -isms in the latest great Satyricon (Nationalism, Fanaticism, Racism, Satanism...), only sentiment.
A video clip is also shot (today on video.google.it), part play, part serious work: anyone surprised by the provocative lady in KING's new video will have to reconsider in light of this naive gem that blends black aesthetics, goliardery, and sex appeal: going against Euronymous' diktats (who didn't like women much... wink...) Satyricon have a very blonde and nude girl play the part of Mother North, with some unmissable scenes between clips: Frost eating fire and spitting it on an inverted wooden cross, setting it aflame, Satyr taking the opportunity to touch and lick the nude girl, Kveldulv (Nocturno Culto) feeling ashamed like a thief, so withdrawn and gloomy!!! There's enough not to take them seriously, and they know it, laughing under their breath...
We were talking about 1996. A year after this last glorious year for traditional black, there will be a passing of the torch between the old way of understanding black metal, the old-school one, and the new one from Emperor's "Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk" and Arcturus' "La Masquerade Infernale"...
This is the second of three writings (after the one on Mayhem's Rehearsal) dedicated to the relationship between black metal and imagery, between the seriousness of the musical proposal and the humanity of the artists.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Mother North (00:00)
Mother North, How can they sleep while their beds are Burning?
Mother North, Your fields are bleeding
Memories... The invisible wounds
Pictures that enshrine your throne, Gone
A Future benighted still they are blind
Pigeonhearted beings of flesh and blood
Keeps closing their eyes for the dangers that Threat...Ourselves and our nature
And that is why
They all enrage me
Sometimes in the dead of the night I mesmerize my soul
Sights and visions prophecies and horror
They all come in one
Mother North, United we stand (Together we walk)
Phantom North, I'll be there when you hunt them down
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