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Second release from the North Italian label and first by mysterious Morkavind, mainman and thinker behind this one-man project, helped only by sessionists Necurat and Kaiser Walpurgis. Only 31 out of the 50 copies are left; that already makes the product a real collectors' item, and what's more the rather peculiar style of the debut, which uses English, German and Norwegian in the titles and lyrics of these 12 tracks.

The music ranges from mystical dark pieces with piercing screams such as "Mitt Fallende Tårn" to Black/Thrash ones with savage screams alternated with other declamatory vocals, some of which with a Viking edge are overdubbed in the background ("Fedreland").
"Silver Cursed Axe" is pure War metal, but it also includes a break sodden with suffering and despair, expressed by Doom/Black riffs which the low-fi recording gives more fascination to. Eccellent the use of a blast after an H-bomb burst. This ain't kamikaze metal, it's metal inciting to fight even as the enemy is plainly stronger or numerically superior so as not to be enslaved. The Grim Reaper doesn't scare anymore, death is seen as a natural evolution and just a deliverance.
The acoustic intermezzo of "Et Klar Overveielse Oyeblikk" gives a little respite in order to prepare us to the growing corrosion of "Purity Resides in Blood", while "Satan Summoning the Rebel Angels" stuns owing to its sulphureous tribal malignity. In theory the paroxistical violence in "Betrakt meg medd Fortidens Oyne" would make of it a quite involving song, yet unfortunately the mixing is wrong in several parts, and that's a shame.
"All har wært mistet" is a symphonic instrumental composition ruined by opinable whines, whereas "In the Age" blends brutal and acoustic passages; once again a very bad mixing invalidates the result.
Remarkable is "A Perverse Last Verse", shooting blasts on blasts from beginning to end, except few final seconds veined by a well-guessed melodic and whispered ending, followed by "Den Folgende Dagen en Heks' Bålet", a fairy-tale interlude devoid of vocals.
The real demise is constitued by a ghost track, seemingly born from a satanic malfunction in the synth, generating layers of deeply disturbing persisting noises.

Perhaps the style isstill a bit unripe and certain songs should contain less repetitive structures (central part of "Fedreland"), but most of the songs turns out to be suggestive and original, with the exception of the ends of almost all tracks, too similar to one another as they all fade out the same way.
With more concentration on the songwriting and mixing, the new material could sound extremely interesting, therefore I recommend to take a good listen to a couple of tracks of this debut instead of buying the pig in a poke.

MARKUS GANZHERRLICH - 20th July 2005

	'Swastika' (Nocturnal Brights productions CDr) MARK: 75/100



	Second release from the North Italian label and first by mysterious Morkavind, mainman and thinker behind this one-man project, helped only by sessionists Necurat and Kaiser Walpurgis. Only 31 out of the 50 copies are left; that already makes the product a real collectors' item, and what's more the rather peculiar style of the debut, which uses English, German and Norwegian in the titles and lyrics of these 12 tracks. The music ranges from mystical dark pieces with piercing screams such as "Mitt Fallende Tårn" to Black/Thrash ones with savage screams alternated with other declamatory vocals, some of which with a Viking edge are overdubbed in the background ("Fedreland"). "Silver Cursed Axe" is pure War metal, but it also includes a break sodden with suffering and despair, expressed by Doom/Black riffs which the low-fi recording gives more fascination to. Eccellent the use of a blast after an H-bomb burst. This ain't kamikaze metal, it's metal inciting to fight even as the enemy is plainly stronger or numerically superior so as not to be enslaved. The Grim Reaper doesn't scare anymore, death is seen as a natural evolution and just a deliverance. The acoustic intermezzo of "Et Klar Overveielse Oyeblikk" gives a little respite in order to prepare us to the growing corrosion of "Purity Resides in Blood", while "Satan Summoning the Rebel Angels" stuns owing to its sulphureous tribal malignity. In theory the paroxistical violence in "Betrakt meg medd Fortidens Oyne" would make of it a quite involving song, yet unfortunately the mixing is wrong in several parts, and that's a shame. "All har wært mistet" is a symphonic instrumental composition ruined by opinable whines, whereas "In the Age" blends brutal and acoustic passages; once again a very bad mixing invalidates the result. Remarkable is "A Perverse Last Verse", shooting blasts on blasts from beginning to end, except few final seconds veined by a well-guessed melodic and whispered ending, followed by "Den Folgende Dagen en Heks' Bålet", a fairy-tale interlude devoid of vocals. The real demise is constitued by a ghost track, seemingly born from a satanic malfunction in the synth, generating layers of deeply disturbing persisting noises. Perhaps the style isstill a bit unripe and certain songs should contain less repetitive structures (central part of "Fedreland"), but most of the songs turns out to be suggestive and original, with the exception of the ends of almost all tracks, too similar to one another as they all fade out the same way. With more concentration on the songwriting and mixing, the new material could sound extremely interesting, therefore I recommend to take a good listen to a couple of tracks of this debut instead of buying the pig in a poke. MARKUS GANZHERRLICH - 20th July 2005
	Current line-up: Morkavind - all instruments and vocals Contacts: E-mail: contact@nbproduction.net Official site: http://www.nbproduction.net/ Demo-/Disco-graphy: -Swastika (CDr - 2003) -Wondering about the Silence of the Forest (demotape - 2003) -Runa (CD - 2003) -Black Metal Egemony (CD - 2004)