Review Text
DOLD VORDE ENS NAVN have been born out of friendship. Although the band consists of veterans of Norway's black metal scene that have been or are still members of such important names as DODHEIMSGARD, ULVER, SATYRICON, VED BUENS ENDE, and STRID that has never been their point or an end in itself. Instead their focus lies entirely on creating the music that they love and want to play. The Norwegians' debut full-length, "Morkere" ("Darker") is a case in point. The perspective of this album has, in the true spirit of black metal, expanded into something that is bound to it's roots yet at the same time reaches beyond them. DOLD VORDE ENS NAVN started from the simplest of propositions: two old friends, Haavard Jorgensen and Kai S. 'Cerberus' Halvorsen, getting together over drinks and deciding to record a track together for fun. Both had deep histories in Norway's second wave of black metal that came to infamous fruition in the early 90s. Haavard had played in the death metal band, ECZEMA, that went on to become SATYRICON, before joining a then-nascent ULVER in 1993. Kai had been a sound engineer at the S.R.F. Studio in Oslo that hosted bands such as DIMMU BORGIR, AURA NOIR, VED BUENS ENDE, and DODHEIMSGARD, briefly joining the latter on drums for early rehearsals, before returning as bassist on their 1998 EP, "Satanic Art". Initially for the lyrics, the founding duo turned to Cerberus' old friend, former bandmate and colleague at S.R.F., DODHEIMSGARD frontman, Yusaf 'Vicotnik' Parvez, an artist whose continued presence in the black metal scene has proved transformational. Both the bands he fronted since 1994 and the band he joined the same year, VED BUENS ENDE, had morphed into volatile, avant-garde entities that wrote a strand of rogue code that still lies embedded in the movement's DNA. Joined by latest DODHEIMSGARD recruit, NIDINGR drummer Oyvind Myrvoll, DOLD VORDE ENS NAVN set about recording the debut EP, 2019's "Gjengangere I Hjertets Morke". It was in part a testimony to the scene that had defined their youth. This is also true for the debut full-length. Yet although the sound of "Morkere" is rooted in 90s black metal, it veers off new sonic terrain. The range of dynamics and textures throughout this album, the dramatic escalations and the discipline with which they hold to a beat; the utilising of mid-paced grooves made gripping by the conviction driving them on; and the shifts in tone proving as unforced and holistic as a weather front are not just the mark of a band in full control of their art but break new ground. There is no fake nostalgia to be had from DOLD VORDE ENS NAVN. "Morkere" is a contemporary Norwegian black metal album with a proud heritage that stands on it's own and is more than ready to take the test of time.
