Mortiis : "Ghosts of Europa"

 Havard has been taking notes from Ulver in regards to the more synth wave direction he is heading in. Not what you expect from someone dressed up like a goblin. Its not like anyone is still bitter about the fact he is no longer making black metal as that ship sailed decades ago. The transition to this makes sense even with the vocoder autotuning the vocals. It was not that long ago he was making darkwave, and doing a pretty decent job of it, I felt like the goth scene was a good fit for him. So the electronic thing is not the problem , what is a marginal issue is it's not that dark, though thick on the atmosphere.

Maybe he wants to start making soundtracks for A24 movies , as that is the vibe we are getting from "Return to the Old Fields" The song takes more form in the final minutes but drifts more often than not. "The Faith That Fades Away"  has a sparse ritualistic beat , and the layers of vocals are pretty cool, it does finds things moving in a somewhat more brooding direction which I approve of but could use more of a bass line to give it a backbone. If it was not for the vocal arrangements it would fall on the side of being more focused on a sound than songwriting. 

There is more of a solid groove to "Violent Silence". The vocals are more androgynous than what you expect from this project, making me think of the Pet Shop Boys. I like the future pop leanings that flow through the song. "Transcending Morpheus" is atmospheric in almost a more Dead Can Dance direction. There is a little dynamic ebb and flow but not enough to hook you in .Not even the robotic vocals can make it more potent. Four and a half minutes in there is more of a groove, but it can't gain momentum by then    

It's odd that a song called "Tundra Heart of Hell" would sound like old Depeche Mode.  There is more of a 90s new age feel to "Tribes of Dystopia" but the vocals anchors it. The last song works well enough , it's a little darker vocally. He puts more guts into his delivery to create more dynamics. I will give this album a 9, once I warmed up to and got use to the change it grew on me. It comes out June 26th thanks to Prophecy Productions. 

pst211