Artist: Mortiis
Title: Ghosts Of Europa
Type: Album
Label: Prophecy Productions
Havard Ellefsen. Mortiis. From black metal through being one of, and probably the most famous, founding fathers of dungeon synth to his electronic/industrial music. His relationship with DS has been up and down as you would expect from any musician possed of curiosity and a need to explore but these days he seems thankfull at ease with all the music he has passed through. And the most wonderful thing is he very much found his people.
I have most, but not all, of his studio albums having a missed a couple along the way but this is just to stress that I have visited, bought and enjoyed music in all the shapes he has taken tin. And when I saw the cover for this and looked at the incredible list of guest musicians (honestly I am not even going to list them, too many) I guessed this was a long way from DS but beyond that who knew? A little worry about coherence with so many guests but, ah, I should not have worried one iota.
The title track ‘Ghosts Of Europa’ opens with just the most wonderful, emotional tickle of notes over the synth wash. Some distorted vocals as though recorded from a number station and then the rhythm and the warm but desolate melody steps in it is just beauty. It is I suppose kind of a light electro-goth feel, warm whispers of synthwave like Gunship at their most gentle and a Blade Runner cinematic feel. When we all fall down breathe the voices. The lyrics are rooted in regret, which seems to be a theme of the album. The way choices in life that have to be made take you.
‘Return To The Old Fields’ again has gorgeous vocals (possibly Sarah Jezebel Diva, possibly Laurie Ann Haus, probably both…). Imagine Dead Can Dance entering their mid period but cocooned in perfect synth waves and heartbreaking melody. Slow, but so graceful this lament it like going home and finding you are nothing but a ghost in your own land. Mortiis vocals, clean or altered breathe strangely raw emotion. This whole album feels so personal and vulnerable even.
Somewhere during ‘The Faith That Fades Away’ was where I think the album gently suggested I shy away from a song by song breakdown. It most certainly could be done but it would somehow betray a deep part of what ‘Ghosts Of Europa’ needs to express. Don’t want to feel your touch, I don’t want to hear your voice….. leave me with my thoughts… It’s a moment that somehow nudges me to recall a long lost favourite of mine, Yendri, whose more… primitive early albums resonated so deeply with me. This song is just gripping, but in the way of a hand on your arm that beseeches you and yet still slides away exhausted by the gesture. I never want to look back again…
Some music even as it shares wishes to be alone.
‘Violent Silence’ has a dark pop sensibility that comes to the fore, and also makes you realise it has been here since the start of the album. A little nod to The Smell Of Rain maybe, that staccato dance of Violator period Depeche Mode but with Mortiis dark cinematic synths and the gut punch of the darker synth riff.. god damn this machine.
You see you try to stay away from delving too deep into the songs and still they pull you in. This album is that good. That ugly beautiful.
I think my heart may have broken during ‘Transcending Morpheus’. Imagine something like Georgio Morodor’s work on Cat People swirled around Blade Runner 2049 and still feeling like a memory that speaks only to you. ‘Tundra Heart Of Hell’ is a sudden blaze of utter glory, strutting 90s club goth. It bares its teeth both musically and lyrically. All the promises we knew that I would break….five minutes, twenty nine seconds of bitter, unapologetic snarling pop.
‘Tribes Of Distopia’ is the room to breath, the trance chill. Throat singing duetting with vocals reminiscent of Ofra Haza spliced to a tingling electronic beat. ‘ Farewell Romeo’ is a dark, perhaps cynical goodbye. The vocals cry out, the music sedate creating an undertow in the song that threatens to drown you. I found a way to kill some of the pain…
Its a definitive end song, a final glare. And then is gone.
But the Ghosts Of Europa now haunt me.
There is an exquisite strain of 90s electro-goth to this album, blended heavily with the yearning of modern synthwave and the loneliness and crisis of Monumentum’s unfairly forgotten 2002 masterpiece ‘Ad Nauseum’. A half glance at Depeche Mode, flirting with Gunship and yet with the skeletal gaze of a survivor from the ruins in the desert where it knew The Smell Of Rain. It has a pop sensibility in places but not a weak, saccharine one. This is sour and rooted in the the grit of reality and the twists of choices made. It is introverted, locked in on itself, but finding the moments to lash out. Yet it seems to reserve the greatest criticism directed at itself. It is unflinching with its recounting of the unfairness of its own actions and yet somehow it manages regret with a refusal to apologise. It is….complicated. Like life.
This is not a collection of songs. This is a complete, coherent and devastatingly, eerie and beautiful album. It has grace and it has the discomfort of raw emotion and it will stay with you. Possibly Mortiis’ finest moment so far….
Gizmo
Ghosts of Europa | Mortiis (Official)
Prophecy Productions | Mortiis – Ghosts of Europa | purchase online
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