M (Myrkur Album)
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''M'' is the debut studio album by
black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...
project
Myrkur Myrkur is a solo black metal project by Danish singer Amalie Bruun. Initially, the real-life identity of the person behind the project was kept unknown. Her identity has since been made public. Myrkur has released four full-length studio albums ...
, by Danish musician and singer-songwriter
Amalie Bruun Amalie Bruun (born 6 January 1985) is a Danish musician, actress and model. She currently fronts the one-person black metal project Myrkur, where she acts as songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Bruun has released four studio albums, one live a ...
. Produced by Kristoffer "Garm" Rygg of
Ulver Ulver (Norwegian for "wolves") is a Norwegian Experimental electronic music, experimental electronica band founded in 1993, by vocalist Kristoffer Rygg. Their early works, such as debut album ''Bergtatt – Et eeventyr i 5 capitler, Bergtatt'', ...
, it was released on 21 August 2015 through
Relapse Records Relapse Records is an American independent record label based in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990. The label features many grindcore, death metal, metalcore and sludge metal artists. History The ...
. Featuring a black and
gothic metal Gothic metal (or goth metal) is a fusion genre combining the aggression of heavy metal music, heavy metal with the dark atmospheres of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different ...
sound, the album melds influences from various genres, including second wave black metal, atmospheric
post-metal Post-metal is a music genre rooted in heavy metal music, heavy metal but exploring approaches beyond metal conventions. It emerged in the 1990s with bands such as Neurosis (band), Neurosis and Godflesh, who transformed metal texture (music), te ...
,
gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...
,
darkwave Dark wave, or darkwave, is a music genre that emerged from the new wave and post-punk movement of the late 1970s. Dark wave compositions are largely based on minor key tonality and introspective lyrics and have been perceived as being dark, ro ...
, Scandinavian folk and
classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...
. The album was named the Best Hard Rock Album of 2015 by ''
Gaffa ''Gaffa'' (stylized as ''GAFFA'') is a free Nordic music magazine with local editions in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. ''Gaffa'' is Denmark's largest and oldest music magazine. It has been published since 1983 and has 320,000 print readers and 75 ...
''.


Critical reception

Upon its release, ''M'' received positive reviews from music critics. At
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 83, which indicates "universal acclaim", based on 10 reviews, and was the 85th highest rated album of 2015.
Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
's Thom Jurek wrote: "Myrkur's music melds all of her adopted stylistic elements, lets their seams show, and emerges with an innovative, alchemical creation of her own. ''M'' expands on black metal's boundaries yet holds its dark, foreboding spirit close." ''
The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogra ...
'' critic Michael Toland stated: "Danish raven Amalie Bruun integrates extreme intensity into both genres' oth/black metal'sinherent drama." Sean Barry of
Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. History ''Consequence of Sound'' was founded in Septem ...
thought that "''M'' doesn’t differentiate itself greatly from the early work of many black metal artists." Barry further added: "The album shines with potential and the promise that a more unique followup waits further down the trail." ''
Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...
'' critic Natalie Zina Walschots praised the album, writing: "The textures of ''M'' are even more finely hewn and interwoven than its predecessor, resulting in a record that is at once profoundly tactile and deeply sensual." Grayson Haver Currin of
Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...
thought that "on ''M'', Bruun is free and clear of any identity drama—and a much more convincing bandleader for it." ''
Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...
'' critic Colin Joyce stated: "What remains Bruun’s strongest suit is the way she juxtaposes the extremity of her influences." Joyce further concluded: "She comes out of more subdued sections to use blast beats like scare tactics, drops in glacial vocal harmonies as soothing lullabies."
The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quietu ...
' Dean Brown was also positive in his assessment of the album, writing: "By conveying the masculine and feminine duality inherent in old musical traditions and modern musical developments, Bruun has composed a truly rewarding record that defies direct categorisation." Nevertheless, Sputnikmusic's Elijah K. gave the album a mixed review, describing the album's sound as "painfully bland and too on the nose."


Track listing


Personnel

Album personnel as adapted from
Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...
.


Myrkur

*
Amalie Bruun Amalie Bruun (born 6 January 1985) is a Danish musician, actress and model. She currently fronts the one-person black metal project Myrkur, where she acts as songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Bruun has released four studio albums, one live a ...
– vocals, guitar, piano, production


Session musicians

*
Teloch Morten Bergeton Iversen (born 19 November 1974), better known by his stage name Teloch ( ), is a Norwegian musician. He is a guitarist for black metal bands Mayhem and Nidingr, and fronts the eponymous electronic solo project Bergeton. Ivers ...
(
Mayhem Mayhem most commonly refers to: * Mayhem (crime), a type of crime Mayhem may also refer to: People * Monica Mayhem (born 1978), Australian pornographic actress * Jason "Mayhem" Miller, American mixed martial arts fighter * Mayhem Miller (dr ...
, Nidingr)
– guitar, bass * Øyvind Myrvoll (Nidingr) – drums * Ole-Henrik Moe –
fiðla The ''Icelandic fiddle'' (Icelandic: fiðla ˆfɪðla is a traditional Icelandic instrument that can be described as a box with two brass strings which is played with a bow. The strings stretch across one end of the box to the other where they ...
,
Hardingfele A hardanger fiddle () is a traditional stringed instrument considered the national instrument of Norway. In modern designs, this type of fiddle is very similar to the violin, though with eight or nine strings (rather than four as on a standard v ...
, violin *
Håvard Jørgensen Håvard Jørgensen (born 26 September 1975), also known as Haavard, Lemarchand, is a songwriter, guitarist and vocalist. He was the original guitarist of the Norwegian black metal bands Satyricon and Ulver. Career Satyricon One of the initiato ...
– acoustic guitar * Tone Reichelt – horn * Martin Taxt –
tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in th ...
* Chris Amott (
Arch Enemy Arch Enemy is a Swedish melodic death metal band, originally a Supergroup (music), supergroup from Halmstad, formed in 1995. Its members were in bands such as Carcass (band), Carcass, Armageddon (Swedish band), Armageddon, Carnage (band), Carna ...
)
– additional guitar (7)


Production and design

* Kristoffer "Garm" Rygg (
Ulver Ulver (Norwegian for "wolves") is a Norwegian Experimental electronic music, experimental electronica band founded in 1993, by vocalist Kristoffer Rygg. Their early works, such as debut album ''Bergtatt – Et eeventyr i 5 capitler, Bergtatt'', ...
)
– mixing, production * Anders Møller – mixing * Jaime Gomez Arellano – mastering * Trine + Kim Design Studio – photography * Orion Landau – design


Charts


References


External links

* * *Valhalla - epic Nordic mythology animation from 1986, serves as the theme for the title of the song "Jeg er guden, I er tjenerne". Section on Loki talking to the kids (22:58 mins).https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094238/reviews?ref_=tt_urv . This was confirmed by Amalie Bruun on her YouTube channel. {{Authority control 2015 debut albums Relapse Records albums Myrkur albums