Mork has been spreading their disease since 2007. That’s a pretty long time in dog years to be sure, but those years have sharpened their sound to a razor-sharp edge, and with Monolitt, their follow-up to 2024s Syv, they are bringing more ferocity to the table and some absolutely deadly riffs to boot.
For those keeping track, this is their 8th full-length album, and it’s another feather in these savage Nordic horde’s cap. These guys have stayed true to the Black Metal philosophy and continue to shred the faces of non-believers. With this new album, Monolitt, Mork is set to cleanse the earth with some proper Norwegian Black Metal.
I covered Syv in these hallowed pages back then, and it turned out to be my Black Metal album of the year if I’m remembering correctly. It had this ritual nature to it, and Monolitt expands on that with crushing intensity and high-powered riffs straight out of Hell.
First track “Under vekten av verden” seethes with unholy rage. They lock into a Satyricon groove alá Rebel Extravaganza (“Filth Grinder” to be exact), and it’s off to the races. Those blast beats are delicious, benefitting from excellent production that literally shoves your face in its furious glory.
“Ødelagt” is quick as fuck at the beginning and then slowly devolves into a crawling chaos with a snappy riff that reminds me of Old Man’s Child on The Pagan Prosperity. These songs are so diverse and so deadly that merely listening isn’t enough… You feel them in your bones. “Torden” comes rising on a diabolical set of riffs, almost Emperor level, the disjointed riffing reminding me of “The Prophet” from Prometheus: the Discipline of Fire and Demise. It’s unrelenting mid-paced delivery is unholy point throughout.
Syv had some killer moments on it, and there’s even more killer moments on Monolitt than you can shake a stick at. Like the slow part in “Skrømt” is like wading through a poisonous swamp where everything wants to kill you. One second, droning riffs are swirling around your ears like there’s no tomorrow, and the next peeling off blasting sections like a bandage from a septic wound.
“Ferdamann” crawls into your ears like the creatures in Star Trek 2. It’s slow-burning, merciless, and pure evil. This is one of my favorite tracks on Monolitt, it’s got a bit of a Gorgoroth-filled center… think Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam or anything from Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt.
“Inn I en annen saere” has an almost Dissection vibe to it, circa Reinkaos, with maybe a smidgen of Gorgoroth added for flavor and Immortal to give it suitable gravitas. Oddly enough, for me anyway, I sort of hear the refrain from “Diary of a Madman”, that background harmony just makes sense in this context.
“Martyr” is my second favorite track; it’s got a Doc Martin on your throat and is ridiculous fun while being beaten to a fucking pulp. The battering ram drums, competing with the lumbering guitars, are pulverizing. “Jutul” has some of that staccato riffing and artillery shells going off around the 1:36 point where the song just fucking rips open a hole in the space-time continuum to a place where demons mosh while they tear each other apart and eat each other back to life in a spray of blood and gore.
“Utryddelse” plays with tempos like a deranged kid with a pile of severed heads. One second it’s like listening to the screaming of the damned, the next it’s Borknagar-esque rhythms that could’ve been on The Archaic Course/True North. These songs bleed with the spirit of Norwegian Black Metal, and Mork has created a magnificent Norwegian Black Metal album. I keep highlighting the Norwegian part because I don’t really hear any other influences (besides that Ozzy one). No Dark Funeral, no Marduk, no Impaled Nazarene… just pure Norwegian darkness. That’s what we’re here for, right?
Go get this motherfucker, trample over your neighbors’ children to get to the record store before they do. Monolitt is a fucking beast of a Black Metal plague unleashed upon this unsuspecting world!
