Review Summary: We are morking morked
Like many, I jumped on the Mork train with their previous LP
Katedralen, enjoying that slab of unpretentious and riff-driven (AKA Darkthrone-ian) black metal. Two years later,
Dypet follows in the same mold, giving the listener a steady bread-and-butter of middle-length tunes featuring ghastly vocals and toe-tapping riffage to tickle the fancy of the genre’s dedicated fans. There are a few gentle deviations present, though. Opener “Indre Demoner” stands out as a Mork track with its unusually spacey and atmospheric feel, while later songs as a general rule seem to place a heightened focus on melody (“Svik” serving as the most obvious example of this). On the flip side, the vicious late-album standout “Avskum” wouldn’t have been out of place on
Katedralen at all. As a whole,
Dypet might not quite measure up to its worthy predecessor, but it’s an unerringly solid release in its own right. This is a straightforward record which should broadly appeal to both the band’s existing fanbase and the metalhead contingent more generally, but it also offers enough subtle shifts to keep things fresh and open up some new (left-hand) paths for the veteran group.
