It’s been a good year for classic black metal with the bar raised pretty high by a bunch of bands that could easily form the beginnings of a decent top ten even at this stage. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise when, out of nowhere, a band like Murg arrive with a debut which sounds more like the work of a band who’ve been plugging away like a heathen hurricane for years. Varg & Björn is a dimly lit walk through an ancient black forest landscape with the wind blowing and the spirits of the old ones screaming their anger into any receptive ears. It has all the spiteful atmosphere of the early days with a well controlled and subtle pagan feel to it that paces around the edges of your senses even as you focus in on those cold and nicely captivating riffs. Did I almost mention the Black Forest back there? Well, apparently Murg is the name for a river that runs through it. I’ve also discovered that it’s also Afrikaans for ‘marrow’ and, like something ancient and visceral, I think the two references nicely sum up Murg’s sound even if my workings out along the way isn’t quite what these Swedes had in mind! The name of the album is a little easier – ‘Wolf & Bear’, as strikingly depicted in silhouette on the album cover against the background of the woodland canopy. Varg & Bjorn is a seriously intense thrill ride at blackened and high pitched velocity.
Murg’s debut is released on Nordvis, the label also responsible for Skogen’s decent if a little more obviously Norse sounding ‘I Döden’ last year and the excellent fuzz of Sistere by Izah, which is doing the rounds at the moment. Murg brings a very nicely balanced mixture of influences. Hardcore early 90s black metal, à la Under a Funeral Moon with an extra icy kick in its tail, combined with the occasional sallow, black Swedish melody. But tracks like Farsoternas Afton also remind me a bit of the frost bitten unpredictability of early Kampfar – perhaps a slightly more vicious version – with that dark and powerful pagan melody. For me, it’s bands like Murg that are providing the bedrock of black metal at the moment and who, even after all these years, make me believe that the genre simply isn’t losing its edge and capacity to thrill. It still sounds fresh and coldly melodic as ever. And, as with all decent black metal releases – or any release for that matter from a band which believes in what its doing – the passion shines through. It seems simplistic at first but then just wraps itself around you and keeps dropping in chords that ripple through you or else returning to musical threads that keep on carrying you along and leave you wanting more with each listen.
And, If the tirade issued forth during the second track Nejderna Brinner isn’t enough to prove it, the following track is a brooding ode Grannen är Din Fiende, again, very much of the Swedish, Lord Belial or Enthroned school of black metal, but it doesn’t stop there. From then on, the other tracks offer riffs that range from the bleak and angular to billowing and like storm clouds rising above the pine trees. All very Swedish indeed but with the shadowy spirit of Norwegian pagans running through it. There’s plenty to get your canines into here. At times darkly brooding and having to resist the urge to punch those fists into the air at other. The final track is another standout and I suspect Varg & Bjorn will get its nasty teeth and claws even further into me before the year is out. My only complaint is that I want more. Now. Murg has produced a great debut – full of venom, spite and hooded menace stalking the forest.
(8.5/10 Reverend Darkstanley)
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