It’s a good time for this to get the re-master and reissue treatment as it follows on nicely from the Cold Spring Records similarly repackaged discs from MZ.412. The man behind both projects is Henrik "Nordvargr" Björkk who has been widely acknowledged as the innovator behind dark ambient industrial music from Sweden, something that nobody who has heard his music is likely to dispute. His output is prolific and if you are a completist collecting his works it’s going to cost you plenty of time and money as well as turn your mind into a depraved sewer listening to the stuff as it can be deeply unsettling and disturbing. ‘Awaken’ (for this reissue craftily entitled Re-Awaken) was one of the artist’s first solo works under his real name and was originally recorded back in 2002. early work does not mean it should not be sought out as with the old recordings being boosted it sounds incredibly powerful. By this time Nordvagr had already expunged some excellent material from his soul including works like the satanic art that is MZ.412 ‘In Nomine Dei Nostri Satanas Luciferi Excelsi’ and ‘Burning The Temple Of God.’
Akin to the most horrifying movie soundtrack you have heard, this is a real nightmare of a listen and is not for those of nervous disposition especially as with 20 minutes of new material from the same sources as the original stuff, it weighs in at 72 minutes. The title track brings ominous ambient noise feeling its way out the speakers like exploratory tendrils from a dark void. Ominous tones and chants and an increase in energy follow with symphonic dread building up before we get a fuzzy deluge of guitar provided by Drakhon on ‘Cellardwellar.’ As this was apparently recorded at night in the expansive cellar at Bohult, when this gives way to some truly terrifying sound effects one must wonder what the hell it was like recording it as listening is enough to chill to the bone. As things progress you find yourself drowning in drone for long periods of time or ascending towards the heavens on the wings of eerie celestial choirs. I would suspect if that was the direction you found yourself floating it’s not for eternity, hell awaits and that is where you will be cast down to.
Particularly of note is the four act ‘Seeds Of Blood,’ where clacking militant drum and martial sounding music files out and other strange sounds follow; the cry of an owl, a weird rummaging sound and ghostly chants. It’s quite a head-trip and not a particularly pleasant one, more in line with the sort of soundtrack a serial killer would be at home cutting his victims up to, or perhaps with the Arabic sounding latter parts a jihadist strapping their bombs on. The last track Dreamstates is highly dark, you can hear what sounds like snores as well as the clanking of chains and all sorts of nightmarish sounds that really set the teeth on edge. I would not want to fall asleep with this in the background, if you did you may never ‘Re-Awaken’ again!
http://www.nordvargr.com
Pete Woods
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