MÖRK GRYNING – Fasornas Tid
Release Date: 13th December 2024
Label: Season of Mist
Bandcamp
Genre: Melodic Black Metal, Black Metal.
FFO: Dissection, Naglfar, Thulcandra, Kvaen, Borknagar, Emperor, Rotting Christ, Marduk.
Review By: Rick Farley
Mörk Gryning in 2024 still stands as one of melodic black metal’s true representations of the original scene. A spidery sub-genre veined off from black metal that reared its ugly but accessible, more melodic head in the mid to late nineties. The look and feel of the genre have since taken off into sometimes unrecognizable visions that’s veered towards modern directions entirely far away from the original days of Dissection, Sacramentum and Unanimated. I’m not complaining and that’s certainly not a bad thing, but sometimes you just want to hear the hits so to speak. Searing riff savagery with blackened heavy metal melodies, folky acoustic interludes, and plenty of structured keyboard atmosphere. Yeah, it’s all here.
Despite the bands minor progressive musical experimentations here and there, they have remained true to the course of melodic black metals origins. Founded in Stockholm, Sweden in 1993 by multi-instrumentalists Goth Gorgon and Draakh Kimera, they released their legendary debut album Tusen År Har Gått, which still stands as a classic milestone in the history of black metal’s storied genre. After several releases and years of touring, Mörk Gryning took a fifteen-year hiatus before triumphantly returning in 2020 with what many fans say is their crowning achievement; Hinsides Vrede was released to critical acclaim and stands musically as the backbone of their live shows. I personally lean towards the debut as their best, but hey nostalgia. Now four years later, we are once again gifted with new savage darkness from a band that once again is waiving the true melodic black metal flag high.
Their seventh full length studio album, Fasornas Tid releases December 13th, 2024, via Season of Mist. It was produced by Sverker Widgren and Mörk Gryning at Wing studios, Stockholm, Sweden, with mixing and mastering by done by Sverker Wodgren. Strong in sonic aggression, but with enough modern production to capture the abrasiveness of the band, while still being listenable and all of the sonic components discernible.
It’s pretty incredible to think that both Goth Gorgon and Draakh Kimera were only fifteen and nineteen when they released their groundbreaking debut album in 1995. It’s even more incredible that after all this time, thirty years later, Mörk Gryning still have the black metal chops to transport the listener back to those glorious days without even a wisp of phoning it in. While Fasornas Tid isn’t quite on the level of their earlier stuff, again nostalgia, it’s still pretty goddamn good.
Tracks like The Seer with its scorching tremolo picked melodies and relentless drum blasting during the verses brings the olde full circle violently. There is a swaggering, bouncy chorus that gives way to a mid-paced crunchy riff and catchy, ethereal atmosphere. It’s the perfect opening song that comes after a brief acoustic interlude that perfectly sets the mood for the song to begin. Title track Fasornas Tid is a blistering time machine straight back to the aggressive black metal riffing, complete with a menacingly spirited keyboard melody. It’s a classic sound that’s hard to deny. The triumphantly memorable Savage Messiah will have even the blackest of souls grinning with headbanging glory, while An Ancient Ancestor of the Autumn Moon is a lesson in brutal atmospheric darkness.
With a taste of modern flourishes, Fasornas Tid sounds fresh enough to compete with all the other melodic black metal bands of the now, but with an authenticity that’s unachievable unless you were there from the very beginning. Welcome back, Mörk Gryning.
(4 / 5)
