If Disso-Death has taken over Death Metal this year, I think it’s fair to say that MeloBlack is becoming the new meta within Black Metal. More and more bands are jumping on the sad but angry bandwagon that Dissection pioneered so long ago. Enter Mörk Gryning, a project that has been away for a while but promises to continue this newly rediscovered tradition. With Fasornas Tid, the band promises to stick to what it’s done but also adapt to these enigmatic times. Will it manage to stay on the bandwagon? Let’s find out.
First, and this might be a prejudice, I’m so used to my Swedish Black Metal sounding like a bootleg version of Marduk or Dissection that Fasornas Tid surprised me in a pleasant way. It’s not an album afraid to experiment, but not in the usual Black Metal sense of getting weirder and weirder. Here, Mörk Gryning goes in the opposite direction—it gets lighter and almost reaches Power Metal dimensions, but it doesn’t suck, guys! It’s not corny or melodramatic. That needs to be acknowledged, even if the idea of clean singing in Black Metal makes you gag a little.
Expect emotional melodies that even made me think a bit of Amorphis. I know it’s a risky analogy, but don’t worry, there are still plenty of moments with absurd tremolo picking and blast beats that could burst your eardrums. In that sense, the album follows what you’d expect from the genre. So, as many times this year, it’s an album that mixes things up, but doesn’t reach alienating degrees of experimentation. It’s definitely a better comeback than you could’ve expected. I mean, many bands return so washed up, but for a band this OG, things are rolling pretty well.
Now, the things that could drive you away from Fasornas Tid are probably the ones I found most interesting. This lighter side of the band—and the album itself—is so not kvlt that many of you will feel betrayed, which to me is silly, but hey, extreme Metal isn’t known for the cognitive plasticity of us, the consumers. In a way, this album is a good introduction to Swedish Black Metal without having to jump straight into the heavier and more controversial classics. Because, let’s face it, the Swedish scene is as edgy as the Norwegian one; the police just got luckier, that’s all!
This is a fun return, with catchy highs and lows. If you want a band that gets weird, but not Imperial Triumphant-weird, this might be your cup of tea. You just have to be ready to deal with the more melodic and digestible parts. I can’t believe I’m doing this backwards, where the easygoing parts are the ones people might get annoyed with. It speaks to how strange and extreme (cliché, I know) the scene can be. See you tomorrow!
Label: Season Of Mist
Release date: 13 December 2024
Website: https://www.facebook.com/morkgryningband/
Country: Sweden
Score: a fun, but dark 3.5/5.0
Metal Eclipse Reviews 