Following on from 2019’s ‘Det Svarte Juv’ comes a special release on Black Friday (more commonly known as 27th November) from highly regarded Norwegian outfit, Mork. ‘Pesta’ (plague) is the band’s new 4 track EP, its lead track composed as a reflection of the mood of current times, as well as drawing inspiration from the art and music world, with the main motivation to record the track stemming from a visit to locations portrayed in the works of celebrated Norwegian artist, Theodor Kittelsen.
Mainman Thomas “Mork” Eriksen explains the origins of ‘Pesta’:
“The Norwegian artist Theodor Kittelsen (1857-1914) has been a important part of Norwegian Black Metal since the early 90’s. His drawings have been made famous in the genre from famous Norwegian black metal releases. Kittelsen’s artworks has a haunting, eerie and mysterious effect on the viewer. Most noteworthy is his work on the book “Svartedauden” («The Black Plague») which was originally published in 1900.”
“This summer I travelled in Norway, which I do every once in a while, since our land has a lot to offer. During the trip I passed through the valley where Kittelsen resided, and visited the farm, Lauvlia, which is open for visitors. While there I did some research and found out that a couple of the drawings in “Svartedauden” is based on real actual places. Some phone-calls later I got to arrange an audience at one of these locations. I returned to Sigdal along with photographer, Daniel Pedersen, and got to have a special shoot at this magical place.”
“The Kittelsen drawings “Pesta i trappa” and “Musstad” is based on a particular house on a different farm, where the artist lived for a while. I got into my Mork get-up, full with corpse paint and all, and got to work. The pictures speak for themselves. A great day and experience for a black metal artist and nerd as myself. A big thanks to the staff at Kunstnerhjemmet Lauvlia and to the owner of the property, Sole Gård.”
“I was considering just releasing these photos for fun, and that would be it. But, then I had a talk with a good friend of mine, who basically told me that it was a bad idea. His point was that I should create a song to go along with the pictures, to have a better package. So it all fitted nicely together with the current Covid-19 situation, that I wrote a song about the Black Plague called ‘Pesta'”
Pesta Tracklisting
A.1 Pesta [07:09]
A.2 Valen [03:43]
B.1 En sti inn i Remmendalen [04:55]
B.2 I Hornenes Bilde [05:33]
Pesta is released on black vinyl with a limited pressing of just 500 copies it is now available to PRE-ORDER HERE
Mork is currently working on the fifth studio album which is due to be released in 2021, via Peaceville Records. The fourth album “Det Svarte Juv” was released in 2019, and the demo-collection “Rota Til Ondskap” earlier this year. The band has been touring the world and is, together with Doomstar Bookings constantly working on rescheduling and booking tours and festival concerts for 2021.
Fans should also check out The Thomas Eriksen Podcast (https://podcast.morkisebakke.no) which includes interviews with many famous artists in the genre of Norwegian Black Metal.
Find out more about the band via their Website or Facebook
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