Saturday 6 July 2013

Mors Voluntaria - A Pathway Through Forgotten Woods


Those of you who have been following my "Random Band of The Week" posts will recognise Mors Voluntaria, as I did a brief write-up this band. Shortly after that, though the owner of Depressive Illusions Records, I was able to contact the person behind the project, so I could pass the link to that write-up on to him. We got chatting and he sent me the tracks to the tape that he released through Depressive Illusions.

A bit of background first. Mors Voluntaria is a solo-black metal project from Leeds, West Yorkshire that was only formed this year. Since it's formation though, Mors Voluntaria has released a two song promo and this tape.

Tracklist:-

1. Suicide
2. Hang Me A Noose For My Smile
3. Suicide II

Since I've been searching for and listening to more black metal in recent years, I've come across a lot of bands and records that I love. I've also found that I prefer to listen to black metal of the more ambient and majestic variety. There is some of that ambient majesty hidden within Mors Voluntaria's sound. Suicide is a raw song, where the vocals take the focal point. The instrumentation that sits behind them is slightly obscured by a raw production. I guess that's one of the pitfalls of playing and recording you own instruments though. The final bars though are a revelation, with anguished spoken word and screamed vocals alongside some much needed melody, which ends the song on a high note (if that's possible with black metal!)

Hang Me A Noose For My Smile was originally on the earlier 2013 promo. This is more of a noise song than a black metal song at first listen. It features a lot of winding noise and screams that seem to intertwine with it. It rumbles on it that fashion for five and a half minutes, kind of acting like a semi-instrumental track. Mors Voluntaria end with Suicide II, which picks up where Suicide left off. There's a lengthy instrumental build up, as you'd expect but there is more melody poking through. The drums can be heard in the background alongside a droning bass-line. This song is purely instrumental.

Overall this is a tape of three very different parts. It sees Mors Voluntaria exploring it's sound and influences.There's definite potential here and with more writing, recording and production time, I can see Mors Voluntaria progressing into a truly great British black metal band.

This tape isn't streaming anywhere as far as I can tell, however you can listen to the 2013 promo featuring the second track here:-



Tapes can be purchased from Depressive Illusions Records here - http://depressiveillusions.com/mors-voluntaria-pathway-through-forgotten-woods

Mors Voluntaria Metal Archives - http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Mors_Voluntaria

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