Udåd is the new act from Thomas Eriksen of current Norwegian black metal masters, Mork. As his main band evolves ever further into complex and elaborately textured moods and atmospheres, Eriksen reflected back on Mork’s first album ‘Isebakke’ as the framework for this new vessel in the pursuit of pure black metal grimness. He delved deeply into this stream of influence to create something utterly “nekro” in its motivations and execution, for an unpretentious exploration of the brutal reality of death and the lack of meaning in life.
As Eriksen explains: “Since Mork is constantly evolving for each release and has become its own beacon; I have decided to create a space for me to be more primal. You can take “Isebakke”, which is quite primitive, and see Udåd as a step backwards from that. Udåd allows me to express a much more primal black metal feeling. Ripping off the flesh and exposing a more raw, pure atmosphere. It’s been many years since I last felt this strong vibe of pure black metal in my veins. “It’s alive!””.
With a completely stripped down and cold approach, bringing to mind the spellbinding, almost dungeon-like recording sounds from the burgeoning early 1990s black metal movement, Udåd is an exploration of absolute and relentless darkness, for a sparse and primitive trip through the mental abyss of raw feeling.
“As mentioned, “Isebakke” was a very pure effort made out of the bare essence of my own personal black metal experience. And that root has always been within me. Now I needed to tap into that well once again, just to satisfy that part of my psyche and creativity. Mork and Udåd is now my yin and yang within my Black Metal journey. The inspiration coming from the occasions when I discovered the raw and nekro black metal releases back in the day, and the vibe they gave me”.
Influence for this self-titled opus also came from outside of the sphere of metal, having been introduced to the works of cinematographer Jørg Buttgereit, more specifically “Der Todesking”, with
its art based on the raw and ugly truths that humanity bares within its flesh. Udåd is therefore Eriksen’s “Der Todesking”.
Performances and engineering duties were conducted by Eriksen himself at Atomen Studios in Halden, Norway, with the process becoming a particularly gruelling experience when it came to vocals. “The recording of vocals for Udåd turned out to be a very painful and unorthodox experience for me. I decided from the start to do something completely different to my usual vocal approach in Mork. I wanted something that could match the primitive nakedness of the music. So, I ended up doing this primal powerful shouting scream, which really took the energy and air out of me. It was hard, but then again, I really put everything into it, which forever will live on through the recording”. Mastering was carried out by Jack Control at Enormous Door (Darkthrone, Mork).
