Myrkwid - Dverg demo 1997

Myrkwid - Dverg demo I 1997
1) Hulemdverg
2) Nornesmal
3) Sang han Asen
4) Asgart
5) Yggdrasil

Mega / Zippyshare

Back to contributions but let's stay in Germania for a bit longer. I was recently sent some demos by the quite profilic one-man band Myrkwid, still active to this day with three albums and around ten other releases under his belt. Well, comparatively profilic, he's taken it easy after the years when he put out eight releases in three years plus whatever various other projects did. Malthökk, that's the fellow behind Myrkwid, runs(/ran?) also a label Dunkelwald Productions and the Darkwood Studio. This is the first demo, released in 1997 and I was sent a cover scan along with the rip. Name of the game is mythic metal, that's what the covers say, influenced by Norse mythology as the song titles imply.

I find myself once again wondering about the track order of a demo, they're arranged here starting with the longest (8:53) and ending with the shortest one (3:25). It seems quite unintuitive to me, but perhaps he feared the listeners will start to become less able to focus by the end of the demo? Though I think for that sort of issue other kinds of solutions would be better. Some of the tracks even sound like they've been shorted a bit with awkward fades/cuts. Whatever the reason, the first track is fast paced for much of its duration, guitar sound is the most dominating element here, harsh vocals on the second front seat and drums participating in the conversation from the backseat. Not from the trunk mind you, they're not that muffled and buried. I can't quite make up my mind if he's using drum machine, like many of the one-man bands tend to do, or actually playing them. They do sound kind of sloppy at times which might indicate the fabled human touch. Despite the ample rawness this is rather melodic and quite atmospheric stuff and slows down periodically, sometimes in effective manner, occasionally coming stumbling like on the second track. Though the fastest bits of that one suffer from it as well. The vocal is a raw, grating scream and works well enough even without much variation. Overall this is kind of charming but lasts a bit longer than necessary, changing the tracklisting might help or just cutting off some excess fat from some of the songs. I haven't heard his albums, just demos so I'm not going to go making comparisons to them. Recommended for people who, like me, enjoy vintage German demos and unpolished, unsophisticated black (/viking) metal.