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Throughout his numerous and prolific projects,
Sweden's composer Henrik "Nordvargr" Bjorkk (1971) always
specialized in melodrama.
His first major project was Maschinenzimmer.412, better known as
MZ.412 (originally a trio, but later a duo with Drakh).
Their albums
Malfeitor (Cold Meat Industry, 1989),
Macht dur Stimme (Cold Meat Industry, 1990),
In Nomine Dei Nostri Satanas Luciferi Excelsi (Cold Meat Industry, 1995),
perhaps their apex,
Burning the Temple of God (1996),
Nordik Battle Signs (1999) and
Domine Rex Infernum (2001)
helped define metal-industrial music in the 1990s.
His most celebrated project was the band
Folkstorm (dissolved in 2001), well represented by the
brutal,
militaristic
sound of
Information Blitzkrieg (1999),
Hurtmusic (2000),
Victory or Death (2000),
Noisient (2001).
Folkstrom's martial sound was resurrected (just a bit less violent) for the next
project, Toroidh, represented by
Those Who Do Not Remember The Past Are Condemned To Repeat It (2001),
Europe is Dead (2001), Testament (2002),
later collected as the triple-CD European Trilogy (War Office Propaganda, 2006),
Testament (2003) and
Offensiv (2004).
Each is a romantic collage of wartime soundbites:
martial tempos, military fanfares, national anthems, rumbling drones,
tolling bells and radio broadcasts,
interspersed with industrial beats, operatic vocals, chanting monks and soaring strings.
The violent side of Folkstorm surfaced in the parallel project,
Hydra Head 9, represented by
Power Display (Old Europa Cafe, 2002), a devastating wall of noise, and
Head (2004).
In the meantime, Bjorkk had also restarted a collaboration with Drakh (basically a reunion of
MZ.412) that yielded:
Cold Void of Nothing (2002),
Infinitas In Aeternum (Cyclic Law, 2004),
The Betrayal Of Light (tUMULt, 2007), containing the eleven-minute Vessel.
Bjorkk then began to release (under his own name) bleak and terrifying electronic music, that, ultimately, aimed at concocting the sound of fear:
Awaken (Eibon, 2002);
the 8-cd box-set Sleep Therapy (Old Europa Cafe, 2003) for altering sleeping patterns;
On Broken Wings Towards Victory (Old Europa Cafe, 2003);
Partikel (2004), a collaboration with Merzbow;
L/A/B's Psychoacoustics (Gound Fault, 2004), live electronic improvisations in a trio;
and
I End Forever (Horch, 2004).
The Dead Never Sleep (Old Europa Cafe, 2005) and
Vitagen (Essence Music, 2005), on which he mastered the techniques of musique concrete,
applied the same philosophy of terror to post-industrial droning music.
Drakh's own project is Beyond Sensory Experience, that released
three albums in 2003,
Korrelations (Old Europa Cafe, 2004) and
Pursuit Of Pleasure (Cold Meat Industry, 2005).
Nordvargr and Drakh also collaborated with Japanese sound artist Kenji Siratori
on the double-disc Hypergenome666 (Old Europa Cafe, 2007), each disc
pitting one of the two against Siratori.
In Oceans Abandoned By Life I Drown... To Live Again As A Servent Of Darkness (Essence, 2007) marked a return of sorts to guitar-based black metal.
Goatvargr (Cold Spring, 2006) was a collaboration with
Goat (Andy O'Sullivan).
Vargr was Bjorkk's "traditional" black-metal project, that yielded
Wehrmacht Satanas (Eternal Pride Productions, 2007)
and
Northern Black Supremacy (20 Buck Spin, 2007), two albums full of
noise a` la
Ildjarn.
Nordvargr returned with Helvete (Eternal Pride, 2008), an album that
harked back to his original droning music
(Dronevessel), adding demonic shrieks by guest vocalists.
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