Angry Metal Guy might be the only place on the internet where Madder Mortem won’t need an introduction for a significant amount of its readers. The Norwegian band first made waves here with Red in Tooth and Claw, and those waves got much bigger with Marrow earning a well-deserved 4.5 and topping several lists. It’s also the only band with a movie review on the site. When there is no news on the band I still can’t stop name-dropping them, even when it’s not relevant to the music I’m reviewing. So when I contacted the band to send them the movie review and they told me they were in the middle of recording a new album, my inner hype machine went into overdrive. That was over 2.5 years ago. Part of this delay was production woes, but on top of that, the band’s lead siblings Agnete (vocals) and BP (guitars and mixing/mastering) Kirkevaag lost their father Jacob in February last year.1
Madder Mortem’s sound, for those not in the know, is a rather unique blend of progressive, gothic, and alternative metal. With the knowledge that the band’s gone through a turbulent period in their personal lives, I did expect the loss and the worry to reflect in the gothic pillar of their sound, and in a few instances it does. “Here and Now” is a spellbinding song full of beautiful, warm guitars plucked in complex arpeggios, occasionally erupting into heart-rending riff-storms, Agnete wailing ’And now my heart will break!’. Album centerpiece and highlight “Cold Hard Rain” adds a bucket of atmospheric doom and incessant background intonations of the song title to exacerbate the air of hopelessness, until the enormous finale bludgeons you to a pulp with love and comfort and the band’s best riff since “Hangman.”2
But I was caught off guard by the amount of furious defiance across Old Eyes. The other major highlight is single “Towers” which takes a trebuchet to emotional walls, raging against the indignity of not being allowed to see the full heart of a loved one (’Give me the joy, the hate, the tears, not fucking platitudes’). It’s a poignant assault after early track “On Guard,” rendered in quiet Americana, posits how someone might want to share, but can’t let go of the hurt of the past. These clashing relationships are at the heart of Old Eyes. Most tracks are lyrically aimed at a ‘you,’ with the exception of opener “Coming From the Dark” which feels more like a holdover from Marrow than a proper part of this album. It’s a decent track, but it and “Master Tongue” are not quite up to the level of the latter half, leaving the quality a tad back-loaded.
Though Madder Mortem always focuses on the feeling, their technical achievements continue to improve even 25 years into their recording history. Old Eyes is replete with understated excellence, from the serpentine bass of “Master Tongue” to the undulating leads on “Unity.” Agnete sounds as great as ever, projecting confidence and fragility at different turns and convincing with every syllable. BP has once again handled the production, and from a brief conversation in October ‘22 I know it has been an uphill battle, but the results don’t lie. Everything sounds fantastic. The master is spacious but warm, the guitars are thick and crunchy, the bass has great heft. Even the mix is practically flawless. Agnete’s voice sits comfortably in the center without overpowering the music, and even when the amount of layers gets piled on (“Cold Hard Rain”) everything remains perfectly balanced.
Madder Mortem has always excelled at emotional depth and complexity beyond the obvious. Old Eyes, New Heart comes on the heels of a difficult personal time for the band, and the catharsis is palpable throughout the music, despair and defiance fighting for the listener’s heart. It’s not quite as consistent as Marrow, but in a way that helps shape the sense of urgency. More than the record the band wanted to write, it feels like the record the band had to write, a fierce treatise that defends love and acceptance in the face of unending desperation. Acoustic closer “Long Road” ends on a poignant note: ’Maybe there’s hope of peace at the end of the long slow road’. I hope that’s true. But in the meantime, Old Eyes, New Heart will stand as one of the most intimate and therapeutic albums we’re bound to get this year.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 11 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Essence Records
Websites: maddermortem.bandcamp.com | maddermortem.com | facebook.com/mmortem
Releases Worldwide: January 26th, 2024
