Myrkur

T

he tale of Myrkur is an interesting one.

From out of nowhere comes this one-woman black metal artist. Add to that, she seemed to skip the whole underground scene by being already signed to a well known heavy metal label in the form of 'Relapse Records' right off the bat! But as the positive reviews with the shock and awe came in, so did a seemingly endless rush of negative comments. The outrage centered around that, firstly, 'Relapse' far overhyped her, and secondly, it was eventually revealed that she was actually Danish pop star Amalie Bruun (vocals/guitars/keyboards). Neither of these criticisms were really Bruun's fault, however; if anyone is to blame it's the marketers at the label. These criticisms served no purpose other than to cloud objective opinions of the music itself and make an effort at destroying the project's heavy metal credibility.

Those expecting a full-on black metal assault aren't going to find it here, nonetheless the EP Myrkur (2014), the album M (2015), the live set Mausoleum (2016), as well as Mareridt (2017), Juniper EP (2018), and Folkesange (2020) were a competent efforts; each platter containing a heavy dose of folk mixed in. Marketing aside, the albums proved to be an interesting and mildly successful effort, it just leaves one to wonder what the heck marketers were thinking with this one! These efforts would be followed by Spine in 2023.