Myrka

Það hefur lengi staðið til hjá mér að fjalla um fyrstu plötu Akureyrsku sveitarinnar Myrká sem heitir 13 og kom út í apríl árið 2010.

Hlustaði dálítið mikið á hana er ég fékk gripinn í hendur snemmsumars en vissi ekki alveg hvað mér ætti að finnast þá, þó ég heyrði strax að þarna var mjög athyglisvert efni á ferðinni og spennandi. Hún var síðan að detta inn í spilun hjá mér af og til fram eftir ári án þess að mikið gerðist og ég næði almennilegu sambandi við plötuna.

Það er síðan núna í desember er myrkrið er hvað dimmast og jólatónlistin hvað ömurlegust að Myrká fer að leita í spilarann og þá fór allt að smella saman. Ef við göngum út frá því að tónlist skiptist í góða tónlist og vonda og hin góða sú er nær til hjartans... þá fór Myrká að skila sér þangað, en oft getur sú leið verið löng og torsótt og pumpan ekki sjálfgefin áfangastaður eins og menn þekkja.

Þessi fyrsta plata Myrkár er eins og enskurinn mundi segja "slow burner", það er að hún skilar sér inn hægt og bítandi eins og áður hefur verið minnst á. Hún er svolítið krefjandi og ef til vill aðeins of löng (mér finnst ágætt að plötur fari ekki mikið yfir 45 mínúturnar) ekki alveg víst að þeir sem hafa alvarlegan athyglisbrest njóti hennar á borð við aðra, en hún verðlaunar mann ef maður einbeitir sér að henni.

Tónlistina vilja þau kalla dauðapopp, en mér finnst sú nafngift dauðadæmd ef ég á að segja alveg eins og er. Ef þarf að flokka tónlistina er ef til vill einfaldast að kalla þetta "gothic" rokk/popp, sem ef til vill segir ekki mikið.

Þó bandið leiti vissulega inn á popplendur ( Cranberries komu upp í hugann í einu lagi ef einhver man eftir þeim) þá er þetta í mínum eyrum fyrst og fremst rokksveit. Þarna eru sterk metal áhrif og kannski ekki skrítið verandi með trommarann Helga Jónsson innanborðs sem kemur með áhrif úr dauðarokkinu í púkkið.

Á köflum finnur maður fyrir sterkum "seventís" fílingi því þarna eru sterk "element" frá klassísku rokki og proggi þess tíma ... sveitir eins og Heep og Purple koma upp í hugann án þess að Myrká líkist þeim eitthvað sérstaklega...eflaust út af hversu Hammond orgelið er áberandi í tónlistinni.

Það má eiginlega segja að Hammondorgelleikur Stefáns sé hryggjarstikkið í tónlist Myrkár og fagna ég því mjög að ungar sveitir beri gæfu til að nýta sér það stórskemmtilega hljóðfæri sem á sér svo magnaða sögu í bestu tónlist sem gerð hefur verið.

Hér er fullt af góðum lögum og skemmtilegum hugmyndum í gangi og er platan ákaflega jöfn að gæðum. Þrátt fyrir að virka svolítið gamaldags á köflum og menn séu ekkert í hjólauppfinningum, þá er ferskleiki yfir afurðinni í leiðinni og mér vitandi eru engir að gera eitthvað svipaða hluti hér í tónlist... og því sannarlega pláss fyrir slíkt efni á tímum þegar indýrokkið tröllríður öllu. Þó er ég ekki endilega viss um að hljómsveitin séu spámenn í sínu föðurlandi.

Platan er tekinn upp í Tanknum á Flateyri og er sándið á henni það sem helst má finna að eða kannski frekar mixingin. Á það helst við um trommuleikinn en hann er ekki nægilega framarlega og á köflum þegar mikið er að gerast er stundum eins og hann drukkni í sándinu... en kannski eru þetta bara eyrun á mér.

Annars er platan vel flutt og krafturinn skilar sér nokkuð. Stefán alltumlykjandi á Hammondinn, Guðjón setur nett metal "töts" á þetta með smekklegum gítarleik, Helgi gerir góða hluti og kemur með krydd úr harðari málmun eins og t.d. skemmtilegir kaflar í laginu "Lost" bera vitni um. Bassaleikur Jóhanns Inga sem vel að merkja er ekki í bandinu er síðan í stíl við annað hér.

Sú sem sér um að færa manni þessa dimmu og drungalegu texta er svo Guðný Lára og ferst henni það mjög vel úr barka.
Röddin dökk og seiðandi á köflum en býr yfir miklum krafti sem nýtur sín vel hér...hæfir jafnt í popp sem rokk.

Nafnið á sveitinni er alveg magnað og hæfir innihaldinu ákaflega vel, en ég fer ekki ofan af því að platan hefði verið sterkari á íslensku.

Albúmið er pappagerðar, en þó sleppur maður við að þurfa að troðast með puttana í þröngt umslag til að ná í diskinn og ber að fagna því. Ég sá alltaf kross á hvolfi framan á umslaginu þangað til núna í desember að ég sá loks fæturnar... skondið hvernig augun geta blekkt mann.

Ég myndi segja að Myrká gæti vel við þessa plötu unað en kannski hefði einn sterkur smellur fleytt þeim lengra á braut þeirri er kennd er við frama. Þau geta þó huggað sig við að þó hér sé unggæðinslegur bragur á sumu og bandið eigi eftir að þroskast þá eru þau hér að búa til góða og áheyrilega tónlist og eiga að mínu viti sannarlega erindi og framtíðina fyrir sér.

***3/4 Þrjár og þrír fjórðu af fimm mögulegum - Bubbinn

Myrka - 13
Written by Doctor T.
Sunday, 18 July 2010
Myrka - CD Review
9 / 10

Well, we cover a lot of territory on this site, the music goes in a lot of different directions, gothic, death metal, symphonic, operatic. Here’s a new one: deathpop. Myrka is from the north, way north, Iceland to be precise. And they clearly spend a lot of time in the dark, the dark and the cold. Having been born in the northern part of this hemisphere, I can appreciate that those long cold nights can have an effect, and it ain’t always pretty. The nights last an eternity; the cold does things to you that you may find hard to understand in the southern climates. And Myrka seems to be able to communicate that darkness as well as I’ve heard it communicated.

The music talks about life in these remote locales. I received some communications from the band, they talk about things like "The earth, ground and the power of the nature and mountains where we live." There is a natural perspective here, a pagan approach, heavy on the mystic, alive with the tone of the earth, but tuned to the darker side of reality. The music, well, that’s pretty good too. Their web sites take you to some of this strangeness. Many of the photos take us to the macabre. Their website seem to glorify this direction. It’s almost a sideshow for the insane, leave your reality at the door, proceed with caution, this place is not for the mentally infirm. Their MySpace takes you to even darker scenes, and provides you with intros to the sounds from the CD. And those sounds reflect the reality that Myrka is all about.

Now I will admit, I’m not generally interested in boring music. However, I don’t like the extreme presented by some forms, rap, for instance. On the other hand, much of today’s contemporary music leaves me cold. I like something a little different, and that’s pretty much what we have here. This is music from a different perspective, it’s clearly metal, a bit symphonic, to be sure, sometimes soothing, but in a way that leaves you uncomfortable. Reminds me of the acid rock of the 60s on occasion. We know we’re in some form of reality; we’re just not sure which one. My God, I do miss the 60s sometimes, back in the days when music had something to say, when life had promise beyond the next corporate rip off. Myrka seems to capture this longing, this prayer for a measure of what stands beyond the everyday, our understanding that our daily existence is limited, and getting more limited by the hour.

So how does 13 get across this feeling of psychological dissassociation . . . ? Well, they do it with some pretty damn good music. Myrka is a quartet, four pretty good musicians who put out a solid wall of sound, pretty good production as well. But, when it’s dark most of the year, you have time to spend in the studio. The vocals are hardly what you’d call operatic, but operatic might not fit the bill with this approach to communication. Better we get it from a voice that reflects the reality that Myrka has evolved from. Their art is not limited to music, they produce jewelry, they work with "horrifying" graphic arts, they do theatre. They can get you in a lot of ways, most of them outside the bounds of the everyday where we tend to spend out lifeless existence. And they do it in a way that actually leaves you feeling better, assuming you’re comfortable with a trip to the dark side.

13 begins with a walk with the elves and trolls, you know you’re not coming back to that mundane existence for a while. Unborn lets you know immediately that the road will be different and Myrka makes it clear with the lyrics that they have strange times in store for you. The instrumental section is heavy on the guitar, but it serves to carry us on the journey, over a subdued symphonic, with the vocals taunting and enticing us on that very strange road.

Untouched is a bit more metal in flavor. Guitars again lead the way, but they are guitars that seem to point the way to an oblivion that reflects the world where Myrka is most comfortable. Lyrically, our dark Nordic vocalist takes us on a tour of the northern worlds, an existence that is foreign to most of us, one that can only be appreciated by those familiar with it.

Myrka’s music isn’t happy music, although there are some catchy rhythms. You might begin to enjoy the music at times, even feel a beat that gets you up and moving. But then you get that vocal and it brings you back to the core of the intent. Neurosis is one of these titles. A great song, great beat, nice instrumental qualities, but the vocals take hold of you and drag you through that dark reality. Our vocalist sings:

The search for a meaning
is a waist of time
there is no meaning
in an empty life
full of sorrow
theres only pain
noone understands
why you act this way

Well, at least you can dance to it. Waste is another of these tracks where we get interested in the music, and it is strong metal, the guitars crunching, the keys flowing, the drums crashing. The vocals, however, again bring us back to that slice of life that reminds us that all is not beauty. Our existence carries a touch of the gothic perspective, one that is less than attractive to many of us, but one that has to be viewed as a part of the total package. Again, our vocalist reminds us of this path:

Rotting away in the ground every day
giving new life to those that survive
I only hope that we’ll be enough
And light will return to our worlds

Myrka is not beyond doing a little of the beautiful when the need arises. Reborn / Endurfæðing is a ballad, one that soothes us, it takes us to a lovely side of the darkness they seem to revel in. We view the mystical here. The instrumental side is hypnotic, the vocals take us into the realms of the spiritual. A pagan’s delight and one that reminds us that the unknown can provide a glimpse of beauty that is every bit as rewarding as any of the more traditional sounds we are more familiar with.

Myrka talks to us from the north. They present a reality we are not often exposed to. The perspective is a little off the road from that path we traditionally travel. 13 speaks of ancient worlds, places we visited as a child, and maybe decided were too frightening to come back to. And it talks about the pain and the fright that we often try to avoid, the places that children hide from, and adults deny. But the sound that delivers that message is one we can surely live with, it’s metal, it’s got some lovely melody, some variance from the traditional that makes it interesting.

And isn’t that what life is all about. . .or at least what we want to explore in our most private moments. Music should teach, it should cause reflection, and it should do it with entertainment. And it should sound right. Myrka has delivered on that promise. There’s clearly something going on up in Iceland, and it sure sounds right to me.

- Sonic Cathedral - Doctor T

(Google translated from Dutch): 9/10
From the land of geysers and bankrupt banks reached our "13", the debut of Myrka (13 songs, 59 minutes playing time). Sticking a genre label on the music of this Icelandic four-piece band is not so obvious. They call it 'deathpop ", whatever that may mean. What is certain is that Myrka have some very good songs, also has a highly original sound that blends elements of contemporary goth metal with acid rock sixties and seventies hard rock. Yes! Because in the front of the sound mix is a real Hammond organ, which constitutes a sound reminiscent of ancient prog and hard rock bands like Steppenwolf and Uriah Heep. The singer, Gudny Lara Gunnarsdottir (no opera-fairy) has a beautiful voice that is full of a melancholy way through the 13 depressed pagan-inspired songs. And she plays flute also, as beautifully demonstrated in "Sad World" and the closing song "Reborn". The album opens very strongly with "Unborn" and "Untouched" and the level remains consistently high, with hard, fast, with neurotic Hammond organ and decorated "Lost" and the beautiful songs "My Prison" and "Now Is Gone" as my personal favorites.

Myrka sing about the sun and moon, day and night, the Nordic nature and their feelings to say the least are not very happy. Or what about the "The search for a Meaning is a waste of time / There is Meaning no in an empty life full of sorrow / There's only pain " in "Neurosis". The pagan aspect is beautifully expressed in "Waste", where the cycle of life and death is described very directly: 'Who will décidé it for me / I'll be united with the trees / We will be wasting away / ... / Rotting away in the ground Every Day / Giving New Life to Those That Survive ... ". Fortunately ends in sorrow drenched album with a positive note in the song "Reborn": 'The face reflecting in the lake is smiling at me / I feel so warm inside / So Endlessly good / ... / my fingers turn dark blue When They try to reach you /.../ That's when I'm reborn '. Beautiful! - Dark entries - Music magazine (Dutch)

Not too many bands are coming from the country of Iceland these days. The band Myrkà just so happen to come from that country, and they are just about the only band I can think of that hail from Iceland. The band describe their sound as 'death pop' and that is as fitting a description as any since I really can't think off what genre or sub-genre they would fit into. Their debut release goes by the title of "13" and musically the band is difficult to describe.
"13" features 13-songs (naturally) and 58-minutes worth of interesting music that can be bit of an adventure to listen to at times, but after a few listens, I found myself humming along to the songs and impressed with the whole presentation. The band features a Hammond Organ as a prominent instrument, which is immediately very different for a lot of today's metal, giving the songs almost a Uriah Heep or (early) Deep Purple classic sounding vibe at times.
The lead vocalist is Guony Lara Gunnarsdottir and she brings a raspy sounding voice to the band. Her voice is very consistent with the music and definitely has a charm about it that grew on me with each listen. Some highlights include: "Unborn", "My Prison", "Soon", "All Is Lost" and "Now It's Gone". The final track, "Reborn" turned out to be my favorite as it wraps things up beautifully. The music and songs on "13" have a dark vibe to them. Myrkà, may not appeal to the mainstream metal fan, but I am sure that they will have no problem in finding their niche in the metal community. With the release of, "13" are Myrkà here to usher in a new (or first?) era of Icelandic metal? Only time will tell. - Femme metal webzine - Tony Cannella

Reviewed 5th May 2010

It is a miracle that this CD now sits before me. Firstly, I nearly dismissed this album because these Icelanders describe their music as ‘death pop’, which conjures up images of Cannibal Corpse jamming with Lady Gaga, a truly terrifying prospect. Further investigation revealed that the drummer is a death metal fan, while the rest of the band are pop fans, hence ‘death pop’, simple really, thankfully the rest of us would call it gothic rock, so we are on safe ground. Then the band had technical problems with the first pressings, must have been a difficult time, you get all excited about receiving the first copies of the album you have worked so hard on, only to find they are faulty. Finally, the CD had to dodge the ash cloud that has brought the whole of Europe to a grinding halt. But here it is, safe and sound. The name Myrká, by the way, comes from an Icelandic ghost story; it is the place where a ghostly deacon kept on trying to abduct a young lady called Gudrún, until an exorcist sorted him out. The sound is The Doors mixed with a touch of Hawkwind, early post Barrett Pink Floyd, The Damned, The Stranglers and The Mission, packed full of heavenly Hammond organ courtesy of Stefán, topped with Guðný’s awesome voice which strongly reminds me of Sarah Jezebel Deva (in non operatic mode). The album is stuffed with humdingers, ‘Unborn’, ‘Sad World’, ‘Now It’s Gone’, and ‘Neurosis’ to name but a few, the whole CD sounding like a lost classic from 1969, but with bang up to date 21st century production values. My fave is ‘My Prison’ which sounds like a cross between ‘Silver Machine’ and ‘Telstar’ by the Tornados, or for those of you of a younger vintage, like the version done by the son of their guitarist George Bellamy - Matthew Bellamy and Muse’s ‘Knights of Cydonia’. I am in Hammond heaven with this, it is wonderful to hear a specialist organists again, a truly wondrous sound, not forgetting the excellent contributions from guitarist Guðjón and drummer Helgi. This is a seriously groovy, mega melodic opus for all you bat cavers out there, easily available from CD Baby, and their Myspace is www.myspace.com/myrkamusic. If this is ‘death pop’, then I am most certainly a convert, 9/10 (Reviewed by Phil). - Ravenheart - Phil

"Very original music. 70's Uriah Heep meets Blondie with an Indie edge.." - Garageband

"..audio feast of incredible proportions! Prime ingredienients being talent, originality and a very specific unique quality - which I have no word for." - Rick Frost