Mor Dagor ‎"Mk. IV" CD Digipack

A trailer for "Mk. IV", the new album from German black/death metallers MOR DAGOR (featuring Torturer of BELPHEGOR),can be viewed below.

"Mk. IV" is scheduled for release on July 17 through ARTicaz. The CD was produced, mixed and mastered by Andy Classen at Stage One Studios (BELPHEGOR, KRISIUN, LEGION OF THE DAMNED, NAGLFAR).

I still remember borrowing CDs from my childhood friend, Zahid (we're still keeping in touch), way back in Y2K because at the turn of the century, guitar playing took a tedious embrace for the mundane; the celebration of one's limited abilities playing the guitar as manifested by the whole grunge movement, was still spilling over & music was as drab as it could be. One of the CDs I received from Zahid was Mor Dagor's Bloodstream. I wasn't a fan of black metal back then because of how singular the guitars sound like & often punctuated by bad technicalities but with Mor Dagor, I was extra patient.
I am a fan of the music till today. I believe Mor Dagor consists of some of the most talented minds in the aggressive music industry as evident in the music. Riffs are varied & efforts were made to manifest creativity as opposed to the obligatory buzzing of distorted guitars. The band's latest release, MK. IV, perpetuates this salutations but the guitar tones here are a little disheartening, reminds me of the rather absurd tonalities of Deicide's Once Upon the Cross (ok so you like that one, huh? maybe you like listening to bees buzzing in jars...). The bass in this release is more upfront & plays a rather commanding role on some tunes. The final track fades into a night time atmosphere complete with creaking cicadas & ... country singing?? Intriguing but true...

In 1996 “Torturer” (drums) and his brothers in arms, “Grond” (vocals) and “T.” (guitars) founded Mor Dagor with the aim to commemorate extreme as well as fast Black Metal. After two years of intense work on the musical direction and composition of songs „Grond“ and “T.” left the band. “Beast” (vocals and also guitars) and “Pestilence” (guitars) joined in. Another two years later the first release “Bloodstream” – a mini CD containing six tracks – was recorded at the CKB Studio in Essen in 2000.
Due to the success of “Bloodstream” many concerts were played in that period of time and until 2001. “Lord Ashtaroth” from Belgium joined in to perform bass in Mor Dagor. In December 2001 the first album “Human Execution” with 11 tracks was produced, trusting the CKB Studio once again.
Because of his abilities as a drummer “Torturer” caught the attention of Austria’s Belphegor who also hired him as a drummer. In 2003 Mor Dagor went on a European tour with Asmodeus (AT) and Cirith Gorgor (NL) while furthermore working on the following album after „Human Execution“.
“Lord Ashtaroth” and Mor Dagor deceided to split their ways in early 2004. Twilight Distribution got interested in Mor Dagor so a cooperation deal could be signed which resulted in a re-release of „Human Execution“ as well as the release of their second album “Necropedophilia” in 2004.
In 2005 Ketzer Records released a split-EP of Mor Dagor and “Cirith Gorgor” (NL).
“Nihilist” (bass) acceded to Mor Dagor but unfortunatly “Beast” left the band, because he wasn’t able to spent time on rehearsals and shows.
In 2006 Mor Dagor gathered a new line up: “Tyr/Schmied” (vocals) and “Impaler” (guitars) joined the band and Mor Dagor started to concentrate on working on new material for the fourth album. “Mk. IV” was recorded as well as produced from December 2008 until January 2009 at Andy Classen’s Stage One Studio and was released on the 17th of July 2009 through “Articaz Records”.
During the recordings guitarist “Pestilence” left the band. Mor Dagor had to find a new guitar player. After nearly one year of retrieval and auditions “Lykanthrop” joined in early 2010. With the new band line-up Mor Dagor is hitting the stages again.
In 2011 the long and difficult process of songwiriting for “Redeemer” started. In early 2013 nearly most of the songs were written, as a ground shocking moment hits Mor Dagor. “Impaler” and his fellow “Nihilist” deceided to go parted ways with the band regarding personal and time reasons.
The remaining bandmembers, “Schmied”, “Lykanthrop” and “Torturer” deceided to concentrate on the new album instead of searching musicans for a new line-up.
During the end of December 2013 the recording for “Redeemer” started at Stage One Studios until mid january. After finishing the work, Andy Classen stated that he never heard such interesting riffing and extraordinary black/death metal.

Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...