Satyricon & Munch (Napalm Records) is the coming together of two icons of Oslo, Norway – the visuals of artist Edvard Munch inform a new piece of music by black metal veterans Satyricon. With the music inspired by — and presented as part of — a new exhibition at Oslo’s MUNCH museum, this 56-minute recording of new material exists also independent of its visual counterpart. If expecting a full-on black metal album, approach with caution; for those ready for an atmospheric, instrumental journey, this dark trip may be worthy of your time.
Anyone who has absorbed the artwork of Norwegian painter Edvard Munch will doubtless have felt the sense of melancholia and isolation that much of his work is infused with. Involved with the selection of pieces for the current exhibition, Satyr used the art as inspiration to create the music that visitors now hear as they pass through the exhibition.
As curator Trinne Otte Bak Nielsen explains, ““We didn’t want to have music and art beside each other. We wanted them to be one experience”. Presented as one (mostly) continuous piece of music across one track, Satyricon & Munch might sit more comfortably alongside a Trent Reznor movie soundtrack than a typical black metal album.
Certainly there are recognisable black metal motifs — at around eight minutes and just past the halfway mark Satyr goes to the black metal guitar well. For the rest of the album though, far more space is given to drones, dark ambience, analog synths and a range of classical instruments weaving in and out of the recording — from cello and viola, to clarinet and jouhikko.
From a tonal point of view, the record sounds fantastic. The production is lush and rich. With all this instrumentation there are plenty of interesting textures popping up throughout the record. The flow of the album is also pretty seamless. Aside from one moment around 45 minutes in — where everything briefly stops before a passage of pleasantly interweaving guitars come in — this pretty much feels like one continuous piece of music.
Certainly there’s a smooth flow to this music, perhaps a little too smooth. For all the interesting instrumentation and the brooding darkness of the electronic droning and bass instruments, there isn’t much dissonance on this record. Perhaps Satyr was mindful of creating a musical piece that wouldn’t distract from the accompanying artwork, or he sought to avoid making this release something only fans of metal would enjoy.
The fact that this album — minus the brief black metal motifs mentioned earlier — bears almost no resemblance to metal of any sort absolutely need not be a weakness. However for a piece of music inspired by art as tormented as that of Munch’s, perhaps a few jarring moments could have been woven in. Which is not to say that the record lacks dynamics. There are a few pounding crescendos where the music might evoke a viking ship coming over the horizon — and where the record is sparse and minimal it is often at its most affecting.
In terms of emotional impact though, this is like Nine Inch Nails levels of darkness — and that’s pretty cool — but with just a touch of the existential terror of Scott Walker’s Tilt or The Drift this could have hit harder.
Ultimately, this is a dark, brooding — but also at times surprisingly soothing — journey that’s an enjoyable hour spent, but doesn’t quite hit the emotional nerve endings it probably aims to.
Buy the album here: https://satyricon.bandcamp.com/album/satyricon-munch
7 / 10
TOM OSMAN