I love writing these explorations of the lighter sides of things because, well, sometimes it really isn’t the lighter side of anything just because it “isn’t metal”.  But isn’t “metal” just a feeling you carry in your heart anyway?  Is it the presence of distortion on an electric guitar that makes something metal, or is it deeper?  Is it a certain occult or menacing je ne sais quois?  Is it barely intelligible vocal fried lyrics?  Well…Mondernte has all of that and more on Communion, all wrapped up in a package that we here at Nine Circles, LLC, have been assured is not exactly metal.  But is it really?  And does that matter at the end of the day?

Honestly, there’s not much out there I can find that’ll serve as a background on Mondernte.  I can tell you a few things with relative certainty: this appears to be a one woman project, helmed by a person who uses the initials S.W.R.; the descriptor of this project is “aural luciferian witchcraft” (what a fucking strong brand if I’ve ever seen one); they are from Iceland and sing in Icelandic on quite a few of the tracks on Communion; and, most importantly Fiadh Productions, inc. has assured us that this is folk music first, albeit with *a lot* of black metal influence, if that wasn’t apparent.  “Haunting,” “droning” and “bleakly dark” are all descriptors of Communion provided, and I would say that’s spot on.  The instrumentation is not super traditional and folky, as there are a lot of synths and electric guitars (even, gasp, distorted ones) but there are also plenty of strings and percussion to keep things predominantly folky.  In fact, droning strings is one of the foundations of the esoteric incantations that S.W.R. casts on the six tracks that make up Communion.  The production also effectively blends the line between genres.  It’s most certainly lo-fi, in both a garage folk and old-school black metal sort of way, but not so cheap on the production that you lose the important stuff.  Rather, it very effectively captures a very particular feeling and mood that I don’t think I have to describe to anyone reading this site. One additional very cool thing about Communion is that it is meant to be a release that celebrates Mondernte’s performance at the Cascadian Midsummer festival, an invitation for new fans to break into her work as well as something cool for the fans who have been around for a while.

Opener “Skogens Dotter” effectively sets the stage for the aural luciferian witchcraft to come.  Her voice barely a whisper at first, S.W.R. chants a spell at you over feedback and drones at first before a melody on some kind of bowed stringed instrument comes through and her whisper turns into a growl that pierces right into the heart and honestly sends chills up my spine.  Spooky indeed, but there’s a lot of room for subtle beauty to break in before distorted guitars take over the backbone of the track and build up to something that really does bear a lot of resemblance to black metal before fading back into whispers and strings to fade out.  “Flowers on Our Grave” similarly builds off of droning electric guitars and strings, but features a much more delicate side of S.W.R.’s vocals, lilting and weaving through a ballad that seems as old as time.  Things get a little crunchier on “Witches’ Wrath,” like you’d expect, with a harsh noise level of feedback and the creepiest laughter this side of an A24 movie coming right at you over out of tune guitars blasting atonal leads.  Things settle down a bit as the main melody moves in, with softer chanting and a lovely string motif, but soon we’re right back to grim and frosty power chords and hushed growls.  The whole album sort of flows in this pattern, which I really appreciate for what it is.  That being said, after you listen to the first couple of tracks, there aren’t really any surprises left, but what you get is really solid and effortlessly cool.

Communion is a short but sweet affair, and it does a really great job of reminding me why I like music that blurs the lines as much as I do.  It looks like this is only Mondernte’s second proper album, but they have a ton of splits and EPs up on their Bandcamp page, so there is no shortage of depth to sink to in learning more about this project.  It’s definitely unique, and I’m once again very glad that I took a chance on a random Fiadh promo.

— Ian

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Communion is available now on Fiadh Productions.  For more information on Mondernte, visit their Facebook page.