Tusenårseken – Mardr​ö​msmeditationer

It might not be the best, but this is surely one of the most exciting pieces of music I’ve heard in a long time. Located in Skåne, Sweden, Tusenårseken (translates to; a thousand-year-old oak) is one-man black metal project of Andreas Karlsson who’s responsible for all the instruments and vocals. In 2020, Andreas released his debut album entitled Svält (Starvation).

Now, his sophomore full-length, entitled Mardrömsmeditationer (Nightmare Meditations) consists 10 tracks, all delivered in his native language. Lyrical concept on Mardrömsmeditationer deals with subjects of Swedish history, old folk tales, famine & generally about pain and harsh times. Musical style can best be described as old-school Nordic black metal and/or a mixture of fast black black metal with some ritualistic folk- and melodic expressions. Only exceptions are the opening song, “Bockens Bön” (The Prayer of the Goat) and the closing one called “Sista Sömnens Sång” (Last Sleep’s Song), where both songs are characterized by some clear singing/chanting with echoed vocals and spooky atmospheric sounds in the background. It almost feels meditative to listen to these two songs in particular, esp. “Sista Sömnens Sång” which ends this album in absolute darkness. On the other hand, the album highlight for me personally, is the track named “Jordens Hjärtslag” (Heartbeat of the Earth) due to its ritualistic and meditative passage and top-notch vocal performance of Mr. Karlsson. Last song worth mentioning here is “Ondskans Öppna Gömmor” (Open Hides of Evil) because the guitar work on this track is amazing, when paired with the aforementioned echoed vocals.

The only con/disadvantage of this record is a general feeling of the songs on this are somehow unfinished. Before one finishes it automatically switches to the next song, while I’m thinking that it’s still the same song. Maybe it’s done done deliberately, but for me as listener it feels unfinished and without a necessary break esp. when dealing with extreme metal genres where black metal fits.

‘A picture tells more than a thousand words’, is a common saying, but in this case I think it’s remarkably accurate, as the cover artwork here is very representative of the music one can hear on this CD. Both logo design and album cover done by his twin-brother, Daniel Karlsson. Production is not too clinical nor too poslihed, but still listenable & clean enough so one can enjoy each of the instruments and especially the vocals.

Obviously, with a total playing time of over fifty-two minutes, the album itself is quite a session. Therefore, Mardrömsmeditationer is not easy to interpret, and I find it a bit complex, even for an experienced metal listener, but after initial couple of spins, it kind of gets under your skin. The album can also be listened to in its entirety on the Bandcamp page, but anyway, I will share the album here, so that I can hopefully convince you of the quality without further explanation.

Recommended for all fans of Swedish black metal and esp. the likes of Afsky, Taake and B**zum. For additional info on this particular 10-tracker album go to https://grindtodeathrecords.bandcamp.com/album/mardr-msmeditationer