Mortiis
The Unraveling Mind
(Omnipresence)
Mortiis has been re-releasing a lot of his material lately. As of right now, all of the Vond material can be purchased as well as Fata Morgana and The Devil’s Songs, all of which were pretty difficult to come by years ago, but are more than worth picking up. These of course represented the second era in the Mortiis transformation, but you can also find the classic first era of black metal on the Bandcamp page as well. As a matter of fact, the only records that aren’t available for purchase there yet would be The Stargate and The Smell Of Rain which I hope is re-released soon as it is in my opinion, his best recording. This album also began his industrial era, albeit with a gothic touch that was dropped from the later albums. In any case, The Unraveling Mind comes just a few years after The Smell Of Rain and a year before The Grudge. It is possible that he was working on both records at the same time, the difference being that this release was originally created for a horror movie. As for that film, I know nothing about it. Though judging from the massive mixture of industrial and electronic soundscapes here, it must have been a science-fiction horror. Apparently, not much of the soundtrack was actually used in the film and naturally, it stands on it’s own.
It goes without saying that The Unraveling Mind takes us back to the second era of Mortiis and it really should have released back when it was supposed to. Not that it doesn’t work now, but it would have been great to hear right off the cusp of his atmospheric era. In fact, let’s put it right in between The Stargate and The Smell Of Rain, because it fits there almost perfectly. The record is frightening, but in a robotic fashion that feels like it could work as a soundtrack (and did) but for a space game of some sort. If Bioshock had never released in 2007 and System Shock 3 did instead, this would have more or less been a perfect soundtrack for it. I don’t know if it would have been worth the sacrifice of a world without Bioshock, but it certainly captures the chilling, cold and industrial atmosphere that I would expect while walking through the dim corridors of that kind of game. That being said, not every track here is exactly frightening and some of them actually come off a bit cheery. I don’t know if that was intended or not, but it certainly shows that this was a period where the artist really seemed to fall in love with the art of producing electronic soundscapes. There are sections where symphonic hums play with piano and the kind of subdued bass riffs that would have made Doom 2016 composer Mick Gordon giddy. Trent Reznor also seems to have played a role here as well, with “Submit” feeling very later era Nine Inch Nails, especially in the light piano sections. Note that there are actually three versions of the piece here, one featuring a great deal of fog and hissing, and the other seeming like an airy ballad. Not something that would sound out of the ordinary for a credits sequence in a Metroid film.
There are a total of eight tracks here if you don’t count the “Submit” clones, but all of them seem to feel rather restrained into the same universe. Tracks like “Redeemer” and “Zotheca” seem to have more influence of drumming, whereas the former is downright battering and the latter feels almost tribal in a way. These definitely feel like great tracks for an artistic medium, but certainly not a horror film. Again, I feel that there’s a game somewhere that could have been better respected or appreciated had this been used as it’s soundtrack. Regardless of what you think about when you’re listening to The Unraveling Mind, it is definitely one of those rare lost albums that is actually worth your money. This is absolutely not a collection of B-Sides or a throwaway piece and is right up there with any of Mortiis’s best albums from his atmosphere era. The only difference is that this is the only industrial soundscape album that he has made and for that reason alone, it’s an absolute must. Mortiis may not have knocked it out of the park with The Great Deceiver, but with The Unraveling Mind he shows that at one time, he was a fantastic industrial composer. Perhaps it is time for him to give this material another try, because it may prove to be a bit more entertaining than the NIN/Ministry worship of his last outing.
As of right now, you can grab a vinyl of this record (limited to 250 copies) with the first fifty red marbled vinyl variants inked and numbered in Mortiis’s own blood. Yes, I did just say that. If you buy one of these records, you will also get a code for the digital version; but if you don’t want blood or vinyl, then you can always grab the digital version of the record (and many others) from his Bandcamp page. I think it is very cool that Mortiis was able to break free of the industry bonds and create his own label to release material on via Bandcamp. As you know, I’m a strict proponent of Bandcamp and feel it is one of the best places to purchase music, bar-none. It’s glad to see such great artists like Mortiis there, able to showcase almost all of his eras in one place. The Unraveling Mind may have been a lost album, but luckily we won’t have to wait any longer to experience this display of industrial goodness. Hopefully, this won’t be the only album that we get from him in this style. I could do with at least a few more of these robotic space excursions.
