Gravrost

When he's not celebrating the Prince of Darkness and all his works in his primary band, Marduk frontman Daniel Rosten has a side project of dark electronica, DomJord. Ominous though not as evil-sounding as his black metal projects, his latest album, Gravrost, consists of minimalist synth noodling along the lines of post-prison Burzum, but with more of a mechanized sound. Starting out with Overgang we get a misty, all-pervading synth, with slow drums echoing behind the keyboards, and continued in the next track on a similar theme with the tune quietly plinking. Dodsdans is more active, and it sounds good, though the arpeggio he repeats for over eight minutes gets a little old towards the end. I liked the pacing of Jarn, too, which was the most Varg-ish of the tracks, for better or for worse. The album ends with Undergang, where the synth gets warmer and buzzes electrically behind bigger and heavier drums. Let's face it, though: It's basic dungeon synth that's listenable without being very interesting. If DomJord wasn't Mortuus's project, it would get completely ignored, and while there are some pretty bits on Gravrost, anyone hoping for something Marduk-quality might as well look elsewhere. Bandcamp: https://domjord.bandcamp.com.