Myrkskog – Apocalyptic Psychotica (1998)

Review contributed by Seth Berg.

The only available demo from their brief term in black metal, Myrkskog managed to make a simple homage to In the Nightside Eclipse era Emperor whilst infusing it with their own distinct, though simple, mode of expression.

Unlike its primary influence, Apocalyptic Psychotica does not range far and wide across the cosmos, instead they opt to maintain power by routing all their focus unidirectionally, resulting in songs with only two or three distinct riffs which go through slight sinuous mutations to build tension punctuated by the occasional burst of frantic, phobic intensity. The second positions itself as a stoic, militaristic counterpoint to the former’s emotionally evocative outbursts, allowing it to breathe and build imaginative perspective, rather than become boring and irrelevant through constant intensity.

A short, but poignant demo, Apocalyptic Psychotica manages to maintain dramatic tension and allow a sense of wonder and vastness to seep through with minimal variation in technique. However, it’s abrupt beginning and end left me with the sense that this was just a small snippet taken from a more complete composition.

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13 thoughts on “Myrkskog – Apocalyptic Psychotica (1998)”

  1. N. says:

    Germany? Really?

    1. The Winterdong says:

      This website is really scraping the barrel of writers. Their first demo is ‘Ode til Norge’ for fuck sake!

  2. Marc Defranco says:

    I wonder why this band switched to death metal. If they had a change of mind for some reason or simply just because

    1. Seth says:

      Probably monetary reasons, or they had a fetish for later Deeds of Flesh. This same cadre of musicians would also go on to join Samoth to form the godawful Zyklon.

      1. Marc Defranco says:

        Hmm I have respect for some of the members contributions to different releases but fucking shit is that a lame name especially with Zyklon-B already having releases. You already got a guy in both bands he knew of what the fuck was going on and if he didn’t what was he on about

        1. Yuzerneigm says:

          I always thought that was kinda stupid as well

  3. Rainer Weikusat says:

    This seems to be a Norwegian band.

    The second track of this start at 05:28. IMHO, it’s much better than the (fairly off-putting) first.

  4. KingdomGone says:

    Have you guys received any pre-copies of the new Tau Cross? Looking forward to a review.

  5. Anthony says:

    (((Berg)))

    1. Nordmannen says:

      It’s probably a nome de plume without any significant bearing to it. Or maybe, just maybe, he’s either from or referring to the multitude of berg (mountain) names of Scandinavian or German origin. Burgers, am I right folks…

      1. Seth says:

        Hahaha! That’s actually my really name. Folks changed their name to Berg after immigrating to the U.S. from Bergen, Norway at the turn of the 20th century. Just a good ol’ strong Norwegian name.

        1. Nordmannen says:

          Well there we go then, Bergen literally means “The Mountains”. Most Scandinavian surnames, if not patronymic, are nature based and the suffix -berg is rather commonplace.

      2. you're gay says:

        or he’s a reject from the metalsucks crew

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