Håvard Ellefsen, often referred to as Mortiis, is the only constant band member. He was born in Skien, Telemark. Mortiis began his musical career playing bass for the black metal act Emperor. He stayed with the band just over one year before going on to create his own solo project, though unlike his previous band the music would be dark ambient oriented. Ellefsen was experimenting greatly with music during his early solo career. He started four separate projects, though the focus was always on Mortiis.
Ellefsen wrapped up work on the soundtrack to the movie Broken and The Devil's Chair (Renegade Films) in 2007. Both films were directed by Adam Mason who first worked with him on the Mortiis video for Decadent & Desperate. Having completed an album's worth of songs, Ellefsen commented at how they were "atmospheric and eerie" and also "very dark" while "some of it actually is semi-song structured, with some melody and sense to it." They were done under the Mortiis name. The collected music will eventually be released as a Mortiis album.
Mortiis as a band was formed shortly after the release of The Smell of Rain.
Dark Dungeon Music was the personal record label of Mortiis. It operated between 1995 and 1999 while Mortiis resided in Halmstad, Sweden, and released mostly limited-edition vinyl. It was dissolved as Mortiis moved back to Norway in late 1999.
For nearly the entirety of the band's existence, frontman Ellefsen has altered his facial appearance using several alternatives before using a prosthetic mask and ear set. The studio who made Mortiis' mask asked for a character reference for the moulding. The mask was always coupled with ears. During Era I the mask covered his whole face, though by Era III it had an appearance whereby it seemed to be falling off and was stitched in place. The mask was dropped after the release of Some Kind of Heroin. Having stated in an interview that the mask has been shelved "for better or worse", as part of the significance of Some Kind of Heroin.
Ellefsen's choice of dreadlocks (sometime after Era I), and various outfits helped produce the "Mortiis image". When asked as to what the mask represents he has answered, "I do not look upon myself as a goblin, or troll, or elf, or medieval. I am merely Mortiis." When talking about the influence for the imagery that his band uses, Ellefsen has commented, "A lot of people do not get that you can do more than just look like you're waiting for a bus. I mean how dull is that? I grew up with Kiss, W.A.S.P. and Alice Cooper.
The title of Era I was never intentional. It came about in 2001 when Mortiis was set to release The Smell of Rain, which was such a departure from his earlier records that he wanted to brand it in a way to signify this. All works previous to The Smell of Rain were thereafter referred to as Era I as a consequence. All of the Era I albums were composed entirely on synthesizers, creating a sound that Mortiis described as "dark dungeon music"- a fundamental influence on the later Dungeon Synth genre. The last album of this era, The Stargate, went a step further by introducing a wider range of instruments including acoustic guitars, flutes and dark vocals; mainly provided by Sarah Jezebel Deva.
Songs on The Smell of Rain were electropop, and frontman Ellefsen took to lead vocals for the first time. This would be the only release under the title of Era II. It was during this era that Ellefsen decided he needed to seek members to perform in a live setting, which later helped change how Mortiis as a band sounded. The first live shows with this new lineup and with Mortiis as frontman & vocalist took place in the United Kingdom in December 2001.
With Era III came The Grudge, which took an even more drastic turn from previous eras and is said to have made the biggest impression of any of his albums. The Grudge took on a heavy industrial rock emphasis, combining grinding guitars and industrial programming. Some of the longtime fans were again not too happy with this turn, but it helped gain Mortiis more new fans. In 2005, the Norwegian Culture Council selected The Grudge to be freely available for listening to the public in libraries across the country.
On 16 April 2007 Mortiis released a remix album titled Some Kind of Heroin, reworking material from The Grudge, via Earache Records. "Some Kind of Heroin" offers diverse remix material including interpretations by a wide range of contemporaries, such as Zombie Girl, Gothminister, Implant, XP8, PIG, The Kovenant, Velvet Acid Christ, Girls Under Glass, David Wallace, Kubrick, Flesh Field, Victor Vortexx, Dope Stars Inc, In the Nursery among others. In late 2009 and early 2010 earlier music has been partly reprogrammed and re-arranged for future live use.
On 10 October 2010 Mortiis released Perfectly Defect as a free internet only download album. Regarding why the album was free, Mortiis stated, "The new model of the music business is important to keep in mind; there's a new mentality out there in terms of how people acquire their music now." During this time and the subsequent tours, the visual appearance and sound was similar to that of Era III, but with a more Industrial appearance closer to Combichrist and without any form of mask which had been a key characteristic of previous eras. Although this is marked as being part of Era III, this could be construed as a movement in Era IV.
A four-year hiatus was broken on 8 June 2015 when a message placed on the band's Facebook page suggested a new album was on its way in a new era, Era 0. This was confirmed on 5 October 2015 when the release of the single "Doppelgänger," off the forthcoming album The Great Deceiver. The artwork for "Doppelgänger" included the familiar Mortiis logo, but with the Era 0 subscript, confirming the new Era. The album (The Great Deceiver) was originally finished in 2008, and included mixes by Chris Vrenna (of Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson).
Additional material was also finished with enough material for another album during 2009. To mark the return, Mortiis announced a series of US tours starting on 7 October 2015 with "The Devils Be Damned Tour". Despite the Era being 0, this was not a return to the original sound of Era I, but a continuation of that within Era III, again with complete lack of prosthetics or mask, but keeping the gothic/industrial costuming and face paint.
In January 2020, Mortiis returned to his Era 1 style of music with the album Spirit of Rebellion. The album was a reworking of his 1994 work Ånden som Gjorde Opprør, and was instigated after he was invited to perform at the 25th anniversary celebrations for former label Cold Meat Industry in 2017. In April 2020, he shared a work in progress tentatively entitled The Shadow of the Tower during the online Dungeon Synth festival 'Northeast Dungeon Siege'. An extract was also shared on Mortiis' Bandcamp page; again, the style of this new track reflected the style of the artist's early output. A previously unreleased 1997 track of the same name was released via the same website in October 2020, with Mortiis explaining that the piece had previously been used as atmospheric background music during his sporadic live shows of the era. A second such sample, entitled Blood Becomes Water, was released in July 2020.
Mortiis admitted to having long-held negative feelings about his 1990s output, feeling resentment towards perceived lack of quality in musicianship and production. However, he has since reassessed his detachment towards this material, and now sees renewed worth in the honesty and originality of his early records. In the period leading up to the release of Spirit of Rebellion, many of these early releases were reissued, having remained largely out of print for many years. Mortiis' 2001 book, Secrets of My Kingdom, was also reprinted as an expanded edition in 2018. Subtitled Return to Dimensions Unknown, the reprint featured new interviews, images and other archive material from the 1990s.
Side projects include Cintecele Diavolui, Fata Morgana, and Vond.
{Passing by} an old and raped Village
Mortiis Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I feel a prescence of evil, a silent sound...
A village old, pillaged and raped,
houses rotten or burnt...
Here are signs of battles of old...
Raided for their virgins and gold...
From cometh this evil air?
This pressing warning of danger?
Mayhaps the folk whom once lived here
are now cursing this place, and all who behold?
And evil place once lovely and fair...
Its garden are grey now, and sad voices haunt the village...
Houses rotten, fallen roofs... Winds gushing through...
I wonder who raped and pillaged here...
And what meaneth the signs painted on those doors
that have yet not fallen to the ground...
Where did the fair virgins go, and what are of them today?
Mystic this place is and I fear my questions
will stay unanswered, untill my dying day...
The lyrics of Mortiis's song "Passing by" describe the singer's encounter with an old, once lovely and fair village that has been pillaged and raped. As the singer walks through the village, he senses a presence of evil and a silent sound that fills him with a pressing warning of danger. The houses in the village are either rotten, burnt, or have fallen roofs, and there are signs of battles of old that suggest the villagers were raided for their virgins and gold. The singer wonders who raped and pillaged the village and what happened to the villagers who once lived there. He feels the place is mystic and that his questions will remain unanswered until his dying day.
Line by Line Meaning
Through boughs and leaves and stone on ground.
As I walk through the forest, I sense a feeling of unease and foreboding.
A village old, pillaged and raped,
This village was once peaceful, but now it has been destroyed and taken over by violence and cruelty.
houses rotten or burnt...
All of the buildings in the village are damaged or destroyed, with signs of fire and decay.
Here are signs of battles of old...
The village shows many signs of past conflicts, with weapons and remains scattered throughout.
Raided for their virgins and gold...
The attackers were motivated by their desire for both the women and the riches of the village.
From cometh this evil air?
The atmosphere in the village is heavy and oppressive, as if something truly sinister lingers there.
This pressing warning of danger?
There is a sense of imminent peril that hangs over the village, with a constant feeling of impending doom.
Mayhaps the folk whom once lived here
Perhaps those who once called this village home now mourn and lament their lost way of life.
are now cursing this place, and all who behold?
It's possible that the former residents of the village are now placing a curse on anyone who dares to come and witness what has been done to their home.
And evil place once lovely and fair...
This village was once a beautiful and idyllic place, but now it has been turned into a dark and malevolent environment.
Its garden are grey now, and sad voices haunt the village...
The gardens that once bloomed with life and vitality are now devoid of color, and the echoes of sorrowful cries can be heard throughout the area.
Houses rotten, fallen roofs... Winds gushing through...
The homes in the village are in a state of disrepair, with roofs that have collapsed and windows that are shattered. The wind whistles through the abandoned streets.
I wonder who raped and pillaged here...
The singer ponders over who could have possibly committed such an atrocity.
And what meaneth the signs painted on those doors that have yet not fallen to the ground...
There are markings on the doors of the remaining standing buildings that may contain clues as to what truly happened in the village.
Where did the fair virgins go, and what are of them today?
The singer is left to wonder what became of the young women who were taken from the village by the attackers.
Mystic this place is and I fear my questions will stay unanswered, untill my dying day...
The village holds an air of mystery that even the most curious of individuals will be unable to unravel completely. The questions raised by the destruction of this once-beautiful settlement will remain unanswered forever.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Mario Asmus
Mortiis Era 1 , the best dark dungeon musik ever !
humungus3
Through boughs and leaves and stone on ground.
I feel a presence of evil, a silent sound.
An evil place once lovely and fair.
It's gardens are grey, sad voices of despair.
A village old, pillaged and raped.
All the houses are rotten or burnt.
Here are signs of battles of old.
Raided for the virgins and their gold.
From where cometh this evil air?
The pressing warning of danger.