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.
Mental Maelstrom
Mortiis Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I want you to fall down.
I want to be the end
- of everything you've ever done.
The cities that I built,
The forests that I grew,
Got stained by your filth,
You Stink!
Just!
Like!
The pigs you are
How long? How long?
How far are you willing to go?
How much? How dry?
I have seen the devil's eye.
- And it is you.
The world shut me out.
I see your faces in the sand.
But if I reach out,
You're gonna break my hand.
I want you to be here,
I want you to descend to,
This pathetic mind-made sphere.
The perpetual end.
I want to be the end
of everything you have ever done.
The lyrics of Mortiis's song "Mental Maelstrom" convey a sense of anger and disgust towards a group of people or society at large. The persona in the song appears to have built and nurtured the world around them, represented by the cities and forests, but feels that these creations have been tainted and polluted by the people's behavior. The persona revels in this disgust and wants the recipients of their wrath to "descend," to fall and be destroyed. The persona believes that they are the end, the final result of everything the people have ever done, and wants to see the perpetual end of this world they have built.
The lyrics express a sense of powerlessness and despair, as the persona mentions being shut out by the world and seeing the faces of the people in the sand. They want the people to be with them in the "pathetic mind-made sphere," but it appears that these people are causing harm and preventing any sort of connection from happening. The persona has seen the devil's eye, and that eye is the people, suggesting that it is their behavior that is causing the destruction and contamination of the world around them. Overall, the lyrics suggest a deep sense of contempt towards humanity and a desire to see the world destroyed for their perceived sins.
Line by Line Meaning
I want you to descend.
I want you to sink into a deep, dark place.
I want you to fall down.
I want you to collapse and become helpless.
I want to be the end
- of everything you've ever done.
I want to destroy everything you have ever accomplished or achieved.
The cities that I built,
The forests that I grew,
Got stained by your filth,
And now they smell like you.
The places I created have been contaminated and now remind me of your disgusting presence.
You Stink!
Just!
Like!
The pigs you are
You have a foul odor and remind me of pigs, who are known for their dirtiness.
How long? How long?
How far are you willing to go?
How much? How dry?
I have seen the devil's eye.
- And it is you.
I question how much evil you are capable of, as I have witnessed your attempts to harm others and recognize you as a representation of the devil.
The world shut me out.
I see your faces in the sand.
But if I reach out,
You're gonna break my hand.
I feel excluded by society and see reminders of you everywhere, though I know that reaching out to you will only result in pain.
I want you to be here,
I want you to descend to,
This pathetic mind-made sphere.
The perpetual end.
I want you to suffer alongside me in this miserable existence, as we are trapped in a cycle of despair.
I want to be the end
of everything you have ever done.
I want to erase any evidence of your existence and cause your downfall.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@kelem4175
This song never gets old. Love it 😁
I want you to descend.
I want you to fall down.
I want to be the end
- Of everything you've ever done.
The cities that I built,
The forests that I grew,
Got stained by your filth,
And now they smell like you.
You Stink!
Just!
Like!
The pigs you are.
The world shut me out.
I see your faces in the sand.
But if I reach out,
You're gonna break my hand.
I want you to be here,
I want you to descend to,
This pathetic mind-made sphere,
The perpetual end.
How long? How long?
How far are you willing to go?
How much? How dry?
I have seen the devil's eye
- And it is you.
Repeat
@NokturnoMortuus
Mental Maelstrom
I want you to descend.
I want you to fall down.
I want to be the end
- Of everything you've ever done.
The cities that I built,
The forests that I grew,
Got stained by your filth,
And now they smell like you.
You Stink!
Just!
Like!
The pigs you are.
How long? How long?
How far are you willing to go?
How much? How dry?
I have seen the devil's eye
- And it is you.
The world shut me out.
I see your faces in the sand.
But if I reach out,
You're gonna break my hand.
I want you to be here,
I want you to descend to,
This pathetic mind-made sphere,
The perpetual end.
I want to be the end
- Of everything you've ever done.
@rorynelsonmoores9051
Imagine just chilling at the club and Mortiis walks in...
@viktoriaherzberg9519
This video is exactly about what I feel when visiting a nightclub 👍
@psvriknstf
I enjoy playing this on my set at rock/metal parties I have the luck to be the dj 🤘🖤
@Cyaneyed77
I used to stack shelves listening to this (with earphones of course). The kick in the bass at the start was pure inspiration.
@go9550
Пик творчества Mortiisa. Самый классный альбом
@viktarsokhar5750
Очень атмосферно!
@360entertainment2
I’ve always had a strong fascination for this song, I could really see it playing as an undead group marches toward a survivors encampment in any movie!
@ffiaidd6277
My first ever live show ♡ i went on my own and loved it ♡
@fumeres
A Mortiis le gusta la fiesta! Mejor que en su castillo de antes... jajaja y con voz seductora... MEGALIKE!
@dmbellum7312
had this song on an old Earache album when i was a kid... been trying to find the name of this song for the last 18 years and today i found it! just as good as i remember it!!!