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.
The Grudge
Mortiis Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Trying to think of you as something that will fade with time
Trying to think of you as some kind of distant sin
Trying to think of you yesterdays forgotten dream
Things that you said and the things that you never did
The things that you did and the things that you never said
Left me empty and alone, kinda trying to atone
You must be an emotional heretic
Your word has become like shit on a stick
No matter how hard I tried
Someone close to me lied
Now I carry the grudge
Things that you said and things that you never did
Things that you did and the things that you never said
Left me empty and alone, kinda trying to atone
Empty and alone, the only thing that's real
How can someone be so elusive?
How could someone be so fucking passive?
Even if I walk through all the circles of hell for you
You wouldn't even piss on me
But it's too late, it's too late my dear because I'm already there
You've become an emotional heretic
Your word was always shit on a stick
No matter how hard I tried
You fucking had to lie
Empty and alone, the only thing that's real (X4)
How can someone be so elusive?
How can someone be so fucking passive?
Even if I walk through all the circles of hell for you
You wouldn't even piss on me
But it's too late, it's too late my dear because I'm already there!
The lyrics of Mortiis's "The Grudge" are a powerful expression of a broken relationship and the lasting hurt that comes from it. The singer desperately tries to move on from their past lover, but the memories and emotions refuse to fade away. They see their ex as a distant sin, as someone who has brought pain and regret into their life. They struggle to reconcile the things their ex did or said, or didn't do or say, leaving them feeling empty and alone. The singer's hopelessness and frustration are palpable as they wonder how someone could be so elusive and passive, unable to reciprocate the singer's feelings.
The song is a powerful exploration of the emotion of resentment, or grudge, which often results from unresolved conflicts and emotional wounds. The singer cannot let go of the pain caused by their ex, and the song describes the grudge as carrying a weight that is the only real thing left. The grudge is a metaphor for the singer's hurt and anger, which they feel they cannot release.
Line by Line Meaning
Trying to think of you as some kind of heroine
Attempting to portray you as a hero-like figure in my mind
Trying to think of you as something that will fade with time
Attempting to believe that my feelings for you will eventually diminish over time
Trying to think of you as some kind of distant sin
Trying to view my longing for you as a sinful and forbidden desire that is far removed from me
Trying to think of you yesterdays forgotten dream
Trying to forget my past memories of you as if they were a dream that I no longer remember
Things that you said and the things that you never did
Actions and words, both done and not done, that you have said and affected me
Left me empty and alone, kinda trying to atone
Your actions have left me feeling abandoned and repentant
Empty and alone, the only thing that's real
Feeling completely empty and alone is the only true reality for me
You must be an emotional heretic
I view you as someone who has betrayed my trust and caused me emotional pain
Your word has become like shit on a stick
Your promises and words of reassurance are now meaningless to me
Someone close to me lied
Someone I trusted lied to me about you
Now I carry the grudge
I hold a deep-seated resentment towards you for the pain you have caused me
How can someone be so elusive?
I am questioning how someone can be so hard to get a hold of or understand
How could someone be so fucking passive?
I am questioning how someone can be so unresponsive or indifferent to my feelings
You wouldn't even piss on me
You wouldn't even acknowledge my presence or take the time to help me
But it's too late, it's too late my dear because I'm already there
It's too late for you to realize how much pain you have caused me because I have already internalized it
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Gerard Beckings
amazing voice. love this song and especially this bit "i would do all the cycles of hell for you and you wouldn't even spit on me" yaaay
My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult
Tune! Glad to see it back up on YouTube 🖤
Ensom Kråke
Mortiis Biography
How I left Sauron's army to become an artist
Julio Huaillapuma Meneses
Saludos desde Perú, tremendo canción!!
BLOOD PERVERTOR
Cómo extraño esta era 😭😭
michealdark
Finally, one with good sound quality!
Malicant
I'm not a fan of mortiis but this is a song I actually really like.
Paulina Ostrowska
It is fully what I love !!!!
Eerie Erik
Fucking love this album.
Dr Hur
Hahahahahahaha please stop! Lol