MORTIIS
In a dark dungeon below a decaying castle beyond a vast forest lives a mystical being known in the musical underworld as Mortiis. Human eyes were first drawn to him while he was bass player for Norway's church burning pagans, Emperor. His participation in the band included their self-titled EP, the infamous "Wrath Of The Tyrant" and the limited edition 7", "As The Shadows Rise". Departing from the band in late 1992 and relocating to Sweden, Mortiis exchanged his bass for an electric keyboard and founded the label Dark Dungeon Music for releasing his synthesizer creations on limited edition vinyl. In addition to the surreal mythological ambience of Mortiis, he would add other musical entities to his list, including the sombre church organs of his and his wife's project Vond and the brighter, fairy realms of his solo-project, Fata Morgana. Mortiis attires himself in a troll-like warrior costume complete with pale, purplish complexion and long, pointy nose and ears. Mortiis' first recording, "Fodt til a herske" (Born To Rule), was hailed an impressive achievement in both metal and ambient circles. "Anden som gjorde oppror"(The Rebellious Spirit) and "Keiser av enb dimensjon ukjent" (Ruler Of A Dimension Unknown) followed with marvellous success, with "Crypt Of The Wizard", his latest collection of synthesizer spells, will also be available in a collector's series of five 12" vinyls. Mortiis explains, "Each single will deal with a certain aspect of the Mortiis world. The central theme of each is the essence of the world itself." Mortiis is already at work recording his fifth epic, "Stargate", with the vinyl version to be released in later this year. All his recordings can be found on CD format through the Swedish label, Cold Meat industry. An allusive figure at best, Mortiis was incredibly hard to track down. When he was finally found, he gave further interpretation of his music. "Mortiis is a timeless being. he has chosen me, a human, to manifest his work upon the planet with music that creates visions inside the minds of men about his kingdom beyond the stars. I am the medium of Mortiis. Mortiis thrives on the energy of souls and grows mighty on them. I think this is why he chose a human to create the myths of Mortiis. Thereby making him prosper in the minds of humanity. I believe this spirit is attracted to me and that when I die, Mortiis will return to his kingdom." As well as his new album, Mortiis is already at work on a graphic novel describing in detail the entire Mortiis legend. The book will be titled "Secrets Of My Kingdom" and should see print hopefully sometime this year. Mortiis summarises the text by saying, "Try to imagine a journey starting with your death showed by a great void of swirling star spirits. These spirits converge to become a giant monument. Somewhere within, through great pillars and vast mountains lies the world of Mortiis. Many perils await the burning death a red vampire sun, the riddler by the swirling ocean and the cursed son of the lost rainbow king are but three encounters on the Mortiis world." Last summer, Mortiis performed several live shows and despite the positive reaction of people, he was not too pleased with the presentations. "All of these shows, including those in Sweden, Austria and Germany, were too long, uneventful and undeveloped. I also think people expected me to appear with fifteen synthesizers and play everything at once. Showing off with tons of modern day technology would be a contradiction to the entire concept of Mortiis." Mortiis has even begun to attract groupies. He smirks and replies, "I have had females write me letters with nude photographs. I have had females hanging around my apartment at times. All of them are usually pretty silly. After all, what sort of woman would really like to hang out with an ugly troll anyway.
e our music as blatant as possible, but tone down the imagery?' Because we have so many representations of the band