Mundare

The German black metal / black‘n’roll band with the strange name MNHG has risen from the ashes of Thyrgrim, an act which was quite popular within the German scene and produced a few very solid records. The style of this band was a very classic and cold brand of traditional Scandinavian influenced black metal, similar to what a lot of other German acts produced (and still produce). While a lot of the trademarks are still inherit in the style of MNHG they added an extra portion of groove and a punkish attitude to give their music a nasty but also somewhat lighter feeling. In 2021 they released their full length debut “Mundare” on Immortal Frost Productions and the end result are 40 minutes of raw and energetic blackened fun.

After a short intro the first riff of "Blasphemic Warfare" starts and from the beginning the band takes no prisoners. Wonderfully simple riffs, which nevertheless ignite, meet a disgusting throaty voice that really spoils your appetite. The bassline rolls along with tons of groove and the guitars put their stamp on the song. The croaking voice of singer K. contributes its share to the fact that the blood gets boiling. Short bursts of violent black metal attacks ensure that even purists have their joy, but the musicians of MNHG always manage to find their way back to the original basic grooves with ease.

The band’s primary operating speed is firmly in mid-paced head-nodding territory, with groovy, spiteful riffs strongly influenced by bands like Darkthrone and their work on some of their later albums. This menacing, slow-rolling type of black metal doesn’t have the benefit of the automatic intensity that is generally provided by lots of blast-beats and tremolo picking, which means that attitude and atmosphere are even more important to the album’s success than usual. MNHG have a notable talent at achieving a misanthropic aesthetic through a combination of malicious vocals and chilling, ominous riff-work, and there was never a moment where I questioned their honesty or sincerity

The mixture of diversity, simple riffs, nasty vocals, crushing atmosphere and an evil image probably makes every lover of extreme music go into raptures. Tempo, riffing and atmosphere are skillfully varied without violating the genre boundaries. The production manages the tightrope walk where many albums fail. The music is neither clinical trigger bombast nor rumbling basement beating with vacuum cleaner charm. Here the drums are not robbed of their authenticity, but press naturally and neatly - also the bass and guitar sectors are mixed appropriately and are perfectly complemented by the vocals.

I am going to admit that most of the time I will prefer black metal which sounds as evil and terrifying as possible. That being said once in a while it is a nice change of pace to dive into something a bit different, be it an atmospheric take on the genre or something which is just fun to listen to. “Mundare” might not reach the heights of the best work of Thyrgrim, but I assume that this was not the intention of the band. Instead of writing the same stuff they already did several years ago once again the decided to serve something fresh. This is the kind of black metal you can listen to even in the summer, driving around in the car with the windows open.