Heimkehr

“Heimkehr” is an early document of Baptist’s understanding of black metal. The spiritual father of Mavorim has five black precious objects under his sleeves. I am speaking of the handful of real black metal songs with a total duration of 35 minutes. Three ambient excursions complete the demo. In all honesty, these short pieces fail to enrich the output significantly, but they also do not affect the positive big picture. In view of the proportion of black frenzy to dignified keyboard melodies, it goes without saying that the powerful side of Mavorim’s music is characterising for this demo.

By the way, the five regular tracks achieve a higher degree of metallic harshness than the songs on the recently published “Ab Amitia Pulsae”. This does not mean that they are better than Baptist’s new compositions. His new songs shine with morbidity exactly because of some seemingly lovely harmonies which are always treacherous. Anyway, there are a lot of strict, straight and sometimes very fast sequences to find on “Heimkehr” and they show two things: the will to destroy and the mature status of the composer at this early stage of his work.

The quasi-opener “Was auf Erden wandelt” rushes forward restlessly. It starts with mid-paced rhythms and a simple yet great guitar line and turns into a high speed attack. No need to panic, its nearly one-dimensional configuration is not at the expense of atmosphere. Mysterious keyboard lines hover discreetly around and the vocals of Baptist sound like you imagine the voice of a nocturnal ghost in the distance. The song sets the course for “Heimkehr”. There are heavily stomping parts that follow Bathory’s title track of “Blood Fire Death”, mid-paced sequences and high speed eruptions in which Baptist creates an all-devouring vortex. But with the exception of rare ambient breaks the songs remain true to their straight focus.

The artwork of the CD reflects both the aesthetics of the genre and the musical content perfectly. Moreover, it goes without saying that the lyrics also deal with appropriate topics. Baptist uses the word “Heimkehr” (return home) as a synonym for the process of dying. His longing for death (in German: Todessehnsucht) characterises the lyrics and so everything on this demo goes hand in hand – the visual, the musical and the poetic side. Finally, the production does not destroy the strong overall impression. To my surprise, it is more voluminous and better than those of the “Ex Umbra in Solem” demos. Maybe it is not perfectly balanced – Baptist’s German vocals are even for Teutonic ears barely understandable, because the instrumental section dominates the mix. But this is no big deal, everybody can read the lyrics in the stylishly designed booklet. Nevertheless, let’s speak about another detail with room for optimization: maybe wicked tongues blame the demo for its repetitiveness. I disagree. Yes, perhaps there are a few grams of fat, but Mavorim avoid monotony and the repetition of some parts just increases the density and aura of the songs.

The first part of the final full track “Träume” bows down to Varg Vikernes without falling out of the general frame of “Heimkehr”. As the song progresses, it explodes and turns into another outburst of high velocity. It marks the last highlight on a demo without any fillers (as long as we speak about the metal tracks). It is amazing to see that Baptist obviously had a knack for thrilling compositions right from the beginning of his creative work. Given this situation, I can recommend this output wholeheartedly – just like every release from this fantastic project.

Mavorim is a solo black metal ambient project currently based in Bavaria with four releases (two of them split releases with other artists) so far to its name. At present, "Heimkehr" is about as close as we'll get to an album from Mavorim - it was released on cassette in a limited edition of 66 copies back in 2016. I guess then it's not surprising that this release hasn't had any reviews. A real pity that, because from what I've heard so far (on Youtube), this work is full of raw energy and passionate feeling, and Mavorim's style embraces melodic second-generation BM with a flair for catchy pop melody in parts. Sole member P plays all instruments at a good and consistent level: guitars have a bleeding-raw and grinding texture but are otherwise very clear, and the percussion is strong and hard-hitting. P's raspy vocals convey plenty of emotion ranging from fury and hate to bitterness, and have a very frost-bitten edge. Nearly all songs feature brief passages of cold ambient and/or nature-based field recordings, often at the beginning, and droning synthesiser wash may be present in the background.

The first proper song "Was auf Erden wandelt" ("What walks the earth") is an aggressive speedster that charges along on a strong bass groove and thundering drums while phantom vocals shriek and howl. Through repetition the song builds up tension to an ominous thumping climax. The next track mixes up various beats and rhythms at a fast pace and settles down to something a bit more sedate without losing energy or aggression. "Kein Licht" ("No Light") is the best track of the three, combining urgent speed and thrumming rhythms with sighing keyboards and moments of dark uncertainty when the music slows down to solo raw lead guitar or see-saw nauseous. On this song, P's ability for putting together different rhythms and melodies in one coherent, unified work is prominent, and the song races to an emphatic doom conclusion.

The ambient interludes at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the EP I don't really care for as they are essentially the same one-finger keyboard instrumental and as flat-out uninteresting as it's possible for a kitsch one-dimensional tune to be. Let's roll on then to "Im Sterben Vereint" ("In Death United"), the first of two slower-paced and fairly long songs. In spite of the title, this is a catchy number with strong, almost martial rhythms and pounding beats. "Traume" ("Dreams") brings up the rear with a solid if less distinctive chainsaw-guitar performance.

I find it so odd that this EP wasn't released as an album as it clocks in at almost 40 minutes in length and the music exudes confidence, energy and a high, consistent level of technical competence. The sound might not be distinctive enough but Mavorim already has a definite style: songs have a melodic immediacy with varied rhythms, tunes and riffs, and in an earlier age of rock and pop each song could have been a potential single. They do all sound a weeny bit alike as P has stuck to a minimalist instrumental set-up of guitars, bass and drums, and has tried not to sound too monotonous by mixing up rhythms and beats on songs - but too much of this and tracks lose their individuality.

On future recordings, Mavorim could strive for more atmosphere and a greater variety of instrumentation and effects to give the music even more individuality, greater intensity and emotion. If P were so minded, I can easily see Mavorim going down a path towards a more epic, almost bombastic style, with layers of raw guitar, more booming percussion and some orchestral elements. But I hope he retains the passion and single-minded focus of this early release.