Blood and Thunder

This limited EP, released in 1996, contains two short but atmospheric ambient tracks in the vein of Mortiis' first three solo albums: "Blood And Thunder" and "Battles On Ice" (those titles sure remind me of Bathory, by the way). "Blood And Thunder" starts with a couple of thundering drum beats, after which a melody is started by 'horns', later on accompanied by string sounds. "Battles On Ice" is introduced by something that sounds like a gong, and a melody - alternately played by (again) something horn-like and strings - follows, this time accompanied by hypnotising drums. Indeed, all very much like previous solo works of Mortiis - even the (all in all) quite crappy but nevertheless atmospheric keyboard sounds.
Actually, more than this can't be said about the songs on this EP, since they are each only about two and a half minutes long - which is, according to me, a bad thing, since Mortiis' ambient work needs much more time to unfold itself. The way I see it, that's one of the elements which make 'Født Til Å Herske', 'Anden Som Gjorde Oppror' and 'Keiser Av En Dimension Ukjent' such great albums. And it seems that Mortiis himself also felt like this, because both "Blood And Thunder" and "Battles On Ice" sound like they are only the start of a much longer composition and necessarily had to be ended after some 150 seconds. Too bad, because otherwise, I suppose that this could have been another great Mortiis album.