Second 'Era1' MORTIIS Vinyl Reissue Announced

The exploration of Mortiis' classic "Era1" recordings continues this summer with the re-release of his 1995 album, "Keiser Av En Dimensjon Ukjent", by Italian label Ordo MCM on July 23.

"Keiser Av En Dimensjon Ukjent" delves deeper into Mortiis' passion for creating dark, epic soundscapes, inspired by the unlikely combination of black metal, KISS, W.A.S.P., and Tolkien. "I always said those elements got thrown into a hotpot and out came Mortiis," he said.

Though the album's two tracks, "Reisene Til Grotter Og Ødemarker" and "Keiser Av En Dimensjon Ukjent", were recorded entirely using synths, the writing process behind the tracks was a much more organic experience.

"I wasn't using sequencers or any other means of recording parts and ideas as I went along, so everything was by ear and making notes," Mortiis said. "I'd come up with parts I liked, and keeping those in mind I'd come up with other parts that I thought would layer correctly on top. It was all about remembering things. I used a color-coding system when I wrote the music down. It wasn't sheet music or notations of any sort, just me writing down the name of the sound in blue, red, green, or whatever, and also the settings for each sound in brackets, like amount of reverb, release, decay, et cetera. I only really owned one synth, which was a cheap Roland JV30 — real entry-level stuff, but it had some good sounds on it."

"Keiser Av En Dimensjon Ukjent" will be distributed in the U.S. by Hells Headbangers and 20 Buck Spin. The release will be available in Europe via the Ordo MCM web site.