Mordor - "Csejthe" [1992]

Artist: Mordor

Title: Csejthe

Genre: Funeral Doom Metal, Industrial/Ambient

Country: Switzerland

Release date: 1992

Track List:

1. Bloody Comtess
2. First Birth Of the Cruel Nymph
3. Last Demoniac Invocation
4. Self Immolation for my Sweet Goddess of the Dark Dawn
5. The Moment of the Worship of Total Evilution
6. In Search of the Pure Negation
7. Agony: The Ascent of the Mountain

Mordor, initially formed in 1987 as a proto-black metal band Arög, are one of the pioneers of funeral doom and drone/doom. Surely, these genres have gained a rather poor reputation by now due to the influx of numerous low-effort projects, but back then, a release like "Csejthe" was groundbreaking, even if the band members weren't too concerned with creating something unique and just played what they could (pretty much the same story as with Вой and early Thergothon).

"Csejthe" is often called an industrial doom metal release, and while I can see where it comes from, there are not that many metal elements. Its sound is mostly guitar-based dark/drone ambient (and even martial industrial at times); while doom metal riffs are present, they don't play a leading role. The lyrics are said to be about the exploration of what goes beyond the ordinary view of the world and human nature (which basically means the usual occult/horror stuff typical for lyrical themes in black metal). Overall, the value of this album is mostly historical, and it's definitely not a release for everyone's liking, yet it's interesting to see another innovative band from Switzerland that deserves to be mentioned among bands like Samael, Celtic Frost, Coroner, etc. And, with all honestly, "Csejthe" quite resembles some of the music I was trying to write as a teenager (of course I'm not going to show it to the public, though)...