The first time that I came in touch with New Era Productions was when I bought the Bloodwraak – Verdoem Al ‘t Christelijk Leven album by Mordaehoth at the beginning of this century. It’s this label once again that takes care of this must-have compilation, because of the rarity of the material on it. And it was the first time I listened to Mordaehoth too. Now, more than a decade after my first acquaintance, this Dutch one-man project still spits fire and blood upon mankind, though the audience might not have experienced lots of it. It took until 2010 before Remco ‘Sigwyrd’ Mettrop (before he named himself Drauglin) released another full length. However, in between both albums, and before the release of the 2002-debut, there were several splits and different demonstrational tapes. Some of them were never released officially, but just recorded as outlet for the band leader’s frustrations, emotions and feelings. Only a handful of people, close friends of Sigwyrd, were honored by being send a copy of those tapes.
Apparently, some of that stuff gets now compiled under the title Limburgian Pagan Madness. Haha, it immediately shows two things: 1) Mordaehoth being a musical entity from the province of Limburg in the south of the Netherlands (although Sigwyrd was born at the other side of Holland) (and hey, it was the home for the legendary Bokkenrijders too, but that’s another story), and 2) it does reveal a glimpse of Mordaehoth’s influences: cf. Absurd with their Thuringian Pagan Madness! Keep in mind…
The CD-version (500 copies) gets released by Remco’s own New Era Productions, the vinyl edition too (being limited to 250 copies) yet being available in co-operation with another, comparable Dutch label, Heidens Hart Records. The latter takes care of the tape-version as well; this one being limited to 100 copies only. Oh yes, the different editions come with different artwork and with some other bonus tracks. Since I did receive the CD-edition, I cannot but write about them.
Anyway, this compilation starts with a cool, somewhat scary, eerie and obscure industrialized intro, which was, I think, written for this compilation especially. Then come several pieces from those rare tape recordings, being the extremely intense and oppressive Het Heilige Land Zal Branden (which includes an Infernum-cover!), the raw and Necro-Thrash-edged Thor’s Wraak, and the more hypnotic, obscure and dark-atmospheric Among The Dead He Shall Remain, with inclusion of an own interpretation on Isengard’s Bergtrollets Gravferd.
It stands, in general, for powerfully driven, guitar-melody based yet raw Black Metal, injected by fierce rhythm assaults, occult synth passages and sulfur-breathed screams. But as mentioned, there are some pronounced differences too, which is a strong trademark for Mordaehoth’s sound and execution. At the same time, the sound is extremely unpolished and rough, but that is the way this is meant to be. At least that’s Sigwyrd’s view on this whole project. Whatever… I cannot disagree, for I adore this kind of underground sound. Okay, it could have been improved a little for sure (why not anyway), but this kind of material does certainly not need a clinically polished production after all. And since this compilation deals with demonstrational material that was initially not meant to be commercialized…