Purity ThroughFire sets January 31st, 2020 as the international release date for Mavorim‘s highly anticipated second album, Axis Mundi, on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.
For the last five years, the defiant warlord otherwise known as Baptist has put forth a stark, austere style of black metal under the Mavorim banner. With a couple demos, splits, and then 2018’s Silent Leges Inter Arma debut album through Purity ThroughFire, Mavorim has swiftly come to define the new breed of German black metal that hearkens back to the old guard: Teutonic to the bone, harsh and harrowing yet heralding triumph.
And just last summer, Mavorim continued that momentum with the double-EP Aasfresser, which presented six brand-new songs alongside four unreleased demo songs. If those new tracks lit the fire of anticipation for the second Mavorim full-length, then the ensuing Axis Mundi is bound to be the devastating dynamite. Everything here is taken to its limits: the songwriting bolder, catchier, more epic, and most definitely more dynamic; the execution burning with an undeniable passion, betraying a confidence heretofore revealed by the mainman; the production robust and muscular, clear and cutting yet not once cheating into the realm of overly slick; and the album’s overall arc taking Mavorim‘s signature style of mini-suites into a staggeringly vast experience that canvasses a wealth of emotional/spiritual terrain for a mere black metal record. Of course, Baptist doesn’t not play “mere black metal,” and everything that’s come before under the Mavorim banner can be found here, immediately recognizable as ever, but especial note must be made of the spectral synth touches across Axis Mundi – classicist and daresay classy, but awe-inspiring any way you cut it – as well as Baptist’s stirring clean tenor, which gives the album a heroic aspect that never borders on the cheesy.
Suitably, for an achievement this grand, Axis Mundi comprises 13 songs for a total of 67 minutes. The track “Wie ein Sturm” features Sarkrista‘s Revenant on vocals, while the closing “Kaiserjägerlied” is a cover of the Minenwerfer track. The cover art has been painted by Maxime Taccardi of K.F.R and Griiim infamy. Richly detailed storytelling in black metal form presently doesn’t get any better than Mavorim, and now they’ve upped the ante on themselves with Axis Mundi!
In the meantime, hear that aforementioned cover of Minenwerfer‘s “Kaiserjägerlied” HERE at Purity Through Fire‘s official YouTube channel. Cover art, courtesy of Maxime Taccardi, and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Mavorim’s Axis Mundi
1. Weltenberg
2. Aus Asche auferstanden
3. Wo kriegergleiche Kräfte walten
4. Wie ein Sturm
5. Die letzte Festung
6. Die Ufer von Thule
7. Der Himmel bricht entzwei Künstler
8. Verbannt in Dunkelheit
9. Königsjäger
10. Axis Mundi
11. Hyperborea
12. Wie ein Sturm (feat. Revenant – Sarkrista)
13. Kaiserjägerlied (Minenwerfer feat. Baptist)
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