Mortiis Has L.A. Goblin Up His TunesAlmost exactly a month ago, Norwegian black metal titans Emperor performed at the Wiltern and tore L.A. a new one. At the Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles on a midweek spring evening, that band's former bassist Mortiis was co-headlining with Pacific Northwest band UADA.

A lot has happened in the 34 years since Mortiis, real name Håvard Ellefsen, left Emperor (he was in that band for a year between 1991-'92), most notably the fact that he fully took on the persona of a goblin for a while. In interviews, he would talk about how he lives in a cabin in the forest, surrounded by the howls of wolves and the wind. Strikingly, he wasn't seen without his goblin prosthetics for years. Much like Kiss, it was deep into his solo career before we got to see what he looked like under the pointy ears and pointier nose. He took the face off for a bit, and now he's back to the goblin look again.

Rubber aside, Mortiis has been through some stages, or "eras," over the years. Era I encompasses his early work--the one EP and six albums recorded in the '90s up to and including 1999's The Stargate. They were all recorded using synthesizers, and the artist described them as "dark dungeon music." Mostly instrumental, only The Stargate features vocals courtesy of Sarah Jezebel Deva.

At the Teragram, Mortiis was revisiting Era II, his dark wave/electropop period that essentially started and ended with the 2001 album The Smell of Rain. Mortiis's set leaned super-heavily on that album as a result. It's fascinating too; back in 2001, the album divided fans. The artist would divide them again when he entered into his industrial era III. Now though, The Smell of Rain is seen as a bit of a mini-classic, as it should be. The tunes are huge, Mortiis' vocals (a new thing at the time) were great, and the production is simultaneously pristine and gnarly.

Mortiis performed four songs at the Teragram that were not on The Smell of Rain, carefully picked out because they at least fit the era II mood. Two are from the brand new Ghosts of Europa (the title track, and "Tundra, Heart of Hell." "Demons are Back" is taken from 2016's era 0 album The Great Deceiver, as is "Doppleganger."

But again, Mortiis has cultivated a mood at these shows. Open-minded fans of black metal, of symphonic death metal, of goth, of industrial, of electropop and/or of dark wave should be able to enjoy the brilliance of these songs.

"Spirit in a Vacuum" and "Parasite God" were highlights, the crowd not knowing whether to mosh or sway as Mortiis simultaneously electrified and hypnotized all before him.

The openers (Jerome Reuter's Rome and Wraith Knight) were very different, but both betrayed a penchant for neo-folk and medieval pageantry. The former has a few lyrics that are problematic at the very least, while the latter's instrumental tunes seem to be influenced by era I Mortiis. As a result, there was a mood over the whole event that, refreshingly, Mortiis was the one to change. This old goblin provided heaps of joy, fun, and dance-friendly tunes.

Intense and melodic, Mortiis continues to do things entirely on his own terms.The post Mortiis Has L.A. Goblin Up His Tunes first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.