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Early ’90s Norwegian doom metallic. Not one thing you hear day by day. Communed from the identical pure mysteries of the panorama that animated their black metallic countrymen—forests, folklore, the cycle of seasons—Norwegian doom metallic involved itself with nature’s extra inward-gazing elements: much less witching-hour midnight, extra solemn nightfall. Much less diabolical full moons, extra sobering sunsets—and within the case of one among Norway’s earliest doom purveyors, the Third and the Mortal: much less nihilism, extra animism. Understated and ethereal, sorrowful but pushed by sturdy progressive sensibilities, Norwegian doom formally ascended from the underground in August 1994 wrapped in shades of autumnal gold and liturgical purple, carrying a somber epitaph: Tears Laid in Earth.
The origins of the Third and the Mortal start with Dusk, a loss of life/doom band from Trondheim that launched a self-titled demo in 1990 earlier than swapping down-tuned guitars and caveman loss of life vocals for ethereal doom textures and the then-19-year-old Kari Rueslåtten, whose enchanting, classically-trained soprano voice, ethereal keyboard constructions and poetry of snow and sorrow reconceptualized the doom metallic sound.
The mix was an immersive one, bordering on the religious, and practically unattainable to get your palms round. Journalists perplexed by the band’s adventurous sonic worlds clumsily shoehorned Tears Laid in Earth into the loss of life/doom canon. However was it loss of life/doom? Most definitely not. Was it metallic? Often. Was it doom metallic? Sure, however in an ethereal kind of approach that shared as many textural elements with the Peaceville sound because it did 4AD. It wasn’t the bashed-over-the-head tectonic doom of Winter or Saint Vitus; Tears Laid in Earth dwelled in a way more introspective and understated house. Suppose The Silent Enigma-era Anathema or The Angel and the Darkish River-era My Dying Bride co-produced by David Gilmore and Tolkien.
Although embraced by the doom group, the Third and the Mortal’s arrival in 1992 (and subsequent touring via Norway via 1994)—additionally meant the band would rub shoulders with the then-embryonic black metallic scene smoldering six hours away in capital metropolis Oslo. Regardless of apparent sonic distinctions, the Third and the Mortal weren’t with out their ties to the black metallic universe, largely resulting from Slayer Magazine founder (and primarily fifth member of Mayhem again then) Jon “Metalion” Kristiansen signing the band to his Head Not Discovered label in 1993. In different convergences, Mayhem/Thorns guitarist—and the man who drove Varg Vikernes to Euronymous’ home that fateful night time—Snorre Ruch performed keyboards within the band’s earliest incarnation.
Tears Laid in Earth would go on to turn into wildly influential to doom and atmospheric metallic post-1994 largely because of the positioning of vocalist Rueslåtten on the helm. Though the classically educated feminine voice was not unfamiliar to doom devotees by 1994—assume Celtic Frost’s To Mega Therion, Paradise Misplaced’s Gothic, Anathema’s Serenades—nobody had but constructed a whole sound round it. In doing so, Tears singlehandedly prophesied the seismic shift European metallic would bear within the final half of the ’90s when female-fronted bands like Holland’s the Gathering soared to huge industrial heights internationally. Tears additionally held heavy sway in funeral doom circles when fellow Norwegians Funeral (the band) took direct inspiration from it on their 1995 gloomy touchstone Tragedies.
The Tears-era Third and the Mortal lineup wouldn’t stay intact lengthy sufficient to take pleasure in such accolades, nevertheless. Simply 4 months after the discharge of the album, Rueslåtten would depart to launch a solo profession that led to Grammy nominations and worldwide celeb. Reunited for a number of reunion exhibits commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of Tears Laid in Earth, we gathered the band’s authentic six members for a leafy stroll down reminiscence lane. —Scott Koerber
Want extra traditional Third and the Mortal? To learn your entire seven-page story, that includes interviews with the members who carried out on Tears Laid in Earth, buy the print concern from our retailer, or digitally by way of our app for iPhone/iPad or Android.
