Artist: Mergelland
Country: The Netherlands
Label: Merg & Been / Wolfkult Religion
Formats: Cassette EP
Year: 2024
Before Wurgilnõ there was Mergelland. Consanguineus’ musical dedication to the region of Limburg started in 2020 and resulted in an EP and a single. Work started on what was meant to become the ‘Lichtenberg’ album, but said record never came to life. Mergelland then became Wurgilnõ, with whom Consanguineus released two albums and an EP in the span of a year. But some things that are meant to stay hidden surface eventually, and thus the legacy of the Mergelland album that never came to be, is presented as a 20-minute EP entitled ‘De Lichtenberg Sessies 2020’.
There’s a few things to conclude about this Mergelland output, and one certainly is that the project sounds like a more crude version of Wurgilnõ. Consanguineus’ admiration of second wave Black Metal already is evident from these earlier tracks, with a particular liking for Darkthrone shining through the most clearly. The majority of the EP is at a rocking mid pace, and with the thumping bass sound, an obvious flair of Motörhead is undeniably draped allover the songs. In a track like ‘Door de Koude Geteisterd’ it wouldn’t even be farfetched to say we’re listening to a parallel world where Iron Maiden and Motörhead play second wave Black Metal.
Another quite clear observation from ‘De Lichtenberg Sessies 2020’ is that Consanguineus was still honing in on the song dynamics. Put in the light of the most recent album ‘Krijtland’, these Mergelland tracks are much cruder and quite less dynamic, instead emphasizing on a few riffs per song. Furthermore, the more midpaced approach is less urgent and venomous than on the recent Wurgilnõ releases. But, these tie in nicely with another observation for this story. And that is that Consanguineus has a knack for writing excellent riffs, and even within a rough version like Mergelland has hidden plenty of riffs that are worth hearing. In particular ‘Ingewanden uit de Pens’ is not too far removed in quality from the most recent outputs, and certainly wouldn’t have been misplaced on either of the Wurgilnõ albums. And thereby, ‘De Lichtenberg Sessies 2020’ serves many purposes. It’s a close to a chapter, a glimpse into what would become Wurgilnõ and a testament for Consanguineus’ writing and development as a musician.
