Era I The title of
Era I was never intentional. It came about in 2001 when Mortiis was set to release
The Smell of Rain, which was such a departure from his earlier records that he wanted to brand it in a way to signify this. All works previous to
The Smell of Rain were thereafter referred to as
Era I as a consequence. All of the
Era I albums were composed entirely on synthesizers, creating a sound that Mortiis described as "dark dungeon music"- a fundamental influence on the later
dungeon synth genre. The last album of this era,
The Stargate, went a step further by introducing a wider range of instruments including acoustic guitars, flutes and dark vocals; mainly provided by
Sarah Jezebel Deva.
Era II Mortiis shifted to a
dark wave/
electropop style on
The Smell of Rain, and frontman Ellefsen took to lead vocals for the first time. This would be the only release under the title of
Era II. It was during this era that Ellefsen decided he needed to seek members to perform in a live setting, which later helped change how Mortiis as a band sounded. The first live shows with this new lineup and with Mortiis as frontman & vocalist took place in the
United Kingdom in December 2001.
Era III in 2005 wearing an "Era III mask" With
Era III came
The Grudge, which took an even more drastic turn from previous eras and is said to have made the biggest impression of any of his albums.
The Grudge took on a heavy
industrial emphasis, combining grinding guitars and industrial programming. Some of the longtime fans were again not too happy with this turn, but it helped gain Mortiis more new fans. In 2005, the
Norwegian Culture Council selected
The Grudge to be freely available for listening to the public in libraries across the country. On 16 April 2007 Mortiis released a remix album titled
Some Kind of Heroin, reworking material from
The Grudge, via
Earache Records. "Some Kind of Heroin" offers diverse remix material including interpretations by a wide range of contemporaries, such as
Zombie Girl,
Gothminister,
Implant,
XP8,
PIG,
the Kovenant,
Velvet Acid Christ,
Girls Under Glass, David Wallace,
Kubrick,
Flesh Field,
Victor Vortexx,
Dope Stars Inc,
In the Nursery among others. In late 2009 and early 2010 earlier music has been partly reprogrammed and re-arranged for future live use. On 10 October 2010 Mortiis released
Perfectly Defect as a free internet only download album. Regarding why the album was free, Mortiis stated, "The new model of the music business is important to keep in mind; there's a new mentality out there in terms of how people acquire their music now." During this time and the subsequent tours, the visual appearance and sound was similar to that of Era III, but with a more Industrial appearance closer to
Combichrist and without any form of mask which had been a key characteristic of previous eras. Although this is marked as being part of Era III, this could be construed as a movement in Era IV.
Hiatus (2011–2015) Between 2011 and 2015, Mortiis (as a band or a solo musician) never stated that the project was on hiatus, although the last tour ended at P60 in Amstelveen (Netherlands) on 8 July 2011, with no performance, recording or releases since. However, during this time the mailing list, Instagram account and Facebook page was active, hinting at a return at some point.
Era 0 The four-year hiatus was broken on 8 June 2015 when a message placed on the band's Facebook page suggested a new album was on its way in a new era, Era 0. This was confirmed on 5 October 2015 when the release of the single "Doppelgänger," off the forthcoming album
The Great Deceiver. The artwork for "Doppelgänger" included the familiar Mortiis logo, but with the Era 0 subscript, confirming the new Era. The album (
The Great Deceiver) was originally finished in 2008, and included mixes by Chris Vrenna (of
Nine Inch Nails and
Marilyn Manson). Additional material was also finished with enough material for another album during 2009. To mark the return, Mortiis announced a series of US tours starting on 7 October 2015 with "The Devils Be Damned Tour". Despite the Era being 0, this was not a return to the original sound of Era I, but a continuation of that within Era III, again with complete lack of prosthetics or mask, but keeping the gothic/industrial costuming and face paint.
Return to Era 1 In January 2020, Mortiis returned to his Era 1 style of music with the album
Spirit of Rebellion. The album was a reworking of his 1994 work
Ånden som Gjorde Opprør, and was instigated after he was invited to perform at the 25th anniversary celebrations for former label
Cold Meat Industry in 2017. In April 2020, he shared a work in progress tentatively entitled
The Shadow of the Tower during the online
dungeon synth festival 'Northeast Dungeon Siege'. An extract was also shared on Mortiis'
Bandcamp page; again, the style of this new track reflected the style of the artist's early output. A previously unreleased 1997 track of the same name was released via the same website in October 2020, with Mortiis explaining that the piece had previously been used as atmospheric background music during his sporadic live shows of the era. A second such sample, entitled
Blood Becomes Water, was released in July 2020. Mortiis admitted to having long-held negative feelings about his 1990s output, feeling resentment towards perceived lack of quality in musicianship and production. However, he has since reassessed his detachment towards this material, and now sees renewed worth in the honesty and originality of his early records. In the period leading up to the release of
Spirit of Rebellion, many of these early releases were reissued, having remained largely out of print for many years. Mortiis' 2001 book,
Secrets of My Kingdom, was also reprinted as an expanded edition in 2018. Subtitled
Return to Dimensions Unknown, the reprint featured new interviews, images and other archive material from the 1990s. ==Image==