Photo by Claudio Marino
Iconic Norwegian artist MORTIIS is now unveiling a stunning music video for his trippy new single, “Violent Silence.” The clip was once again written and directed by Claudio Marino and can be found at THIS LOCATION.
“Lyrically, ‘Violent Silence’ came into being as an apology to my wife,” MORTIIS admits ruefully. “I had done something stupid again, and she was really upset. I was trying to apologise in a text message – a really long one. The lyrics for ‘Violent Silence’ took a lot of inspiration from those words and that moment. As time goes by and having lived with this song for quite a while now, it gets harder for me to listen to those words. The gut-wrenching sensation of guilt never goes away fully. Musically, it was a very inspiring song to work on – especially with all those crazy fuzz and echo guitars that built up this song towards the end.”
“Violent Silence” is taken from MORTIIS‘ upcoming studio album, ‘Ghosts of Europa,’ which is due on June 26, 2026 via Prophecy Productions, making it his debut to the label! ‘Ghosts of Europa’ is available as ltd. box set incl. 2CD artbook edition, gatefold LP (excl. handmade sand-filled vinyl), bonus LP, music cassette et al. (50 copies). Ltd. box set incl. 2CD artbook edition, gatefold LP (excl. ‘galaxy’ metallic vinyl), bonus LP, music cassette et al. (450 copies). As a 60-page hardcover 2CD artbook incl. 8-track bonus CD, ltd. Gatefold marble smoke vinyl LP (300 copies), ltd. Gatefold crystal clear vinyl LP (300 copies), Gatefold black vinyl LP, and Digipak CD Pre-orders are now live HERE.
Video credits:
Written & directed by Claudio Marino
First assistant director: Daniel Josefsson
Produced by Artax Film
Colouring by Yellowtone
Cast (in order of appearance):
Woman: Enya Ellefsen
Oracle: Gunn Johansson
Key Bearers: Daniel Josefsson & Mortiis
Photo by Soile Siirtola
MORTIIS is now on the road with UADA for a very special co-headliner, featuring exclusive anniversary sets and supporting performances by Jerome Reuter’s ROME and WRAITH KNIGHT. MORTIIS is performing songs from his groundbreaking 2001 full-length, ‘The Smell Of Rain,’ along with other volumes of dystopian despair while UADA is performing their seminal 2016 debut album ‘Devoid of Light’ in its entirety + a special CERMONIAL CASTINGS 30-year anniversary set featuring WRAITH KNIGHT. The full itinerary can be found below while tickets are available HERE.
Mortiis is a pioneering dark ambient and industrial metal artist, widely credited as the founder of the dungeon synth genre, whose work spans from haunting atmospheric soundscapes to abrasive, genre-defying electronic metal. With a legacy stretching over three decades, he remains one of the most influential and enigmatic figures in underground dark music
With Ghosts of Europa, the enigmatic Norwegian artistic entity, known as MORTIIS, presents an album that he views as a creative liberation. During its long and winding creation process such concepts as genre, rules or experimenting with sounds dissolved while simply making music that reflected every conceivable idea on his mind without accepting any limitations became his guiding principle.
Of course, MORTIIS’ musical handwriting is ever present. Echoes from the often quite divergent phases of his previous works can be found across Ghosts of Europa. Yet, the creator of musical worlds left hardly a stone not turned in his epic quest for genuinely new ways of expression. As a result, this cinematic and visionary album often feels expansive, strange, and darkly dystopian. In this, Ghosts of Europa reflects its maker’s struggles while creating the album – as for him, these tend to come into existence at the cost of friendships and relationships as well as much soul searching.
“Ghosts of Europa” has also been shaped to some extent by the original idea that involved a collaboration of MORTIIS with Stephan Groth from APOPTYGMA BERZERK based on their mutual fascination with the highly influential old German school of electronic music, and particularly TANGERINE DREAM and Klaus Schulze. When this fell apart, MORTIIS decided to continue on his own and a long process of transforming the early recorded materials began.
Relics of this early stage remain in hints of the influences from Berlin as well as a host of guest contributions, but visions of bleak, desolate, and timeless alien landscapes warped and mutated the songs. This carried Ghosts of Europa into spaces where MORTIIS never existed before.
In the beginning of the artistic entity MORTIIS there was black metal. The artist Håvard Ellefsen known as the musical entity MORTIIS started out as a bass player in and during the formation of legendary Norwegian band EMPEROR in 1991 and 1992. After parting ways with these black metal pioneers, MORTIIS embarked on a solo career, the so called Era I From 1993 until 1999, the Norwegian released six full-length albums that were entirely composed on synthesizers and are considered to constitute a fundamental influence on the later Dungeon Synth genre.
In the next decades, MORTIIS evolved and redefined is sound through several eras that embraces experimental & heavy industrial rock, a new wave of gothic & electronic influences, experimental studio works, and back to his roots.
During most of his career MORTIIS has performed with a mask and face prosthetic that turned his stage persona into an otherworldly being. Over the year, his looks have changed and evolved. For a time during ‘Era 0′, his live concept even abandoned the wearing of the iconic mask. MORTIIS’ stage entity has often been compared with a troll – a creature of Nordic folklore, which it was never intended to be according to the artist.
“Ghosts of Europa” is the sonic testimony of an experienced and matured musician, who created what he loves most and does best: electronic rock with stylistic influences from many genres while not being bound by any that creates dark soundscapes, cinematic sonic visions, and a plethora of emotions. Just when you think that you have finally figured “Ghosts of Europa” out, MORTIIS will surprise you with another facet and fresh aspect of his richly detailed masterpiece.
Line-up:
Håvard “Mortiis” Ellefsen – vocals, keyboards, vocoder, bass guitar, programming
MORTIIS Links:
THE WITCHES OF DYSTOPIA TOUR MMXXVI
(UADA + MORTIIS w/ Jerome Reuter’s ROME + WRAITH KNIGHT):
04/21/26: Indianapolis, IN @ Black Circle
04/22/26: Covington, KY @ Madison Live
04/23/26: Pittsburgh, PA @ Preserving Underground
04/24/26: Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
04/25/26: Montreal, QC @ Cafe Campus
04/26/26: Quebec City, QC @ La Source
04/27/26: Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall
04/28/26: Brooklyn, NY @ Meadows
04/29/26: Bensalem, PA @ Broken Goblet
04/30/26: Baltimore, MD @ Metro
05/01/26: Raleigh, NC @ Chapel Of Bones
05/02/26: Atlanta, GA @ 529 EAV
05/03/26: Orlando, FL @ Conduit
05/05/26: Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
05/06/26: Austin, TX @ Come And Take It Live
05/07/26: Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
05/08/26: Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad
05/09/26: Denver, CO @ HQ
05/10/26: Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
05/11/26: Las Vegas, NV @ Swan Dive
05/12/26: San Diego, CA @ Brick By Brick
05/13/26: Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
05/14/26: San Jose, CA @ The Ritz
05/15/26: Eugene, OR @ John Henry’s
05/16/26: Seattle, WA @ El Corazon