MANIMALISM was founded by Kim Sølve and three others back in 1992. An anomaly in their own time, Manimalism was a silent contributor to the first wave of Norwegian post-Black Metal weirdness when names like Ved Buens Ende and Fleurety, before they became legendary, were their only contemporaries. As TAARENES VAAR, they released two demos, one in 1996 and one in 1997, both to critical acclaim from local magazines. It was hard for conformists to make sense of Manimalism, there was not much there that adhered to the expectations of the already indoctrinated Black Metal scene. Too bizarre to get proper recognition in their own time, too weird to be picked up by the Black Metal demo re-release wave a decade or so back, their two demos stand as the only evidence of their artistic merit.
That is about to change. The self-titled Manimalism, built from the demo tracks and two other tracks—all written between 1993 and 1999—is being released 27th October, 2014.
Although recorded between 2002 and 2013, the music has been recorded with the utmost respect for the original compositions and the time and visions they were created for. Written by a teenager and executed by adult gentlemen in their finest age with a limitless well of talent, experience and mischief at hand, this album stands as a monument to and celebration of an era when darkness in Metal was real.
Manimalism is recorded like a Black Metal-inspired Doom band performing twisted 60’s crooner ballads. Here is a beast with a twisted smile, tap-dancing instead of headbanging, wearing a silk-lined tuxedo instead of leathers. From a place where chandeliers and necrophilia go hand in hand. This is nineties, avant-garde Metal. Dissonant to the bone, creeping, thrilling, dark Metal from a time when things were different and individuality still was in the lead.