Another non-Polish act ahoy – Kristoffer Oustad is a musician and sound-design genius from Norway, and Magnor (ZOHARUM ZOHAR 358-2) looks like his third solo outing since 2015’s Filth Haven, which emerged on Malignant Records in the US. The Zoharum label swarmed to this music which they perceive as being “rooted in industrial and dark ambient traditions”, two strains of modern music which are quite dominant in the label’s catalogue. Cover art indicates that its creator is neither man nor tree, but a supernatural blend of the two.
Meanwhile his mysterious track titles allude to vaguely esoteric endeavours, such as the ‘White Sacred Arrow’ and ‘Magnetic Blood’. Oustad evidently poured years of effort into these layered, burnished performances, working his analogue and modular synths until clouds of violet smoke billowed from the studio windows. Plenty of atmosphere to be drunk by the gallon here, some of it slightly grim and ambiguous, but nothing which menaces imminent violence as we wander through these unknown lands. Even the wolves which appear on track four give us nothing to fear, stern though their aspect may be. Inevitably, Oustad’s work draws the “cinematic” comparisons, possibly because of his sound-design skills, which I assume might involve a specific way of conceiving and arranging sounds to help tell the story of the theatrical play, dance piece, or film that passes between his hands. Kristoffer Oustad started out playing extreme metal before taking this turn to the dark ambient realms. (06/06/2026)