50 Best Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Albums Of 2017

Much like all great art, Mareridt is a piece spawned from personal adversity. The second album by the one-woman black metal project Myrkur, inspiration for the magnum opus came shortly after founder and multi-instrumentalist Amalie Bruun returned home after extensive touring for Myrkur’s debut, M (2015).

Bruun was plagued by haunting nightmares and sleep paralysis after she had gone back to her native Denmark. Mareridt is the end result of her attempts to listen to and come to terms with the darkness in her mind that was spawning her nocturnal visions.

And with its title being Danish for “nightmare”, that fact comes across unabashedly in the dark folk and atmospheric inclinations of this unhallowed record. Mixing styles from Mayhem-like extremity to the ambient beauty of European groups like Empyrium, Mareridt is one of the most surreal metal albums of 2017, transcending its genre and having as much in common with diverse art rock as it does with black metal.

Songs like the powerful “Ulvinde” and “Måneblôt” are unhindered, emotional journeys, bridging the most angered and wailing of lows with naturalistic quietness and high-pitched, ominous chanting. The opening of the title track is also a huge highlight, humming itself into existence with low, dark tones and yelping cries from Bruun.

Easily, Mareridt is the most eclectic and fascinating disc on this entire list, leading many a metalhead to label the album as one of the very best of 2017.