The 3rd And The Mortal "Tears Laid In Earth (Norway, Voices Of Wonder, VOW 041)"

Tears Laid in Earth is the debut studio album by the doom metal band The 3rd and the Mortal. This album was the release in which the band was first categorized as a doom metal act; however, they have since experimented with genres such as progressive rock, jazz and electronica, making this their last true doom metal release. This was also the last album to feature singer Kari Rueslåtten.

Track listing

1. "Vandring" 1:40
2. "Why So Lonely?" 5:14
3. "Atupoéma" 4:41
4. "Death-Hymn" 8:24
5. "Shaman" 3:28
6. "Trial Of Past" 5:14
7. "Lengsel" 2:06
8. "Salva Me" 4:38
9. "Song" 6:37
10. "In Mist Shrouded" 5:35
11. "Oceana" 18:46

Total length: 66:33

Some CD versions have a green cover, instead of the red/orange tree and grass, and purple background.

Recording information:

Recorded at Brygga Studio, Trondheim, Norway in July 1994.

Co-mixed by The 3rd and the Mortal.

Terje Hansen - cover photography

Paul Westum - cover design

Hans Petter Vik - engineering, mixing

Lars Lien - engineering, mixing

Egil Tröa - sleeve photography

Storm "Nordavind"

Storm was a Norwegian Viking metal band that originally included Fenriz of Darkthrone and Satyr of Satyricon. Later on, Kari Rueslåtten, formerly of the band The 3rd and the Mortal, also joined them on vocals. The project only released one album, titled Nordavind, released in 1995, which makes them among the first viking and folk metal bands.

After the recording of the one and only album, Kari Rueslåtten stated in the Norwegian music newspaper Puls that she would join the band if there were no extreme lyrics in the songs. But then she felt betrayed by Satyr and Fenriz, because Satyr wrote a new end to the song "Oppi fjellet," which contained strongly anti-Christian lyrics. According to Kari:

I reacted very strongly when I heard that they had changed the lyric, but I wasn't strong enough to say no. Now I want that people shall forget this. I feel totally crushed, and I feel that I have lost everything but people must accept that I have made a mistake. And they have to see me as the person I am, as the artist I am. I don't want to be punished more than I already have been punished through this.

As a reaction to Rueslåtten's publicly aired regrets over her involvement with Storm, Satyr stated in an interview:

...Suddenly when the album was released she told the entire garish music press in Trondheim, meaning two newspapers and some radios that we fooled her into singing. Hahaha, how is that fucking possible? She told the journalists (friends of her I guess) that she did not know anything about the aims with Storm before it was released, and now she had found out that Storm was a project with Norwegian anti-Christian values... If she doesn't stop now I will pray for someone to drop a bomb on the entire city of Trondheim.

Kari Rueslåtten has gone on to have a solo career and Satyr and Fenriz have pursued their other musical projects.

Track list:

1. Innferd 01:35   
2. Mellom bakkar og berg 02:43  
3. Haavard Hedde 03:19  
4. Villemann 02:14   
5. Nagellstev 01:03   
6. Oppi fjellet 04:02   
7. Langt borti lia 07:15  
8. Lokk 00:53   
9. Noregsgard 08:13   
10. Utferd 01:58   

Total time:   33:15  

The album title means "Northwind" in English.

"Noregsgard" features parts identical to Darkthrone's "Quintessence".

The lyrics to "Nagellstev" are partly the same as the Ulver song "Soelen gaaer bag Aase ned".

Recording information:

Recorded in Waterfall Studios, November 1994.

Kari Rueslåtten "Silence Is The Only Sound"

Kari Rueslåtten (born 3 October 1973) is a Norwegian soprano singer, songwriter and keyboardist, who was well known for being the former lead singer and songwriter for the now disbanded Norwegian doom metal/experimental band, The 3rd and the Mortal from 1992 to 1994. The 3rd and the Mortal was one of the early bands that used a lead female singer in the metal scene, in which inspired bands such as The Gathering, Flowing Tears and Nightwish.

Rueslåtten was born in Trondheim. After taking part of some local bands, she was only 19 when she joined the cult progressive doom metal band The 3rd and the Mortal with whom she recorded the demo The 3rd And The Mortal in 1993, the EP Sorrow in 1993 and the full-length album Tears Laid in Earth in 1994 through the record label Voices of Wonder. The music was strongly atmospheric mixing progressive and metal elements.


After she left the band she joined the project Storm and recorded Nordavind before she released her first solo project Demo Recordings, both being Nordic-folk-music styled.

Silence Is the Only Sound is her latest album, released in 2017.

The 3rd And The Mortal "Sorrow (EP)"

Sorrow is the first EP by Norwegian Melodic Doom Metal band The 3rd And The Mortal, released September 17th, 1994. Recorded at Brygga Studio in Trondheim, November 1993. Mastered at Nidaros Studio.