Iconic Norwegian artist Mortiis has unveiled the striking new video single "Ghosts Of Europa", the album's title track, featuring vocals by Sarah Jezebel Deva and Laurie Ann Haus, with Tangerine Dream's Thorsten Quaeschning contributing additional synths and sequencers. The track serves as the first single from his forthcoming full‑length, Ghosts Of Europa, due for release on 26 June via Prophecy Productions.

Mortiis comments on "Ghosts Of Europa": "This song has tried many shapes and forms, until it finally sort of found itself. Strange, mysterious, and choral. It started out as a simple thing, a different song, with a different title, which got slowly de-constructed and altered. This did not happen due to dissatisfaction with the original, but because layers of new ideas appeared. As excited as I am about this new 'entity' and the way it shaped up, the title, that has already been in existence for years, feels slightly, and sadly, prophetic – although that was never my intention".

With Ghosts Of Europa, the enigmatic Norwegian artistic entity known as Mortiis presents an album he regards as a creative liberation. Throughout its long and winding creation, concepts such as genre, rules, or sonic boundaries dissolved, replaced by a guiding principle of making music that reflected every idea on his mind without limitation.

Mortiis' unmistakable musical signature remains ever‑present. Echoes of the diverse phases of his earlier work can be heard throughout Ghosts Of Europa, yet he leaves hardly a stone unturned in his quest for genuinely new forms of expression. The result is a cinematic and visionary album that often feels expansive, strange, and darkly dystopian. In this sense, Ghosts Of Europa mirrors the personal struggles that accompany his creative process, which, for him, often come at the cost of friendships, relationships, and much soul‑searching.

The album was originally conceived as a collaboration between Mortiis and Stephan Groth of Apoptygma Berzerk, inspired by their shared fascination with the influential German electronic school, particularly Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze. When the collaboration fell through, Mortiis continued alone, embarking on a lengthy transformation of the early material.

Traces of this early stage remain in subtle Berlin‑school influences and a range of guest contributions, yet visions of bleak, desolate, and timeless alien landscapes gradually warped and reshaped the songs, carrying Ghosts Of Europa into territories Mortiis had never explored before.

To reflect both the album's orientation towards electronic and industrial rock and its wide stylistic reach, Mortiis enlisted renowned engineer Sean Beavan to mix the record. Beavan's credits include work with Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, System Of A Down, Guns N' Roses, and Slayer, among many others.

At the beginning of Mortiis' artistic entity lies black metal. Håvard Ellefsen, the musician behind Mortiis, first emerged as the bassist for the legendary Norwegian band Emperor during its formative years, 1991–1992. After parting ways with these black metal pioneers, he embarked on a solo career known as Era I. Between 1993 and 1999, he released six albums composed entirely on synthesisers, works now regarded as foundational to the later dungeon synth genre.

In the decades that followed, Mortiis evolved through several eras, embracing experimental and heavy industrial rock, a new wave of gothic and electronic influences, experimental studio projects, and eventually a return to his roots.

Throughout most of his career, Mortiis has performed wearing a mask and facial prosthetics, transforming his stage persona into an otherworldly being. His appearance has changed and evolved over the years; during Era 0, he even abandoned the iconic mask entirely. His stage persona has often been compared to a troll – a creature of Nordic folklore – though this was never his intention.

Ghosts Of Europa stands as the sonic testament of an experienced and mature musician creating what he loves most and does best: electronic rock infused with influences from many genres yet bound by none. The album conjures dark soundscapes, cinematic visions, and a wealth of emotion. Just when you think you have finally grasped Ghosts Of Europa, Mortiis reveals yet another facet of this richly detailed masterpiece. Link