From extreme industrial metal to symphonies that thrust the listener into a dungeon (getting ready to head off on a Tolkienesque quest), the last three decades have seen the artist known as Mortiis explore the outermost extremes of what “darkwave music” encompasses with incredible success.

Because of this, when I found out he was going to be performing at The Summit opening for Mayhem on March 31st, I had to know which of the four major eras of his musical output he’d be focusing on and what kind of visual elements would accompany his trademark, evil demon-troll look.

Mortiis made it clear that fans can expect the setlist to focus on his earlier—Era I/dark symphonic—output. “I’m still performing the early stuff. When I went back to my early days a few years back and started touring with that material, I reinterpreted my second record and I re-recorded the whole thing. And what happened was, I changed a lot of the music around so it became 50% new material mixed in with 50% old material, and that was released as an album called ‘Spirit Of Rebellion.’ I toured for that album a long time. But some of that material I’ll perform on this tour and I’ll be mixing that in with a much heavier and darker version of my first record.”

When I asked if anything from the industrial rock/metal eras (i.e. II, III, and 0) would make an appearance, he stated that the industrial element to his art is temporarily on hiatus. “[The show is] not going to be [any of the] industrial rock because that requires a band, it’s not something you go on stage with one or two guys; that’ll be like a karaoke show and I’m not going to do that.”

He continued, “I’d like to go back to doing [the industrial rock music] one day, but, it won’t be for a while because I’m still having a great time doing this. This is the fourth US tour I’m doing with this type of material. And, for the most part, we pull bigger crowds doing this kind of stuff.”

For the visual offerings found in his show, Mortiis explained that a lot of thought was put behind the presentation.  “It’s hard to describe what people can expect. With Mortiis, it’s very visual. And I’m bringing a percussionist out for this one, too. Sonically, it’s going to be bigger and heavier than it’s been in the past when it’s just been me on stage. We’ve added a bunch of big floor toms to it, so you get this big, tribalistic vibe around it. I’m experimenting with layering sounds and a bunch of different things. I built a new rig for my keyboard, so it’s got this real steampunk vibe.”

He also made it known there are plans to include a projector which will transport the audience to a different plane—though no specifics were given as to what exactly would be seen by those in attendance. Mortiis said that, in essence, the show will be “whatever we did last time, it’s like a slightly upgraded [version]. For the people who went to my last Denver show, they kind of know what I mean.”

When I asked Mortiis about the crowds in Denver, his love was nothing short of emphatic—claiming that Colorado has some of the best fans in the world. Of course, this isn’t too surprising when you learn that his history with Denver began multiple decades ago. “I have been to Denver before [a lot]. I know [the first time] there was on the ‘Stargate’ tour—which was like a thousand years ago. That was in ’99 with Christian Death, but that was a different venue. But Denver, I’ve been there many times and always had a good time too; I always have a good show when I go there.”

Before we ended our discussion, I wanted to know if he’d been writing any new material, and if he’s been road-testing it. He said that though there wouldn’t be anything new/unreleased performed on this tour, he has been working on new music.

“I have been writing and recording for quite a long time when I do have some time to do it. Musically, it’s kind of like a mix of every style I’ve ever done, and then something new, all mixed together and then thrown in a slightly different direction. It’s very, very atmospheric, so I think fans of the older stuff will enjoy it as much as fans of the industrial rock, electronic kind of stuff. Because some of it is very synth-heavy and then you get little elements of industrial music in there, then heavy strange, fuzzy layers of guitars kick in, but it’s not metal. It’s experimental, catchy, and moody.”

Though he didn’t give an exact date for when he sees this new album being released, he did give a clue by revealing that two videos were recently shot in Iceland to help promote the recordings. So, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Until then, the (black) masses of Denver can have their souls satisfied by this demon-troll pied-piper when he conducts his symphony forged in Hell at The Summit on March 31st.