BLUT AUS NORD

Unlike the sort of black metal albums that attempt to capture an air of forests in winter and howling winds of the North, MoRT aims for a more urban affair, like the darkest alleyways in the seediest corners of a dark and cold metropolis, and as an atmospheric piece it succeeds. This album is wretched, but quite enthralling. Creepy ambient passages give way to delirious chord and single note guitar patterns that are actually complex and nowhere near easy to reproduce. Sometimes it does sound like musical instruments hemorrhaging, but there will always be eerily beautiful patterns to follow them, while still remaining more than a little askew. "Chapter IV" even boasts an unusually gorgeous solo over these warped riffs that shows awareness and well thought out progressions rather than just unbridled lunacy. "Chapter V" is probably the most well-rounded number, comprising most of this albums best aspects in a single song, with even room for a bit of consonant melody to shake things up.

What will turn off some listeners is the similarities between songs, as the album plays better as an atmospheric whole, which can become tedious or stomach-turning after a while depending on what you had eaten that day. I find the music borderline fascinating as this dreary horrid ride through foggy city streets littered with trash and general dilapidation, but it's certainly not for everyone, as the tempos remain almost plodding, eschewing the more typical frenetic speeds of black metal acts, and the vocals, buried in the mix are hardly decipherable. If the running time were any longer, it would actually begin to be more of an annoyance than a nightmare.

Yet I dig it. Not as something I would play all that often, but when the conditions are right this is one strange and chilling journey. Vindsval really went all out here, much to the chagrin of a decent portion of fans of Blut Aus Nord's early work, but to the benefit of the more courageous and patient to deal with such an odd form of loud music.

It's a curious thing that, as one of my most-loved black metal bands, Blut Aus Nord crosses me as such an inconsistent band. I wouldn't say that I've ever heard music of theirs that repulsed me, but there stands a great gap between their excellent and masterful work, and the stuff that just barely passes the standard of quality. On "Odinist", we hear Blut Aus Nord pursuing a familiar sound, fusing unsettling guitar textures with coldly industrial rhythms and atmosphere. As the band's more recent work goes, it feels curiously regressive for their style. Unlike the monumental "The Work That Transforms God" or the "777" series that would later follow, Blut Aus Nord keep their sights focused on a single approach throughout. The music is given the same darkly experimental vibe I've come to expect from Blut Aus Nord's music, but as an album, it leaves a sense of incompletion. "Odinist" offers more of the same challenging dissonance, but it doesn't offer the same dynamism heard in their best work.

Compared to any traditional form of black metal, Blut Aus Nord's music comes as something of a system shock, and this is no different on "Odinist". Although the same black metal sound palette is retained, Blut Aus Nord never feel aggressive, or even emotional. Like much of their mid and latter era work, "Odinist" feels defined by the inherent lack of emotion. This may not necessarily impede a listener from feeling some sense of foreboding dread, but Blut Aus Nord's style evokes a sense of unfeeling humanity. It's as if the world went through a Dr. Strangelove-ordeal nuclear winter, and all that was left was a bitter superintelligent AI computer with a penchant for black metal. The guitars and drums each sound sterile and cold, although- as anyone who's experienced their unique atmosphere- this isn't necessarily a bad thing. As a sort of contrast, the vocals are garbled and indecipherable, sounding about as reserved as a diabolical rasp can get. Perhaps moreso than other Blut Aus Nord albums, "Odinist" emphasizes this 'cold' feeling. For music so mechanical, there's a monstrously profound malevolence in the atmosphere of "Odinist". Perhaps it gets across through the guitars- which sound perpetually out of tune and 'off'- but the atmosphere is certainly the highlight here. Sadly, this seems to be the only thing that Blut Aus Nord really excel at here.

Although there are several fantastic riffs here (the melodic motif on the title track really stands out), "Odinist" rarely conveys a sense of focus in its songwriting. The riffs are well- composed in of themselves, but they're tied together with little adhesive or flow. As if the industrial assembly line seeks to manufacture parts at random, Blut Aus Nord's composition feels noticeably lowered. The occasionally incompatible riff structure is a staple of Blut Aus Nord's music, but it is taken too far on "Odinist". Were it not for the brilliant industrial element, the album would have risked becoming incredibly boring within a few tracks. Blut Aus Nord's music is challenging, but even several listens in, there's never the sense that the songs have some secret code to crack. Paired with an intro and outro that feel largely disconnected with the rest of the album, "Odinist" suffers from a poor sense of structure and flow. It's one of the weaker records they've put out, but their inimitable style and atmosphere is here, and that's enough to warrant checking it out.

"Epitome VII" A steady repetitive rhythm provides the framework for grim vocals. Halfway through, it adopts some mild Eastern influences. The third section takes an interesting twist, adopting a slightly symphonic power metal visage. Finally, the music degenerates into avant-metal mayhem.

"Epitome VIII" Thundering drums and muttering guitars provide a dark current over which floats harsh voices. The distant guitar solo at the midway point reflects post-rock tendencies and is the highlight of the piece.

"Epitome IX" Toning things down a great deal, this third track has mysterious Eastern guitar sounds, like a swamp in the middle of a desert at night.

"Epitome X" Returning to the moderately paced harsh rock, the vocals snarl under layers of steady metal tones. Following an apt guitar solo, the rhythm shifts several times, warping into many different ugly roars of noise.

"Epitome XI" A more plodding piece of music, somewhat haunting with its discomfiting tones and whispers swirling around the low rhythms.

"Epitome XII" Disconcerting ringing opens the penultimate track, ushering thick drums and two guitars, one hammering out low chords and the other weaving through higher-pitched notes like an angry wasp prepared to sting.

"Epitome XIII" Dissonant guitars lead into one final monstrous opus. Exploding chords charge through the entire seven minutes. Halfway through, however, the band does settle into a more melodic passage for a time. Eventually, it whines like a swarm of insects.

The music is almost a miasma of buzzy guitars playing dissonant melodies propulsed by somewhat industrial sounding drum tracks that pinball between slow grooves and ripping blasts. Vocals are basically growls and screams that are completely indecipherable, along with some distant additional vocal tracks that sort of meander and weave in and out of the music along with some keyboards to add to the creepy aura. There are a few tracks that are essentially eerie interludes to keep the haunting vibe afloat before the next onslaught of hair- raising chord progressions kicks in.

The French black metal scene had some unique ideas and style going on the first decade of this century judging by this effort. The guitar playing in particular is played in an interesting fashion...such as two guitars deliberately tuned to be a bit 'off' from each other to create this sick sounding swarming insect sound...which reminds me of Deathspell Omega to some extent, although this Blut Aus Nord album just about predates DsO's incorporation of that dissonant aggression into their work. Normally the idea of programmed drums is a big turn off for me, but in this case they work. There's a surprising amount of creativity going on in the programming, as if the tracks were performed by some progbot software.

There are a few tracks that don't quite measure up to others here, but songs like "The Choir of the Damned" with its angry bizarre riffs and the impressive variations on display in "Our Blessed Frozen Cells" are just too damn good to deny. The last track ends things on an impressive note as well, sounding almost gorgeous in a weirdly majestic fashion. I'm no fan of stagnant by-the-numbers black metal, thus I found this to be a bit of a treat and it had a sound of its own when it was released.

The music on the album is atmospheric and in some cases industrial tinged extreme metal with more than a nod towards post metal. The tracks are repetitive and atmosperic, slow- to mid paced and for the most part dark and ominous. The black metal tag that is usually applied to the band´s music actually isn´t that useful when describing this album. It´s mostly the sparse unintelligible raspy vocals that point in that direction and even those are of a more death metal tinged juicy quality. Usual black metal traits like blast beats and fierce tremolo picking are not a part of the sound on "777 - The Desanctification".

The sound production is professional and suits the music really well.

"777 - The Desanctification" is not an album with jaw dropping virtuosic moments or hookladen guitar riffs. It´s all about dark ambient atmosphere and the band are very good at creating an interesting listening experience. a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

Back in April of this year, I was wowed by the first in a prospective trilogy of releases by the French dark metal act Blut Aus Nord. '777 - Sect(s)' sought the beginning of a three-album project, each bound together as part of one nightmarish journey. To hear that the band was planning on releasing the entire set of albums within the course of a year was exciting, to say the least. Blut Aus Nord has been prone to releasing their unique blend of avant-garde black metal quite quickly, but what has made them exceptional is that they do this at no sacrifice to the quality and depth of the music. Over the course of many listens, I felt my appreciation for '777 - Sect(s)' expand, and I feel the same is true for the second album in this saga.

'777 - The Desanctification' quite literally picks up where 'Sect(s)' left off. As the songs in the first were labelled 'Epitome' I-VI, this follows suit with 'Epitome' VII-XIII. Stylistically and conceptually, 'Desanctification' gives every impression that it is a continuation of the previous album, not a sequel so much as a direct follow-up to what was released months before. Stylistically, this is very close to what 'Sect(s)' offered as well. The music is a constant balancing act between dissonant, jarring black metal, and lighter, deeply atmospheric passages. Blut Aus Nord has claimed that this album takes the listener 'deeper into the nightmare realm', and to a certain extent, this is true. Although the music isn't all too different, there is a somewhat looser approach to the performance and composition this time around, lending itself more to disturbing atmosphere than the head-scratching black metal that dominated parts of the first album. It seems atmosphere is winning the balancing act, if only a bit. Truth be told, Blut Aus Nord's sound still runs around the map.

While I wouldn't call Blut Aus Nord the most coherent songwriters in the world, they have a real knack for creating incredible moments in their music, and even better transitions to tie them together. Not every idea in 'The Desanctification' works perfectly- sometimes, a part may drag on a few measures too long, or the band will let a section become too chaotic- but they know how to take this palette of ideas and arrange them in such a way that makes everything sound meaningful to an extent. A perfect example of this is the second track 'Epitome VIII', in which the first three minutes meander through an incredibly harsh and dissonant soundscape. It is certainly a challenge for the ears, but would have passed me as being aimless if it weren't for the majestic melodic climax a little after the three minute mark; everything peaks up in unison and intensifies the surreal vibe I get throughout the album.

Performance-wise, there are few bands that use texture and tone so well in the metal world. Guitarist Vindsval has an amazing grasp of some gorgeously dreary guitar tones, and the electronic/industrial aspect of the band never feels weak or gimmicky; it is all mixed together into one darkly ethereal blend. As one might ascertain from a description of the band, the production style is equally as chaotic, throwing multiple layers of ambiance at the listener under the main action. One aspect of the sound that does not always work however are the vocals. They are- for the most part- fairly generic by black metal standards, but the way they echo incessantly makes them more of an ambient garble, neither complimenting nor necessarily hurting the music.

Blut Aus Nord have always been a band that plays on their own terms, and the '777' trilogy has made me more excited about them than ever before. Regarding whether 'The Desanctification' is better than 'Sect(s)' or not: I'm not quite sure. Perhaps 'Sect(s) had a better feeling of organization to it, but 'The Desanctification' has left more of an impression on me. This is atmosphere made deadly. Even sparing the context of the trilogy, 'The Desanctification' is a devastating album, and one of the more disturbing records I've heard in a long time.

The album has two general settings. There's the aformentioned metallic sound setting and a drumless mellow setting with rather gorgeous sounding non-distorted guitars playing effective melodies that don't sound jarringly different compared to the other louder setting. The black metal this band plays, actually, isn't all that violent raging raw brutal whatever that entices teenage boys to not do there homework and buy black T-shirts with indecipherable band logos. The production is clearly meant to convey a lonely chilly atmosphere with an epic vibe, thus the album never felt grating. The vocals themselves, which are the standard black metal rasps with little to no variation are mixed low as to not get in the way with what the guitars and keyboards are attempting to convey.

As for the songs, they all carry the same vibe, same style, and possess the same sounds throughout. Not a surprise, to be honest. There are some exceptional moments within...I highly dig the opening odd melodic riffs of The Cosmic Echoes of Non-Matter, it's bizarre yet beautiful, and certain sections of The Formless Sphere are almost ridiculously majestic. There's a lot of good things to find, but there's also that sense of "sameness" that makes the last couple of tracks a chore to bother with since I've felt I heard it all before with the first batch of tunes. Still, it's all good music, with the exception of the vocals, which I found were bland and with hardly any character whatsoever...just a monotone rasp. Some of those song titles are rather spacey in a cool way..."Hey dude, it's like the formless sphere maaaaan".

Compared to the last album "Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With the Stars (2009)", which had a melodic edge, the music on "What Once Was... Liber I" is a bit more raw, repetitive, dissonant and atmospheric. Blut Aus Nord are known to experiment with their sound from one release to the next, so it´s actually not that big of a surprise. While there are only two long tracks on the album ( 16:31 and 15:24 minutes long) they are fragmented and several times during the playing time there are breaks that lasts a second or more, and once the song picks up again, it sounds like a new song. So while there are reoccuring themes it still sounds like several short songs put together to form two longer ones.

The vocals on the album are raspy and almost completely indecipherable. They are kind of monotone and not exactly full of passion. The sound production is flat and lacks bottom. If there´s a bass playing somewhere, I don´t hear it. The use of a weak sounding drum machine doesn´t help either.

"What Once Was... Liber I" hasn´t left me with a very good impression. The songwriting is fragmented and lacks memorable moments and the production is as mentioned not very enjoyable. At least I´m having a hard time appreciating the sound. Even though the album is only 31:55 minutes long, it´s taken me months to get through the full album. I simply find it too monotone, which makes the album an exhausting listen. Somewhere between a 2.5 - 3 star rating is warranted.