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All Music Guide:
Although not well known in the United States, the French black metal/alternative metal band Blut Aus Nord have enjoyed a small underground cult following in Western Europe since the mid-'90s. Blut Aus Nord, unlike many bands in the European death metal/black metal scene, do not govern by brute force alone; while they can be loud, dissonant, intense, and forceful, they are also moody, darkly haunting, and relatively melodic. Atmospherics are quite important to Blut Aus Nord, who thrive on an eerie, gloomy sort of ambience. Blut Aus Nord bring an interesting variety of influences to their work -- some metal, some industrial, some goth. The band has frequently been compared to Neurosis, and other influences (either direct or indirect) range from Cradle of Filth to Godflesh, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Killing Joke, and the infamous Slayer (whose innovations have affected just about every death metal or black metal band imaginable in some way or another). Blut Aus Nord were never a goth rock band in the strict sense; however, the dusky, shadowy elements in their black metal and alternative metal do show some awareness of goth icons like Bauhaus and the Sisters of Mercy.
Blut Aus Nord are the creation of Vindsval, a singer/guitarist who got the ball rolling in Mondeville, France in 1993. At first, Vindsval's creation was known as Vlad -- as in Vlad the Impaler -- and for a few years Vindsval had more of a project than an actual band. Thanks to technology and a thing called overdubbing, Vindsval was able to record two demos by himself as Vlad (In the Mist in 1993 and Yggdrasil in 1994) and function as a "one-man band" in the studio. After about a year, Vindsval changed his project's name from Vlad to Blut Aus Nord -- and when labels started showing some interest, Vindsval began to employ some other musicians, and gradually turned his project into an actual band. After working with various session players on Blut Aus Nord's albums, Vindsval ended up with a regular lineup that consisted of himself on lead vocals and guitar, Ghost on bass, and W.D. Feld on drums and keyboards.
Ultima Thulle, Blut Aus Nord's first official full-length album, was released in 1995 on Impure Creation Records (a small French label that later changed its name to Velvet Music International). Subsequent European releases included Memoria Vetusta I: Fathers of the Icy Age (which came out in 1996 on the ICR label) and 2002's The Mystical Beast of Rebellion. None of those '90s or early-2000s discs were released in the United States -- they were only sold in North American stores as imports -- but in 2004 Blut Aus Nord finally enjoyed some North American distribution when The Work Which Transforms God (which had come out in Europe in 2003) was released in the U.S. by Candlelight (a British label with an office in the Philadelphia suburbs).
Due to critical and commercial success (relative to black metal, of course), Blut Aus Nord's back catalog was reissued in the United States in 2004 and 2005. Their new material, beginning with 2005's Thematic Emanation of Archetypal Multiplicity mini-album, became increasingly experimental, relying on layers of textured, industrial, and ambient sounds, as well as a more open musical environment. Indeed, 2006's MoRT was considered -- even by many fans -- to leave the realm of black metal entirely and become alternative with its elongated dissonant tones, shimmering backdrops, murky vocals, and deliberate absence of blastbeats. While the album was heralded by many for its innovation, it was considered too far off the beaten path for some.
They furthered their experimental reputation with the decidedly heavier Odinist: The Destruction of Reason by Illumination, in 2007 and 2008's near-progressive Dialogue with the Stars. In 2009, the band re-released Dialogue as a double-disc package with a brand-new record, a follow-up of sorts to Memoria Vetusta I, simply entitled Memoria Vetusta II. Listening to both recordings, it's easy to hear that Blut Aus Nord had created a new, all but trademarked form of extreme avant-rock. The follow-up idea was taken to the next step with a trilogy of recordings set around the number 777. The pummeling 777 Sect(s) (allegedly the long-rumored sequel to The Work Which Transforms God) was issued in April of 2011. It was followed in November by 777: The Desanctification, a much more atmospheric and ambient -- yet no less blackened -- entry in November of that year. The chapter in the trilogy, 777: Cosmosophy, was issued in October of 2012.
Wikipedia:
Blut Aus Nord (French: [blut o nɔʁ], German: [bluːt aʊs nɔʁt]) is a black metal band from Mondeville, Calvados, France, which has incorporated avant-garde elements in its music.
Biography [edit]
Vindsval began a solo project, under the name "Vlad", in 1994. He released two demos before changing the project's name to Blut aus Nord, before the release of Ultima Thulée in 1995. The next three albums were recorded with the aid of session musicians. It is only recently that the group has had any permanent members apart from Vindsval.
The project's most critically acclaimed release is The Work Which Transforms God, a concept album which, in spite of being mostly instrumental with none of the lyrics made public, is meant to challenge the listener's prejudices and preconceptions about reality and various metaphysical subjects. The album was named by Terrorizer Magazine as one of its top 10 albums of 2003. So far, Vindsval has only allowed the lyrics from one of Blut aus Nord's full-length releases, Memoria Vetusta I, to be made public. According to journalist Avi Pitchon, "Blut Aus Nord are responsible, perhaps more so than any band, for the most recent evolution within black metal. 2003's 'The Work Which Transforms God' introduced us to the warped, collapsing mutation of 'black hole metal'; nowadays also called shoegazing BM."
Vindsval is head of the underground French record label Appease Me..., which is home to several extreme metal acts, in addition to Blut aus Nord.
On their follow-up release, 2006's MoRT, Blut aus Nord moved even further away from traditional black metal. The sound on MoRT is closer to experimental metal, comprising a mixture of dark and surreal noises and sounds that create a disturbing and bleak atmosphere.
Blut aus Nord's 2007 album Odinist: The Destruction of Reason by Illumination (the subtitle being a quote from Aleister Crowley), was leaked to the Internet on September 10, 2007. While the album's superficial sound is similar to that of MoRT, the album demonstrates a return to more traditional black metal songwriting and structure.
The sequel to Memoria Vetusta I, subtitled Dialogue with the Stars, was released in February 2009. In June 2010 they released a LP entitled "What Once Was...Liber I" on Debemur Morti Productions. They are currently scheduled to re-release The Mystical Beast of Rebellion in early 2011 thru Debemur Morti with an additional CD of newly recorded material meant to act as a complimentary work to the original.
The name "Blut aus Nord" translates from German as "Blood from the North", though the non-standard grammar suggests nautical jargon (a more standard phrasing would be "Blut aus (dem) Norden" or "Blut von Nord(en)," though cardinal directions are seldom used in spoken German to begin with).
Musical style and conceptual elements [edit]
Blut Aus Nord's work has been described as the "sonic equivalent to Thorns injecting Streetcleaner-era Godflesh with an evil unpredictability". Vindsval, the vocalist and guitarist, made the following statement:
BAN have dissociated themselves from nationalism, instead recognizing a kinship with "environmentalist black metal" groups such as Wolves in the Throne Room.
