Blut Aus Nord - Work Which Transforms God (12 tracks) +Album Reviews

Finally... a Black Metal record that can truly be described

Internal Abbatoir | Albuquerque, NM | 07/19/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Blut Aus Nord is one of the most unique Black Metal bands to surface in quite a long time. Their music is dissonant and sick sounding. It could best be described as sounding like The Swans/Godflesh meet Mayhem. Blut Aus Nord is dark, hateful, chaotic, and miserable. In many ways, The Work Which Transforms God is the best album to come out of the Black Metal scene in years. Some people would even go as far to say that it is the best album to come out in the post-1997 era, but does The Work Which Transforms God really live up to such dubious hype?

The answer is yes. It is one of the best Black Metal releases I have ever heard. Although, I wouldn't go as far as to say that it is the "best" Black Metal album to come out of the post-1997 era. It is certainly near the top of that list, though.

The best thing about Blut Aus Nord is that they are different. They obviously take their music seriously, so their craft exhibits the sickening, depressive, and chaotic feel that you should get whenever you listen to Black Metal. The music is obscure and esoteric, which ultimately indicates that the old school spirit of Black Metal exists within Blut Aus Nord. They are not afraid to push the boundaries of the genre into uncharted territories, which results in an interesting and disturbing experience. Blut Aus Nord feels no need to play it safe and to some extent they make Black Metal appear to be threatening again. Blut Aus Nord plays music that is discordant. They throw away most of the rules of music theory and the results are truly sickening. Most of the time it sounds like the guitarist is bending a chord up, or playing a dissonant melody that sounds like a siren. The music is very hypnotic and even industrial sounding at times. And since Blut Aus Nord uses a drum machine instead of a real drummer, the music also has a machine like feel. The drumming is never repetitive, though, and the programming is actually quite interesting. Other than that, their music also incorporates keyboards which add "nicely" to the ambient atmosphere. They are never used excessively and their presence within the songs is very subtle; often low in the mix. And with that said, the keyboards are just as sick/disturbing sounding as the guitars. There is nothing cheesy in Blut Aus Nord's music.

With that said, Blut Aus Nord's The Work Which Transforms God is amazing. The best release of 2004 without a doubt."

Cavernous, bleak, and dissonant

Phillip Simonis | Orange County | 07/09/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Work which creates cognitive dissonance in the minds of the holy. This a soundscape completely devoid of anything positive or hopeful in this world. Before listening to this album, I thought songs like "Over Fjell Og Gjennom Torner" by Darkthrone, "Thy Legions Come" by Dark Funeral or something from Burzum's back catalog was bleak. Blut Aus Nord is a new progession of evil. The feel is cavernous, giving an added dimension not seen enough of in black metal. Music inspired by theology myths of the depths of hell I would think. Blut Aus Nord will have the grim minded smiling from ear to ear."

A genre redefining classic

Olethros | Sydney, Australia | 06/14/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Far from the Norse birth ground of the genre, the mostly moribund and commercialised black metal scene is being ripped apart by artists who are re-defining the definition of black.French band, Blut Aus Nord (Blood From North) are one such group, and with their latest release The Work Which Transforms God they have managed to produce an album which is quite simply evil.Most modern black metal has eschewed the garage production that characterised the early genre classics. In keeping with this trend, The Work Which Transforms God possesses a stark but far from digitally perfect sound, guitars are in the fore, vocals and bass get less focus and are barely discernible. Where present, keys are punched quite high in the mix. The drums are clearly from a machine but clever arrangements and layering manage to avoid veering into industrial territory.Musically Blut Aus Nord have a heavy focus on atmosphere with more than half the tracks devoid of trademark black metal vocals and hyper-speed guitars. These tracks are true mood pieces featuring extensive use of semitone harmonics and discordant modes. By virtue of contrast, the impact of the handful of tracks that fit the more traditional black metal mould is significantly enhanced.Stylistically one notices much influence drawn from far outside the traditional metal founts. In particular, there are significant post punk and experimental/noise guitar elements featured in the slower paced tracks. This contrasts against the deliberate omission of jazz, neo classical, electronic and prog elements that many other blackened artists have dabbled with.These elements all combine to give the work a harsher and pre-meditated tone of transformed chaos featuring demonic vocals and ruptured semi tone harmonics.A significant improvement on the bands previous releases, this studio masterpiece just gets better with repeated listens as more and more layers are revealed.Highly recommended for all fans of extreme metal and extreme horror soundtracks, but be warned this is not for the faint hearted.Definitely gets my vote for Black Metal release of the year!"

The supreme abstract

A Flickering | England | 04/14/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I remember the time this album fully clicked with me. Driving through northern Norway, with a powerful river gushing a green storm alongside us, this album seemed to be at perfect harmony with the surroundings. Actually, this would seem otherworldly to the majority, and in context to society it surely is, but in my mind this is the musical representation of that river, and thus this album is surely more worldly than anything motivated by populism (this applies to pretty much all black metal though, really). Of course, that is an entirely subjective interpretation, I'm not sure if Blut Aus Nord had nature in mind as a dominant theme when recording this.

Disregarding the first paragraph for a moment, even highly experienced people in the realm of black metal would probably tell you that there is something distinctly alien about this recording. The dissonant, sweeping melodies could almost be "The Howling Of God". A pummelling drum-machine surges them forward. Like somebody mentioned in an earlier review, drum-machines almost always make an album less natural. Why does it work here, then? Perhaps this album portrays the isolation of nature, rather than nature itself, and thus the less-human this sounds, the better? It seems to mechanically symbolise nature's efficiency and power, and so rather than just giving us the image of an insignificant machine doing its work, it actually adds to the album's organic feel. The drums are not only superbly executed, they're superbly produced, and the same could be said for the whole album. Vocal howls and screams are present in the background, but nothing obvious. They're almost indistinguishable from the guitar melodies at times, and the subtlety works extremely well.

Like most releases I heap praise upon, this one creates ambience in abundance. Like all ambient releases, this one needs to be listened to as one, as it creates a "sonic vortex" which Thamuz describes. Silence is used to great effect, contrasting beautifully with the music, creating plenty of tension and adding to the haunting atmosphere. Indeed, one track is 18 seconds of silence in preparation for the epic monster of a last track. These things have already been reflected on by others though, so I'll move on.

Blut Aus Nord have certainly developed immensely upon the ideas they started in "Mystical Beast of Rebellion" which, to be fair, is quite a weak release in comparison. There's lots of variation in pace now, at times ominously slow, at times roaringly fast. The preceding release was completely devoid of this, which was its main fault along with it never really feeling complete or purposeful, which they've also corrected here. The discordance that MBOR explores is fully recognised on this one, and like I mentioned before, the production is more fitting too.

It's interesting that the album is apparently quite accessible to those with an interest in black metal, considering how unusual it is. On the other hand, the atmosphere is so overwhelming I guess it's not that surprising. Another thing I've noticed is that the majority were hailing this album as the band's greatest 6 months ago, but now almost everyone seems to be favouring their first two releases. Though good, I've always felt that this one obliterates them both, but if you enjoy this one don't hesitate to check out their earlier material, in particular Ultima Thulee. As long as you're not expecting something quite this good, you won't be disappointed.

All that's left to say is: Pick up "The Work Which Transforms God" as soon as you can - it's an absolute blinder."

EERIE.

americanmurder | 12/24/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If Throbbing gristle reformed as a black metal act. They would be called Blut Aus Nord. This album is everything misanthropic. Buy it now."

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CD Details

CD Reviews

	Blut Aus Nord Work Which Transforms God Genres: Rock, Metal Track Listings (12) - Disc #1 End The Choir of the Dead Axis The Fall Metamorphosis The Supreme Abstract Our Blessed Frozen Cells Devilish Essence The Howling of God Inner Metal Cage Density Procession of the Dead Clowns
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