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Blut Aus Nord: Cosmosophy

16/09/13 || The Duff

Blut Aus Nord are amazing, there is no question of this; from their early black metal roots of “Ultima Thulee” to their metamorphosis into deep, dark, industrial atonalities and melodic mysticisms, “The Work Which Transformed God” turned the BM scene on its head and the band has not looked back. With questionable follow-up records “MoRT” and “Odinist” and the gloriously majestic “Dialogue with the Stars”, the band’s output appeared somewhat varying, but the band remained as ever unusual, original and for the most part successful on the creative front.

Then we had the announcement of the “777” trilogy, and when leading the French BM scene with Deathspell Omega, interest for Vindsval & Co. (or for now just Vindsval) on what they could achieve with the same format as DsO’s masterful trilogy of “Circumspice”, “Fas” and “Paracletus” was soaring high.

The first effort, “Sect(s)”, was a bit of a departure from the Enslaved-style epic, ethereal nature of “Dialogue…”, a return to the deeply unsettling industrial of “The Work Which Transforms God” but at times even more suffocating, and honestly, I thought it was an incredible record despite personally dribbling all over “Dialogue…” – the band had evolved once more although not as drastically as with “The Work…”, it seemed that the Blut Aus Nord creative mismanagement was at an end.

Now with all three records having been released, each record baring different artworks, thematically we can say that the music is as disparate as it is enjoyable even if the core sound extremely similar. “The Desanctification” (record II) was an horrendously long-winded guitar solo (I exaggerate), drab meandering garbage that held little to the sombre, heavy and foremost musical first part of the trilogy, to say the least none of the atmosphere that Blut Aus Nord are in dire need of when their riffs so heavy on effects but otherwise not of the most complex nature.

With the closing “Cosmosophy”, part three and I might add the record with the coolest artwork, we find that Blut Aus Nord may as well have released three separate records as the artworks to all three might hint, nothing here is particularly assembling with the first two just as much as there is little connection between “SEX” and “The Desanctification”; the only element connecting the three are trademark BAN, industrial, effect-laden, twisty riffs – “Cosmosophy” strikes the balance between awe-inspiring and the forgettably dull of the preceding two records.

To its favour, “Cosmosophy” has a definite structure that its immediate predecessor lacked; the music here is more engaging, and we find some of the ethereal qualities of “Dialogue…”, some of the dark nature of “The Work…; the compositions are more linear than the former, hence why we have some of the tedium of “The Desanctification” rearing its head, but generally this is like “Odinist” – trademark BAN, little on true substance.

Not terrible, not great, “Cosmosophy” is for the most part background music, this ending to the trilogy just another record as with “MoRT” I’ll be avoiding due to its being so nondescript in comparison to the excellence of preceding classics.

Information
Released: 2012
Label: Debemur Morti Productions
Website: Blut Aus Nord MySpace
Band
Vindsval: everything

Tracklist
01. Epitome XIV
02. Epitome XV
03. Epitome XVI
04. Epitome XVII
05. Epitome XVIII

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