And so, the much-awaited final instalment in Blut Aus Nord’s ambitious ‘777’ triptych has finally arrived and hotly anticipated it has been chez-Allain. I’d felt for some time now that the band had been treading water a little since 2004’s landmark ‘The Work that Transforms God’ with subsequent releases such as ‘MorT’ and ‘Odinism’ merely passing muster in the ‘good/great’ category – fine for most bands, but Blut Aus Nord are very much NOT most bands.
Pioneers of disturbing, discordant form of mechanised black metal, the Frenchmen’s unique use of cold, mechanical percussion and epoch-defining fretless guitars has set them very much apart from the norm. To put it quite simply, this is a band capable of true artistry.
So, their decision to unleash a 3-part release unto the world was greeted with cautious optimism – optimism in a sense that it suggest a reclamation of the ambition for which the band are so renowned, cautious insomuch as that recording 3 full-lengths in the space of a year or so could represent them spreading themselves thin. Put simply, were they biting off more than they can chew?
The excellence of the first two instalments quashed any such negative notions – ‘777 – Sects’ was a bold start, mixing their trademark rattling discordance with a new-found sense of pounding, slower-paced moroseness. ‘777 – The Desanctification’ fully expanded upon and honed this aspect of their sound, weaving a masterpiece of haunting dark metal, as cold and as lonely as the deepest reaches of space.
Then, fittingly, ‘777 – Cosmosophy’ lands and immediately picks up where the last record ended. ‘Epitome XIV’ highlights all of the elements that made the previous instalment of the series so compelling and distils it into 8 minutes of truly captivating music. The guitars at once both soar and groan, laced with a frozen despondency whilst W.D. Feld’s inventive drum programming weaves insistent mechanized patterns. It’s a truly excellent start and had me all primed to unleash superlatives once the full 45 minutes was up.
Unfortunately, it appears that fears of the band running out of steam over three albums had some foundation after all and Blut Aus Nord simply aren’t able to maintain momentum or standards over the course of ‘777 – Cosmosophy’s four remaining pieces. The second track ‘Epitome XV’ commences with some frankly uninspired sub-industrial electronics and distorted vocals which sound horribly dated. It’s eerily reminiscent of Ulver’s ‘Themes from William Blake’s the Marriage of Heaven & Hell’ album which was in danger of sounding anachronistic in 1999. It’s a clunky moment, not rescued by the ‘Blut aus Nord by numbers’ feel of the conclusion of the track.
As we progress, things become more meandering and less focussed. The band attempt to experiment at points – particularly vocally – but these are not a success. The clean vocal choirs on ‘Epitome XVI’ and ‘Epitome XVII’ sound… wrong, somehow, perhaps a little forced and fail to add anything of real merit to proceedings. Similarly, ghostly synths echo in the background but never really seem to catch light – indeed, there’s very much the feel of an afterthought about them.
And then, it’s sad to say, boredom sets in. I appreciate music such as this is not about three-minute numbers and hummable hooks but vast chunks of these lengthy latter tracks float by in an indistinct blur – not helped by the complete lack of impact delivered by the vocals (never the band’s strong point but a definite weakness on this album). The clean guitars that herald ‘XVI’ have all the ingredients in place – a chiming, spacey sound, suitably moody textures – but the patterns just don’t excite. Similarly, the leads decorating ‘XVII’, are simply not up to the captivating heights we KNOW these guys are capable of. The sound is there (that trademark reverb-laden keening) but the melodies being delivered do not hit home.
BaN being BaN, it of course is not all bad and the pounding, mantric, quasi-tribal finale of ‘Epitome XVIII’ restores a semblance of power and genuine menace to the album. By and large though, this is a rather disparate and disappointing finale to an excellent sequence of records. Once can applaud the band for attempting one or two new tricks with ‘777 – Cosmosophy’ but up against the benchmark that they themselves have set, some of this falls short.
(6/10 Frank Allain)
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