Blut Aus Nord - Odinist
In 2003 Blut Aus Nord released “The Work Which Transforms God” one of the most important black metal releases of this decade. With its icy and mechanical yet deeply occult and malevolent brand of industrial black metal they created a record that was perhaps as relevant to the 00’s as “A Blaze in the Northern sky” or “In the Nightside Eclipse” were to the 90’s. Their immediate follow up 2006’s “Mort” was an even more avant-garde step into the unknown and while it was more unique than “The Work Which Transforms God” it lacked that inhuman air of menace that made its predecessor the classic that it was.
2007’s “Odinist” is a move back towards Black Metal and ironically suffers from the exact opposite problem as “Mort”. Although the Black Metal on display is evil and foreboding to the vilest extremes it lacks the Industrial otherworldliness that made “The Work Which Transforms God” so unsettling and alien. It is a good album as even a flawed Blut Aus Nord record is better than 95% of the black metal records that have been realised in the past 12 months and indeed this decade but if you have had heard The Work Which Transforms God” then it frankly pales. It is still an extremely inventive and nonconformist Black Metal album that absolutely drips with a sinister and misanthropic ambience and is worth checking out. If you haven’t heard any Blut Aus Nord records to date however you would be advised to make The Work Which Transforms God” you’re starting point.