Blut Aus Nord “The Mystical Beast Of Rebellion” (2011)

A welcome reissue of an historical album by the French masters which first saw the underground penumbra a decade ago. This piece of work is widely considered as seminal for the evolution of black metal, both philosophically and musically. Iin fact “The Mystical Beast of Rebellion” chronologically precedes the masterpiece album “The Work Which Transforms God, hailed as a turning-point in the development of the avant-garde metal genre, and features the characteristic dissonant riffing which other unconventional black metal bands also went on to explore shortly after, such as Deathspell Omega. This early BaN album is already glowing with the devastating beauty that has long distinguished their widely experimental approach: it is brutal but dense, discordant yet lucid, tortured, expansive and implosive at once. It was conceived as one long piece, “The Fall”, divided into VI blood-chilling chapters (a practice which also went on to be replicated by a few other avant-gardistes) each projecting well beyond the 6” mark (except for Chapter III), showcasing feral blasts and highly hypnotic atmospheres rich in sonic and conceptual genius.

An absolute must for those who are yet to explore the ground-breaking, wide-reaching depths of the BaN’s oeuvre spanning from 1995 to this day, this classic re-release is completed by the addition of three brand new tracks written by mastermind guitarist Vindsval as an antithetic path that reaches the same destination. United under the name of “The Fall – Chapter 7”, together they make up over 37 minutes (19 of which are taken by the incredible last segment alone) of anaconda-like brilliance which represents, in essence, the painfully difficult but stoically exciting facets of a very complex inner journey. Musically, here BaN offers once again a different underbelly in the shape of some of the best, richest, most seducing experimental psych-doom I have heard in a very long time! Submerging like an anomalous high-tide the highly eccentric territory of off-kilter, crazy bands like Orthodox, BaN proceeds to darkly fertilize the often tedious doom soil with effortless creativity, captivating the listener’s attention from start to finish (now that’s a feat!) with subtle, lysergic layered noises that will make the early Pink Floyd fan shudder with pleasure. Today this band is fast approaching the 777th dimension, always remaining, in the process, as enigmatic, mysterious and uncompromising as ever.

-Mystery Flame 

VITALS:

Release:  January 2011
Label:  Debemur Morti Productions
Avantgenre:  The 777th Realm Of AGMness
Duration:  N/a
Origin:  France
Official site:  http://www.blutausnord.com
Review online since:  18.04.2011 / 16:26:19