...
The songs tend to sound very samey on first listen, and I for one wasnt impressed when I first heard the album, finding its overtly abstract style to be too unpalatable, but there is musical development at work underneath it all, with songs reaching peaks and troughs of momentum throughout ... Read review
A review by Burning_Darkness on Mort - Blut Aus Nord July 1st, 2009
Author's product rating:
Originality
Groundbreaking
Lyrics
Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks
Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Outstanding
Value for Money
Excellent
Advantages:
Hugely atmospheric, original, well executed
Disadvantages:
Its abstract nature will not be to everyones taste
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
After the interesting if not wholly successful flirtiation with ambient/industrial that was their 2005 EP 'Thematic Emanations of Archetypal Multiplicity', the ever esoteric Blut Aus Nord collapsed in upon themselves once more with this, their 2006 full length 'MoRT'.
Whilst some elements from the earlier EP do remain- the disturbing chanting, swathes of eerie feedback ambience and periods of silence, weird, lethargic, tortured riffs and meachanical, alien-sounding programmed drums that clatter and craw in the background like some ancient malfunctioning machine- 'MoRT' pushes this weirdness to a whole new level that has alienated and delighted the band's fans in equal measures.
On the cover of the album (the version I have anyway) there can dimly be made out a severely decomposed figure slumped against the wall, with the word 'MoRT' scratched into the wall above his head. This always reminds me of a scene from Hellraiser 2, in which a character on the run from the Cenobytes appears, flayed of skin, to the films female protagonist, with the words "HELP ME I AM IN HELL" written in blood on the wall behind him. This is an accurate image for the warped, nightmarish music that the album contains.
The eight songs or 'chapters' on offer each consist of bizarre, heavily discordant guitars that leap from note to note with only minimal regard for musical structure, backed by the aformentioned mechanical sporadic drums and low, ethereal chants and growls. There are lyrics given in the booklet, alongside various bleak and abstract dystopian images, but these are all in French so I've no idea what they are. Bells, ghostly metallic synths and subtle, Tibetan sounding clean chanting/singing also make an appearance, culminating in a very dark and unsettling atmosphere.
The songs tend to sound very samey on first listen, and I for one wasnt impressed when I first heard the album, finding its overtly abstract style to be too unpalatable, but there is musical development at work underneath it all, with songs reaching peaks and troughs of momentum throughout their duration, and if viewed more as an ambient album than anything approaching black metal, 'Mort' is a very interesting and grimly entertaining listen. That said, it has divided the fans quite neatly, and its probably not unfair to call it the musical equivalent of Marmite.
Summary: A weird, dissonant and unmusical mix of industrial, black metal and ambient.
Advantages: Well executed, varied, great songstructure, atmospheric, good vocals Disadvantages: None
...'Chamber of Divine Elaborations' the second album by avant-garde French black metal band Reverence, mixes dissonant, warped, atonal riffs with unsettling industrial ambience, an insectile, unconventionally programmed drum machine and weird rasped/growled chanting and eerie clean singing to create an album that will be sound instantly familiar to fans of BlutAusNord. Indeed, as both bands hail from France and have chosen to remain anonymous thus far, it seems almost certain that the bands share some if not all members, given the aesthetic and musical similarities they share.
The songs mix whooshing, metallic ambience with sampled sirens, radio transmissions, chiming clocks, piano, horror-film synths and sci-fi and horror film samples with the twisted and misshapen riffs evident on BlutAusNord's seriously weird 2006 album M.O.R.T...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Varied and atmospheric Disadvantages: Industrial parts are a little generic sounding in places.
...BlutAusNord's 'Thematic Emanations of Archetypal Multiplicity' EP picks up where preceding full length 'The Work Which Transforms God' (2003) left off, opening with a lumbering, ominous intro that gives way to the dissonant strings, snaking, doomy riffs and slow mechanical drum beats of 'Level 1- (Nothing Is)', perhaps the best track on the album. Tension is built up then released in inharmonious bursts, accompanied by coarse, effect-heavy spoken word parts and ethereal wails and is indicative of the style BlutAusNord are to adopt on their following full-length M.O.R.T (2006).
This is followed by a fairly conventional industrial track, 'Level 2 (Nothing is Not)', which consists of minimalist beats and a repetitive bassline that die away into a muted distant pulse mid-song before kicking back in. Whilst enjoyable enough, the track...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
![Greatest Hits Vol.1 (Parental Advisory) [PA] - Korn](http://imagesb.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/small/605/Greatest_Hits_Vol_1_Parental_Advisory_PA_Korn__5878605.jpg)
![Poison, The [ECD] - Bullet For My Valentine](http://imagesb.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/small/771/Poison_The_ECD_Bullet_For_My_Valentine__6344771.jpg)
07.07.2009
12.06.2009
