BLUT AUS NORD — Disharmonium – Nahab (review)

BLUT AUS NORD — Disharmonium – Nahab album cover

Album · 2023 · Atmospheric Black Metal

5/5 · 2023-08-26
siLLy puPPy

Some thirty years into its existence, BLUT AUS NORD which stared as Vlad in 1993 has lost none of its unique charm in the world of experimental metal with its unique brand of psychedelic electronica merging seamlessly with atmospheric black metal. While starting out in the second wave black metal scene, Vindsval and his cronies have continued to ratchet up the BLUT AUS NORD experience by consistently pushing in the envelope in developing horrific soundscapes that are suitable for as soundtracks for some interdimensional hellish setting.

Following a now already established pattern of cranking out a trilogy of overarching themes, the DISHARMONIUM set that began with last year’s “Undreamable Abysses” becomes even more blood curdling with its followup NAHAB, a word that means “love” in the Arabic language but brings no warm and fuzzies to mind as it pummels with black metal brutality in tandem with suffocating atmospheric anxiety. Fueled with dissonant guitar workouts and cyclical post-rock inspired patterns of repetition, NAHAB takes things laid down on previous albums and turns up the dial a few notches.

This is one of those albums that matches the album cover art perfectly as it truly feels like an astral disaster in the making, one where you are literally paralyzed in fear as nefarious multi-dimensional entities suck out your very life force like one of those bogeys in the Harry Potter movies. Once again BLUT AUS NORD owes its terror tactics to the inspiring artistic world of H.P. Lovecraft and like the dreaded Cthulhu of Lovecraftian legend, unleashes its tentacles to ensnare its prey into a metaphysical battle for your very soul.

The secret to BLUT AUS NORD’s success is that the band never strays too far from an overall theme and the unique sound that gelled all the way back with “Memoria Vetusta I: Father’s Of The Icy Age.” Just like the subtle ratcheting up of tension that graces each and every release, these guys know how to keep the basics of what came before and change it up just enough to offer a new perspective of a true and tried vision. Through this process BLUT AUS NORD has become somewhat of a legend in what i would first and foremost refer to as horror metal, a type of psychological mind fuck metal that transcends the pigeonholed terms such as black metal, progressive metal or atmospheric black metal.

In my opinion, DISHARMONIUM - NAHAB has pretty much perfected the BLUT AUS NORD experience by maintaining its dedication to the second wave black metal wrath accompanied by knotty avant-prog styled time signature changes and experimentalism. Add to that the perfect atmospheric black ambience that does the cosmic dance with its metal counterpart. Take for example the track “The Black Vortex” where the incessant hornet sounding buzzsaw guitars, the frenetic jazzy drumming, the suffocating atmospherics and the overall doom and gloom despair Lovecrafted into an eternal source of sonic bleakness and you can’t help but be blown away.

It seems this band is in no danger of running out of steam and one that only grows better and bolder with each release. Far ahead of the competition, BLUT AUS NORD pretty had a decade’s run of albums ahead of the pack but even some three decades later still exudes a sense of mastery and mastery absent from many old timers who have rested on their laurels rather than climbing the Jacob’s ladder of inspiration. This latest offering from these French underground superstars of the extreme metal world blows away anything they’ve done in a long time. The perfect marriage of second wave black metal laid down on “Ultima Thulée” married with the atmospheric perfection of the “Memoria Vestusta” releases but adds the chaotic mind fuckery of “MoRT. In short, experimental black metal perfection.