The Summary Judgment Review:
Title: The Work Which Transforms God
Artist: Blut Aus Nord
Label: Candlelight Records
Release Date: 5/18/04

Rating: 5 Skulls
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    • Reviewed by Slither (7/16/04):
    For some reason French black metal has become a bit of an underground sensation. The Black Legion and its progeny seem to be the new wellspring for trend jumping tardcarts to draw bands from for their internet name dropping competitions. The work of flagship act Vlad Tepes irritates me in ways I thought only recent Swedish bands could. However, the album Vampires of Black Imperial Blood from fellow legion member Mütiilation is a gem that deserves repetitious listening. Like any scene, the motivated fan can separate the wheat from the chaff with a little effort. Aside from what has already been mentioned, those who come out on top of this "le pile" are as follows: Belketre, Osculum Infame, Merrimack, and Blut Aus Nord.

    Hailing from the Mondeville province of France, Blut Aus Nord's back catalogue is a bit of a mystery to me. What I have heard suggests that they have always been a bit of an enigma in the black metal world with their ambient and somewhat industrial take on the genre. The style performed by Vindsval, Feld, and GhÖst is not first wave worshiping thrash or frigid harmonic experimentation. The best word I can use to describe The Work Which Transforms God is hypnotic. What makes this release both black and metal is the malevolent intent that oozes from my speakers and the instrument choices, but in reality the composition is closer to darkwave than any type of metal. Some bands use riff repetition for a droning effect to entrance the listener but Blut Aus Nord hover on one riff through the entirety of a movement, bringing other elements to the foreground then pulling them away again for the duration of the song's length, crafting a paralyzing outcome.

    Unlike the music of the four Black Legion bands, the production on TWWTG is perfectly acceptable. Cavernous reverb, frozen guitars, and oddly alien-sounding percussion intertwine with meticulously placed electronic elements to create an atmosphere that is frightening and captivating at the same time. The pace and candor of the album chains the listener to an obscene black monolith and drags them screaming through a turbulent dimension of blood red storm clouds and tangible darkness.

    Prior to this release I owned two albums worthy of a start to finish listen through headphones on dark and inebriated nights. Robert Rich and Lustmord's darkwave masterpiece Stalker, and the doom jazz behemoth Black Earth composed by the German Bohren and his Club of Gore ensemble. Blut Aus Nord have composed a masterpiece of mind flaying dark ambience and landed at the head of my triumvirate of mind altering albums. Buy or Die.
    5 out of 5

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