The Dissonant Black Metal Thread

Blut aus Nord - "The Work Which Transforms God" (2003)

It's been a while since I've revisited this great French black metal record. The last time we crossed paths I found myself waxing lyrical about how it was a genuine extreme metal classic. This time though, I'm a little bit on the fence about it. The tracklisting may well be without blemish but it also doesn't really hit its peak until the back end of the record either with the final three proper songs being where all the truly elite material can be found in my opinion. The inclusion of "Density" in between the two best songs certainly irks me too as it's essentially eighteen seconds of nothing & that may well have beed the tipping point that's seen me going with a 4-star rating (admittedly by the barest of margins) over my previous 4.5-star one. Still, there's some wonderful dissonant black metal on this release with a really dark atmosphere & some grim-as-fuck vocals & that can't be a bad thing now. These days I'd probably place "The Work Which Transforms God" on a similar level to 2009's highly acclaimed "Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With the Stars" record, although I'd definitely put this one slightly ahead.

For fans of Deathspell Omega, An Axis of Perdition & The Ruins of Beverast.

4/5