Review by Daniel for Blut aus Nord - Ultima Thulée (1995)

It's interesting that many of our members rate the debut album from French black metallers Blut aus Nord extremely highly but it's never impressed me as much to be honest. "Ultima Thulée" was recorded when band leader vocal, guitarist & main musical mastermind Vindsval (Ershetu/Forhist/Yerûšelem/Children of Mäani/Eitrin/Karras/The Eye/Vlad) was just 15 or 16 years old so it's not surprising that its approach is a little less original than Blut aus Nord would later become known for but it still represents a more than decent example of the atmospheric black metal sound with Vindsal's tortured screams being a highlight & reminding me of Varg Vikernes performances on the classic Burzum records. The youngster's riffs are shrouded in frostbitten, lo-fi noise & often rely upon the basslines of session musician Ogat (Antaeus) & keyboards of W.D. Feld (Yerûšelem) to become fully intelligible. Like most of Blut aus Nord's releases, the drums are entirely programmed & I do feel that this is a slight weakness as I would have preferred a more organic feel to them.

The atmospheres presented on "Ultima Thulée" are suitably icy & most of the tracklisting is fairly engaging with songs like opener "The Son of Hoarfrost", my personal favourite "From Hlidskjalf" & the excellent "On the Way to Vigrid" being the clear standouts of the eight tracks included. I must admit that I find "Till' I Perceive Bifrost" to be fairly lackluster & the only genuine disappointment with the others all managing to maintain my interest in some capacity. Some of the transitions in these pieces are pretty jarring & disjointed though which is perhaps understandable given the age of the main composer while the keyboard-driven interlude sections aren't anything terribly special but are certainly passable.

I've gone on to become a big fan of Blut aus Nord over the years as they always manage to create fresh & original yet still inherently dark soundscapes for me to get lost in. "Ultima Thulée" doesn't achieve the same sort of otherworldly majesty but it's still a passable black metal release that perhaps suffered from the time it arrived on the scene as 1995 sits towards the back end of a five-year period that represents the peak for the genre with loads of important releases appearing either side of it. Still... "Ultima Thulée" is certainly worth a listen & should satisfy most punters who enjoy the wintery European atmospheres of the time.

For fans of Burzum, early Emperor & the first couple of Enslaved albums.