Review by Ben for Blut aus Nord - Ultima Thulée (1995)
Blut Aus Nord's debut is a beautiful and immensely atmospheric black metal album.
Like many others, I first came across Blut Aus Nord with their The Work Which Transforms God album. Saying that I was blown away by that album would be an understatement. It's an immensely disturbing and moving album that sounds like it was recorded in another dimension. Going back through a newly found bands discography can sometimes be underwhelming, with the result often being that you discover a less mature version of the album that got you into the band in the first place. Thankfully, that hasn't turned out to be the case with Blut Aus Nord for two main reasons. Firstly, this debut album is excellent all on its own and secondly, Ultima Thule is not very similar to The Work Which Transforms God at all.
What we have here is atmospheric black metal that relies heavily on ambient passages, freezing riffs and seemingly distant, tortured shrieks. It's much more likely to cause your mind to escape into distant forests and icy landscapes than dive into an abyss of blasphemy fueled hatred like the aforementioned gem demands. Others have mentioned Burzum while describing this album and I can certainly hear that (particularly in the use of keyboards), but I think Satyricon's Dark Medieval Times needs a mention also, particularly the way the album switches (not always neatly) between grand, raw black metal and outside influences. The difference here is that Blut Aus Nord went for entirely symphonic elements, rather than the more acoustic work on Satyricon's debut.
The musicianship doesn't really draw your attention to it, which is a wonderful thing for any atmospheric black metal album. The band obviously cared nothing for technicality and instead opted for simple yet hugely atmospheric passages. Despite this simplicity, I have to say it's a captivating and at times unpredictable experience. Many tracks shift halfway through down an altogether different path, which at times can be jarring and frustrating, but each part is effective enough that you soon settle into the metamorphosing proceedings and just let it wash over you. The vocals are extremely raw and agonized and while a few reviewers on this site seem to dislike them, I find them utterly enthralling. Once again, the closest comparison would have to be Varg's emotional outbursts in Burzum and that can only be a good thing in my books.
The opening track The Son of Hoarfrost, Till I Perceive Biforst and The Last Journey of Ringhorn are the highlights of the album for me, but there's much to be enjoyed within all 8 tracks, including the ambient instrumentals. If you enjoy albums like Dark Medieval Times, Hvis Lyset Tar Oss and to a lesser extent the music of Drudkh, then you should hunt Ultima Thule down. It's by no means a perfect album but it's a consistently gripping and entertaining one.