Review by Ben for Blut aus Nord - Disharmonium - Undreamable Abysses (2022)

Blut aus Nord never fail to intrigue and blow away expectations. While some of their releases are thematically linked (the Memoria Vetusta and 777 trilogies), the vast majority of them explore entirely new sounds. Despite this creativity, in the near 30 years of of this French entity's existence, they've released very little that I don't get a lot out of. For Disharmonium, Vindsval and co. have seemingly delved into a Lovecraftian nightmare, with the result being a swirling, dissonant soundscape of black metal horror. Anyone that knows my tastes and interests will know that this is a recipe for audio bliss for me, but I have to admit that I wasn't immediately taken in by the album. While I quickly appreciated the sounds on offer, the tracks were all converging into a seemingly repetitive mass of intense percussion, dissonant guitar and wails from the abyss. Thankfully repeated listens have allowed each track to form their own identity in my metal cortex, and my enjoyment has since skyrocketed.

Opener Chants of the Deep Ones is the obvious highlight for me, and I do think that's partly due to Vindsval's audible black metal vocals having much more of a presence than they have for the remaining tracks. There are quite a few times on other tracks where I believe his vocals are present, but they're so submerged in the mire that I can't be all that certain what I'm hearing. Perhaps this release will open up further to me after even more time, but I don't believe The Work Which Transforms God is in any danger of losing it's position as my favourite Blut aus Nord album. That said, I haven't been this excited for the band since the completion of the 777 trilogy, so I'll happily take this for what it is. As a final comment, I love it when an album cover 100% encapsulates the music found within, and this is definitely the case here.