Band:	Blut Aus Nord
Album:	777 - Cosmosophy
Style:	Industrial metal
Release date:	September 2012

01. Epitome XIV
02. Epitome XV
03. Epitome XVI
04. Epitome XVII
05. Epitome XVIII

Blut Aus Nord is a band that often works in trilogies. And just like they’re currently in the process of closing another trilogy, let’s look at how they closed the best one in the past.

I don’t mean to say that there aren’t essential Blut Aus Nord records that aren’t part of trilogies. Arguably their best work is The Work Which Transforms God, a landmark so big we wrote an entire article about it. There’s certainly some contrarian out there who thinks that they peaked with Ultima Thulée or Odinist, and even the more recent Hallucinogen showed a penchant for finding new directions at this point in the band’s career. But one glance at their discography reveals a very noticeable pattern. The earliest one, Memoria Vetusta, was more in the icy atmospheric black metal that the band started in. Then there was the shorter form alienating black metal of What Once Was… Liber, the only trilogy to only be made up of EPs. And now the band has released two of the three parts of eerily dissonant Disharmonium trilogy, and as we bear for the final installment, let’s revisit arguably their most famous trilogy.

I say arguably because there’s definitely a subsection of fans that prefer the more straight-forward nature of the Memoria Vetusta trilogy, and getting the exact numbers of which one is actually the most famous is tricky, but as far as albums I’ve seen mentioned most often in discussion, Blut Aus Nord enter the discussion more for their experimental dissonant and industrial stuff, something that was explored more in the 777 trilogy, started in 2011 with Sect(s) and The Desanctification, and finalized by 2012’s Cosmosophy. They’re the kind of albums that each have a distinct appeal but that also work best in the complete trilogy fashion. As much as I’d like to just review the entire trilogy in one spot, it’s more interesting now to see how Blut Aus Nord closed the trilogy.

Sect(s), the trilogy starter, was the one most in line with what Blut Aus Nord were already doing in the more experimental black metal field starting with The Work, where it felt like its most defining characteristic was the dissonance. Then The Desanctification continued that by amping up the industrial aspects of the sound, while also shifting the atmosphere towards something a bit reminiscent of post-metal. In a lot of ways Cosmosophy is a natural continuation of that progression, but at the same time switching things back to some of Blut Aus Nord’s earlier elements to create a very contrasting meeting of the band’s most distinct personalities.

The album still has an industrial undertone, with quite some of the riffing feeling cold and mechanical, but most especially noticeable in the programmed drumming that became a staple of industrial music. But as a whole that aspect takes a step back compared to The Desanctification. What does continue most from The Desanctification is the sense of atmosphere, the post-metal touched one, and one that feels almost surprisingly calm and serene for a band like Blut Aus Nord. And… very not black metal at times. The lead guitars are so melodious that they work to create that feather-like atmosphere, and the vocals are often clean (and sometimes a bit eyebrow-raising). Far from the oppressive dissonant and industrial landscapes the name generally evokes, but at the same time the name also evokes ice and frost. So does Cosmosophy.

A lot of the melodious side and the atmosphere feels more reminiscent of the icy atmospheric black metal of the early albums, and most of all that feeling is carried by the synths giving that specific wintery feel that’s not too far away from dungeon synth. And to have that work in tandem with the more dissonant and industrial bits that still remain is a contrast that’s still pretty unique in the band’s discography, despite how neighboring waters have been explored, none sound like Cosmosophy. Maybe it’s that skelethal contrast, maybe it’s the ambient bits and that very weird French trip hop section in the second track.

And with how uncharacteristical it sounds, it would feel very weird as a standalone album, but as a closer to the trilogy, it does feel like a conclusion to something. Like peace attained. Like enlightenment reached. Like the storms have been weathered.

Whether any conclusions can be drawn about how this could be used to predict Disharmonium’s upcoming conclusion, I refrain from judging, what I can say is that the track record indicates that we have every reason to have high expectations.



This has been yours' truly's 777th review.