Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen

Origin: France

Label: Debemur Morti Productions

Release: September 20th, 2019

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New material from diverse bands is always exciting news to listeners, with Blut Aus Nord being a grand example of this category and a project with hefty history and a fairly hefty discography on their backs. Mainman Vindsval is a unique musician who has never compromised, and his work is the proof for that. Throughout the years, I have praised but also discarded BAN’s albums without ever skipping a single release, since I consider this one of the biggest names to be constantly into someone’s radar.

This decade has seen no less than six full lengths by Blut Aus Nord, and they have left a bittersweet taste on me, as I am not the biggest fan of the 777 trilogy, I could not fully appreciate their previous album Deus Salutis Meæ in 2017, yet I think Saturnian Poetry from 2014 is their richest record and also one of the best black metal albums of the 10s. 

The band’s new album Hallucinogen came as a surprise to me, ever since I saw one new version of their logo in bubbly, floating letters a la Black Sabbath, or more closely like Electric Wizard. The artwork’s vivid colors give cunning looks to some darker Infected Mushroom even, with the concept being quite straightforward about hallucinogens and psychedelics, something that Blut Aus Nord haven’t expressed so far through their musical content (worry not about their personal lives). 

By slowly stepping into the compositions, an aural execution of these very subjects is apparent and pops out of mainly colorful guitar melodies, chanting vocals and this dizzying atmosphere. The band employs a combination of their own trademark sound with psychedelic elements, or at least tries to balance between its own identity and the urge not to completely be dragged towards that direction. Some sparse shrieked vocals are now the only characteristic that connects Blut Aus Nord to their old black metal self.

The first track “Nomos Nebuleam” was also released prior to the record and intrigued me, because of this new turn in the band’s music but also because I seemed to sincerely enjoy the tune. There are several moments of awesome guitar lines in it, most probably featuring a couple of the best riffs in the whole record. After listening to Hallucinogen till the end, the realization is that this track is indeed the best among a collection of sub-optimal pieces. After the second track “Nebeleste”, the attention starts to wear off and Hallucinogen becomes repetitive, circling around the same pattern of lively melodies, solos and cleaner ambient parts.

For instance, I could not grasp on how a track like “Mahagma”, a basic and unoriginal post-black metal piece, would end up in a Blut Aus Nord record. Only the closing part of that song saves itself a bit, but one minute is not enough. Tracks “Sybelius” and “Anthosmos” are also indifferent, with a few enjoyable parts but mostly containing ideas same as “Nomos Nebuleam”, but inferior. Hallucinogen is an album that can be felt completely, even from one single track, no matter which one you pick. 

 “Haallucinählia” is another take-home track as the first two, which features beautiful and slightly filthier riffs, as well as the calm ambiance that is used around. However, this resemblance between tracks doesn’t work on its favor, when you listen to the clean guitar part of this one and the ending of “Anthosmos”, can you really tell the difference?

I can see this record going places, and I expect it to be successful outside the boundaries of the underground. Its pleasant sound and psychedelic nature are a tempting fruit, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they acquire new audience from it. Personally, Hallucinogen is a rather direct record that gives everything to the listener right away with its transparency, and that makes me feel a bit frustrated, coming from a notoriously enigmatic band like Blut Aus Nord. Depending on what you see as success, you can weight this album the way you want.

AOTY 2017: Top 10 EPs

Shuffling through releases of my favorite format, I saw new violent Svartidauði material, as well as Sinmara and finally another One Tail, One Head EP. Great new bands come around, like Abkehr, Daeva, Chevalier, Thantifaxath’s mini album appealed to me more than their full length a couple of years ago and Poison Blood was a reasonable / nice crossover. Fever Nest was the best gift of the year and close to the epitome of filth, just how it’s done. I want to change my approach to end year lists drastically in the future, but I hope this kind will stick around.

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10. Poison Blood – Poison Blood

9. Chevalier – A Call to Arms

8. One Tail, One Head – Firebirds b/w Prowess

7. Oranssi Pazuzu - Kevät / Värimyrsky

6. Daeva – Pulsing Dark Absorptions

5. Svartidauði – Untitled

4. Thantifaxath - Void Masquerading As Matter

3. Abkehr – In Asche

2. Sinmara – Within the Weaves of Infinity

1. Fever Nest – Black Carrion Fowl

Oranssi Pazuzu - Valonielu (2013) Review

October 11th, 2013
Svart Records

| Woe of cannibal galaxies |

Rough days need rough music and I was not anticipating a new offering by this band, it totally caught me sleeping. Do you know Oranssi Pazuzu? If not, you should. They are the patronizers of psychedelic black metal, adorning a whole new side of the genre with their peculiar incarnation of sound. Formed in 2007, the Finnish surrealists arrive to question your standards once more with their third album Valonielu, which to me, is a mysterious gateway full of enigmas and riddles. Judging from the band's statement "Oranssi Pazuzu makes music that invites all the arsonists and smokers to hold hands", I think their vision fits this blog perfectly and I'm definitely re-examining their older albums as well.

The band's music emphasizes on a bizarre amalgamation of various unconventional styles while mainly revolving around black metal, forging a unique and intriguing sound, which gives them an identity among numerous look alikes in the scene. Coming from a non-metal background (the members were playing in weird rock bands before this) and having no knowledge on how to create traditional black metal  is a bliss and a key element for them to go on and create something that amazing. The psych here is enormous and unexpected sounds pop out of every corner of the album, introducing elements of ambient, space rock and 90s black metal.

Oranssi Pazuzu dare to prolong some of their tracks up to eleven and fifteen minutes, challenging the listener's patience and fooling them into one bottomless pit of psychedelic utopia. After several listens, I still feel I have not fully consumed the tasty content of the album, which appears to have more and more hidden sequences that need close attention to grasp on. The album was produced under the aegis of Jaime Gomez, who has also worked for Ulver, Hexvessel, Gates of Slumber... So it was in the hands of a professional. I sensed the band's potential with the first two albums but this is overwhelming, I am impressed.

The reigning atmosphere during the album is this of the late sixties and early nineties, achieved by plenty underground prog / phychedelic rock bands as well as the ultra legends Pink Floyd. Or, to be more exact, it goes a little deeper and darker than that old scene, not only with the doses of black metal but also with the synths themselves. Absorbing all sorts of bizarre noises, the tracks contain catchy guitar riffs melded with hypnotic keys and screeching screams, driven by a smooth rhythm giving drum work.

Over it's 42 minute length, it offers a trippy experience into your subconscious as you're swallowed by it's alluring beauty and smartly executed compositional variety. New bands with a strongly personal and monumental sound like Oranssi Pazuzu are the ones who own the future for their delicate visions, as I would gladly swear that you have not heard something like this before. Combining their influences flawlessly, they build an addictive album that flows as a calm river and is probably going to stick in the listener's ears for some time. Instead of a fast-paced tempo, they move in a moderate speed so that the droning components can be experienced, giving time to grasp on the more than enough samples and synth lines.

A good example of my aforementioned comments is the opening track "Vino Verso", which kicks off with a druggy and a simplistic note riff, going on for almost it's whole length. The keyboards hold the leading role and characterize the song, launching new tones one after the other and establishing the band's elements all together on the table. A druggy/space feeling is created and the pure black metal elements are a minority, mainly in the vocals.

The second track "Tyhja Tempelli" is one of my favourite on the album, due to it's sick and dark vibe, deriving once again from the synths. It's slow and ailing, like the instrumentation of a dying junkhead, or a soundtrack to a deranged psychological movie. Their focus on mind games and creating hallucinations via their music is more than obvious on this brilliant four minute track.

"Uraanisula" begins with a slow, depressive introduction that fits the black metal pattern, then comes a small great sample before it's main part. Here, the clobbering melodies and riffs can be relegated to modern Swedish Shining, evenly painful with more electronic characteristics. The middle of the song is subdued by unclear samples and jamming guitar randomness, with a steady tone from the bass and the drums. Towards the end, it speeds up and leads to one of the most frenetic moments of the album. The track is quite long, as it reaches eleven minutes.

Track four "ReikA Maisemassa" is purely psychedelic. It's gloomy and fearful with lot's of unexpected notes that refer to complete technological disorder, it features simple toms and keyboards, painting the room with several, brightly-coloured lines, circled and squared. Bringing back the original vibe, "Olen Aukaissut Uuden SilmAn" is dangerously digging inside your brain with grinding sc-fi synths and the same, stinky way that they have by now made known.

The final track "YmpyrA On Viiva Tomussa" climbs up to fifteen minutes in length, above every other in the record. The calm, vivid intro that slowly builds into a main part sounds like a post-black metal song but much more maniacal, similar to a product of dementia. A bunch of unbalanced synths dominate the battlefiend again, involving bulky instrumentation, even when the sky seems to clear. It portrays the band in it's entirety, as they have used time in their favor to include all the major characteristics of the album into one, solid construction. It might seem chaotic and random, but the album has a high level of consistency, each track rendering to the album's flow by leaving and open connection with the next one, thus being a great all together listen.

All in all, Valonielu elucidates how talent and originality can create an astonishing piece of art, in any form of art, as well as music. It is fairly reasonable that Oranssi Pazuzu have not reprinted the pure and raw style of their country's scene like Behexen, Sargeist or Horna, so don't expect this kind of black metal here. It is more psychedelia and less metal with bits of science fiction and drugs, a legit sound and a ridiculous assortment of concepts. Influenced by unrelated bands, this musical hodgepodge is to be played and replayed until reality can't be distinguished from dreams and matter is no more.

DAMAGE: 8.5/10

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