ODINIST - THE DESTRUCTION OF REASON BY ILLUMINATION

'Odinist' - Blut Aus Nord (78/100)

It works to Blut aus Nord's credit that one of the most standard and "average" albums in their discography would still stand out as excellent by another rubric. Considering their vast scope from the gorgeous melodies found in the Memoria Vetusta series to their ugly swirling opposites in MoRT and The Work Which Transforms God, it's tough even to think of Blut aus Nord as having a standard sound to fall back on. Between Odinist and The Mystical Beast of Rebellion however, I think they probably found crafted two fitting entry-level points into a terrifying discography. While Odinist was certainly fuelled by the same essential murk as TWWTG, the inaccessibility was evened out by some of Memoria Vetusta's melodic tact. It's chaotic as [%*!#] by other black metal's standards, but in the context of Blut aus Nord it is fitting to see this as their "middle of the road" album.

I first heard this album several years ago and disliked it for its relatively moderate blend of beauty and chaos. Looking at it now, I really like it for the same reasons. I've been listening to Blut aus Nord more than probably any other band this year. They offer the sort of variety that could justify such obsessive listening, but I have found times where I'm torn between which side of BaN I want to hear. In the context of any of their masterpieces, Odinist pales, but taken all together it springs up as a near-perfect blend of what made either end of their spectrum so impressive.

After how exhausting MoRT must have been to write and record, it makes sense that Odinist, released a year later, would pull back on the reins. I don't think there would have been any way for Blut aus Nord to have improved over the two albums before this without completely shifting gears-- something they would do an album later on Dialogue with the Stars. Where their best dissonance was tiring on the ears, I don't think they push the listener as hard here. Their distinctive guitar tone and chord patterns are still conceivably alien to the ear of outsiders, but tracks like "Odinist" and "An Element of Flesh" carry enough hooks in the guitars to make perfect sense of it. Carrying on from TWWTG, the vocals are quietly muffled; the drums are cold and industrial. These traits didn't need to be changed bit in order to enable a fresh experience. Simply giving the guitars more accessible riffs to work with completely changes the dynamic.

I would probably show someone this album's title track if I was trying to engage a tentative newcomer to Blut aus Nord without completely deranging them. As an album, I think Odinist nails their grasp of dynamic much better than The Mystical Beast of Rebellion, which still managed to nail down the atmosphere in spite of falling short in other regards. Odinist is solid in virtually every sense. The only thing riding against it is the presence of far more powerful albums in this band's discography. If you were ever looking for a way into it however, here's your ticket.

While beginning as the one-man solo project of Vindsval, the French experimental freak show known as BLUT AUS NORD really came into its own once the lineup was expanded to a trio that included drummer / keyboardist W.D. Feld and bassist GhÖst. Already having crafted some of the most chilling atmospheric black metal albums in the vein of Burzum, the trio version of BLUT AUS NORD shocked the black metal world with its lauded masterwork "The Work That Transforms God" which ironically transformed the world of second wave Norwegian style black metal into a stranger nebulous world of surreality that incorporated as much dark ambient psychedelia as it did black metal heft.

After reaching the apex of its industrial dark ambient infused alternative universe where black metal was forced to perform unthinkable acts with thick gnarled atonal guitar antics painfully decrying the jagged prog infused percussive beats, the album "MoRT" found this stylistic approach finding its logical conclusion with seemingly nowhere left to go but BLUT AUS NORD proved to be a wily beast that was content with experimenting and then perfecting said experiment and then moving on altogether without abandoning the underpinning of the band's experimental and progressive black metal stylistic approach. While downright normal compared to "MoRT," the band followed up with ODINIST - THE DESTRUCTION OF REASON BY ILLUMINATION which borrowed its title from the magickal world of none other than Aleister Crowley.

Decidedly less otherworldly and more anchored in contemporary atmospheric black metal that had taken the 2000s by storm, ODINIST retains the general characteristics that had graced the band's previous two albums, namely the buzzsaw guitar riffs casting larger than life distorted feedback, bantering bass lines buried beneath the sonic swells and the irregular drum rolls that colluded to craft a bizarre atonal callithump through hellish soundscapes. However on ODINIST all that came before is toned down manyfold in order to craft a somewhat more accessible, or at least more orthodox black metal experience. While "MoRT" cast the strangest of sonic spells with a never-ending supply of jagged irregular jazz-fueled percussion, ODINIST takes on the more standard approach of blastbeats and less jagged progressive time signature attacks. This is all relative of course as ODINIST is much more avant-garde than the average black metal album.

Likewise the compositions lie more in the realm of standard black metal than the experimental freeform avant-garde tendencies of the previous two albums. While the newbie to this band may find this one to be more accessible due to the more standardized approach complete with the expected raspy vocals and less frenetic zigzagging effect, ODINIST to my ears sounds like a few steps down in quality and creative expression as the album tends to feel to safe for its own good in comparison to the albums that preceded and the excellent "777" trilogy that followed. While ODINIST hits all the marks that makes BLUT AUS NORD stand out from the pack, the album feels like it's running on automatic pilot rather than tackling something completely fresh however occasional such as on tracks like "Ellipsis," the doppler effect style of "MoRT" is more prominent.

In many ways ODINIST feels like a Viking metal style album with scattered melodic nods to Norwegian folk music with even the title referring to the god of Norse mythology. On board with the caustic black metal which had been amped up from the previous works, the dark ambient and industrial elements still teem with life however they are also kept on the leash as the compositional style is more predictable and less prone to crafting intangible elements that leave the listener in a cold bewildering reality devoid of any Earthly connections. ODINIST in its 37 minute run is nothing but a decent and compelling atmospheric black metal album experience however i can never shake the feeling that it just doesn't rise to the standards that BLUT AUS NORD had set so high just the year before. Not my personal favorite but a must for fans no doubt.

3.5 rounded down