Blut aus Nord - Disharmonium - Nahab

Brother they do be churning.

(Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on May 4th 2024) 

It’s been 2 years since Vindsval has ushered us into Blut Aus Nord’s new era with Disharmonium – Undreamable Abysses, a release that I still find to be one of the group’s best, even after having cooled down on it. Barely a year after its release, we’re greeted with the second chapter of this series in Nahab, which builds upon the thematic motifs that have been already established, while simultaneously taking a different sonic approach. To say that I was excited when it was announced would be an understatement. But where there’s excitement, there’s also the risk of disappointment.

Nahab’s bread-and-butter is grinding its listener to the bone. There’s no shortage of clanging and dissonant chords being thrown over erratic and disorienting rhythms, all working in unison to throw you down a pit of cacophony. Whereas though Undreamable Abysses was rather ornate, with off-kilter melodies peering through the chaos in order to further lull you into psychedelia, things here rely on a hypnotic, almost-industrial, churn. Said approach works well in parts, as seen on the furious blasting of “Crowning Horror”, or “Queen of the Dead Dimension”, a tune filled to the brim with slithering atonal leadwork and some oppressive mid-tempos. It’s those moments that bring to mind the group’s previous release, and end up being its highlights.

Said hypnosis can fall flat just as easily though, a feeling that is further accentuated by the fact that not only are the compositions more stripped back, but also by the repetition seen in a lot of the songs. Most of them are built on 4-5 different motifs, not all of which are unfortunately all that effective and can on occasion induce frustration rather than sink me into darkness. Whether it’s the jagged rhythms of “The Endless Multitude”, or the vocal-centric approach of “The Black Vortex”, the effect wears a bit thin after a while. I tried listening to the album within different contexts and moods, and I’ll admit, there are times where it was more effective than others as a whole, but picking it apart really threw me for a loop. And that’s without even mentioning the “Hideous Dream Opus” interludes, single-minute dark ambient ditties that don’t really add much other than being small rest stops, of which “#2” in particular feels misplaced.

And the main problem here is the unfortunate fact that I cannot in good conscience divorce this album from its eldest sibling. Maybe it’s on me for expecting Vindsval to continue in the exact same direction and make “Undreamable Abysses but bigger”, but I just can’t shake the feeling that it feels emptier. Everything is there, both in theory and practice, the dissonance, the head-spinning drum patterns and fills, the thick atmosphere, the works. But for one reason or another it doesn’t hit as much as I’d like. Like I said, the moments that stuck with me the most are the ones that brought the past to mind, with “Nameless Rites” in particular hitting that nice balance between the industrial overtones and the dissonant psychedelia. I know it’s a cop out to say “Yeah I just don’t enjoy it as much” without being able to elaborate on it, but the feeling is just so vague and irritating that I cannot quite define it. I even revisited “Undreamable Abysses a couple of times to see if there was some kind of throughline that I was missing that’d finally help it all fall into place, but that “eureka” moment didn’t come. All it did was further exacerbate my frustrations as to why Nahab didn’t stick with me, and even at the time of writing this review this sentiment still drives me up the wall.

In spite of all that though, Nahab *is* a good album, just not the one I was expecting and wanted. Me saying that it lacks a certain “je ne sais quoi” that I’d hoped to find doesn’t mean Blut Aus Nord aren’t still among the best bands playing this particular style of black metal. As we’ve already established, everything one could expect from the group is still there, albeit twisted and made to fit in a context that makes it feel just a little bit fresher. It’s a piece that definitely demands your attention and for you to sit with it a good amount, something I’m sure to do in the future. If not during (yet another) discography run, then definitely in the event of a third release being announced for this series, something that, fingers crossed, won’t be too long from now.

Highlights: Crowning Horror, Queen of the Dead Dimension, Nameless Rites

Rating: 70%