I can not think of a better description for Blut Aus Nord's fourth album. The Work Which Transforms God not only transforms the divine but also black metal... maybe even metal as we know it. Lofty claims, and one not made lightly.
How do you describe music that has no other reference points? There are guitars, drums and vocals like you would expect... but this is a novel utilization of them. The riffs (if you can call them that) sound like a wailing banshee or a gaping void yearning for the listener to embrace nothingness.
The album has no melody, no real structure, no real riffs, nothing that makes it grounded in conventional music. The music weaves in and out, back and fourth, into the physical and metaphysical realms at its own pace. We as the listener are simply observers to this inhuman mass in front of us.
There are two glaring exceptions to the no melody cevat. The first, Our Blessed Frozen Cells begins much like any other song... however after an ambient section a lead guitar breaks through the noise and plays a haunting melody for two minutes. Since the album has been devoid of any hook, any structure or anything musical to this point, the melody stands out like nothing else prior to it.
The Procession of the Dead Clowns closes out the album with a slow instrumental that goes on for nearly 10 minutes. This tracks slow repeating melody bores its way into your mind. It's in stark contrast to everything else that has happened on the album prior (except the excerpt mentioned previously) and closes out the album in expert form.
The remainder of the album is unhuman... truly alien, not of this world. I have not heard anything like this prior to this album, nor anything like it after... even from Blut Aus Nord. This is truly extreme music.
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