The Work Which Accomplishes Naught (Mort - Blut Aus Nord)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Mort - Blut Aus Nord
Date:	31/03/08 (24 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Another reasonably successful industrial effort.

Disadvantages: Tedious and repetitive, lacking the interest of earlier releases.

Where 'The Mystical Beast of Rebellion' was disappointing for being too generic in its approach to black metal, 'MoRT' sees Blut aus Nord emerge from the other side as a tedious industrial band, where each song still sounds exactly the same.

The French band's move towards an industrial/electronic sound seems like an act of disappointing trend-hopping in the wake of others in the field such as the superior ...And Oceans, and no amount of unusual capitalisation in its title can make 'MoRT' seem as enigmatic as its creators obviously wish it to be. Sure, at first the discordant keyboard tone, infrequent whispered vocals and buzzsaw-like effects create an effectively dark and confusing atmosphere, but then every track follows the exact same style and sound, and the whole thing becomes a chore to sit through. The echoing electronic drums and sax-like keyboards never vary in their application, obviously indicating an incredibly uneventful narrative in whatever story these "chapters" intend to convey.

I don't fully understand this obsession of many black metal bands to head in an electronic direction, but it seems to be a desire to shock through aural ugliness in a way that they feel black metal can no longer achieve. While it certainly succeeds in putting many listeners off through its harsh and uncompromising sound, giving the band the satisfaction of remaining obscure, others like me who enjoyed their earlier material are just left turning away out of boredom, and wishing for a return to the good old days where focus was on the distant past rather than some badly thought-out future dystopia.

1.Chapter I
2.Chapter II
3.Chapter III
4.Chapter IV
5.Chapter V
6.Chapter VI
7.Chapter VII
8.Chapter VIII

Summary: Blut aus Nord's fifth album (2006).