An Aural Nightmare (Mort - Blut Aus Nord)

Member Name: Burning_Darkness

Product:	Mort - Blut Aus Nord
Date:	01/07/09 (14 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hugely atmospheric, original, well executed

Disadvantages: Its abstract nature will not be to everyones taste

After the interesting if not wholly successful flirtiation with ambient/industrial that was their 2005 EP 'Thematic Emanations of Archetypal Multiplicity', the ever esoteric Blut Aus Nord collapsed in upon themselves once more with this, their 2006 full length 'MoRT'.

Whilst some elements from the earlier EP do remain- the disturbing chanting, swathes of eerie feedback ambience and periods of silence, weird, lethargic, tortured riffs and mechanical, alien-sounding, programmed drums that clatter and craw in the background like some ancient malfunctioning machine- 'MoRT' pushes this weirdness to a whole new level that has alienated and delighted the band's fans in equal measures.

On the cover of the album (the version I have anyway) there can dimly be made out a severely decomposed figure slumped against the wall, with the word 'MoRT' scratched into the wall above his head. This always reminds me of a scene from Hellraiser 2, in which a character on the run from the Cenobytes appears, flayed of skin, to the films female protagonist, with the words "HELP ME I AM IN HELL" written in blood on the wall behind him. This is an accurate image for the warped, nightmarish music that the album contains.

The eight songs or 'chapters' on offer each consist of bizarre, heavily discordant guitars that leap from note to note with only minimal regard for musical structure, backed by the aformentioned mechanical sporadic drums and low, ethereal chants and growls. There are lyrics given in the booklet, alongside various bleak and abstract dystopian images, but these are all in French so I've no idea what they are. Bells, ghostly metallic synths and subtle, Tibetan sounding clean chanting/singing also make an appearance, culminating in a very dark and unsettling atmosphere.

The songs tend to sound very samey on first listen, and I for one wasnt particularly impressed when I first heard the album, finding its overtly abstract style to be too unpalatable, but there is musical development at work underneath it all, with songs reaching peaks and troughs of momentum throughout their duration, and if viewed more as an ambient album than anything approaching black metal, 'Mort' is a very interesting and grimly entertaining listen. That said, it has divided the fans quite neatly, and its probably not unfair to call it the musical equivalent of Marmite.

Tracklisting-

1. Chapter I 06:04
2. Chapter II 04:44
3. Chapter III 05:08
4. Chapter IV 05:41
5. Chapter V 06:35
6. Chapter VI 05:01
7. Chapter VII 06:38
8. Chapter VIII 07:19

Total playing time 47:15

Summary: A weird, dissonant and unmusical mix of industrial, black metal and ambient.