The Work Which Transforms God

This really sounds different from the first couple of Blut Aus Nord albums (I haven't heard their third album yet in its entirety). In fact, I can't think of any immediate comparison. Sure, you've got the usual black metal screeching, blast beats, and the omnipresent drum machine, but that's it.

The layered riffing is still the focus, and it's certainly taken a turn for the bizarre. Harmonics jump out and stab you, while you are often jarred by discordant riffs. The guitar sound is one of the nastiest ever. In a few places where they do some midpaced strumming, it sounds like a chorus effect is used to give it a "wavering" sound. Song structures are pretty weird too, as riffs are repeated way more than would normally be acceptable to create an hypnotic effect.

One thing I certainly enjoy is the restrained use of vocals. This lets the savage nature of the music really come to the front, as well as enhance the already desolate and inhuman atmosphere.

A good lot of the tracks on here are ambient, one being complete silence. Taken on their own, they don't do anything for me. In the context of the album, however, they really work to enhance the cold, nearly mechanical feel. Some have labeled this "industrial" black metal, which wouldn't be entirely misleading.

I recently took a drive through central Wisconsin on a winter night, and had this in the CD player. The Work Which Transforms God is the ideal soundtrack for something like that, not for headbanging or moshing. Another prime example of the French doing metal their way, the best way: very, very fucking bizarrely.