Candlelight Records

Having come a long way from their powerful beginnings, Blut Aus Nord are no less powerful and ambitious today than they were in 1993. Though, referring to Blut Aus Nord as "they" or "them" may be technically incorrect even if there are multiple members of the band. To my knowledge, Vindsval is still the sole creative force behind what started as a one man band known as Vlad to later be renamed to Blut Aus Nord. Since there is now a full band, I will continue to treat it as a band rather than a singular artist. If their current sound is any reflection, they've grown from purveyors of raw, epic, hauntingly evocative black metal to purveyors of less raw, equally epic, and perhaps even more hauntingly evocative black metal with albums such as The Work Which Transforms God and now their seventh full length, Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue with the Stars, which show a stunning command of the advanced ideas hinted at in earlier works.

It's a complex spiral of darkness and mind-altering layers of ethereal, cascading webs of trance-inducing melodic movements and soundscapes that makes this album what it is. Drums that, though they are reported to be performed by a human, sound a little too mechanical to my ears to beleive in any human intervention aside from programming, are similar to what we heard in The Work Which Transforms God. They provide a strong rhythmic base, but offer no flare or attention-grabbing moments, allowing the listener's attention to be fully given to the beautiful and ominous opus of constantly changing progressions of dark melodic themes explored in great depth by Vindsval and company. 

De Profundis

Jesus fucking Christ I love French black metal. It must be something in their water, or maybe they've got special oxygen that the rest of us aren't allowed to inhale. The Black Legions, loved by few, hated by many, insignificant to most, put France on the map for raw, ultra-harsh and bleak cult black metal back in the 90's with their mass of demos and bootlegs and impossible-to-find official releases. In the later 90's and early 00's, other French metal acts such as Antaeus, Blut Aus Nord, and Deathspell Omega undoubtedly did a lot to help France solidify its position as a country fully capable of exporting quality metal. Peste Noire belongs on any list of notable metal acts from France, and by now should be placed toward the top in terms of ambition and ability.

While the Black Legions are long gone and traditional old-school black metal from France isn't its prize export, bands such as Deathspell Omega, Blut Aus Nord and Peste Noire make France a powerhouse in terms of giving birth to interesting, innovative, amazing bands.

Peste Noire's story begins in 2000 but I'm not going to tell it. Following their barrage of demos released through the first half of the decade, they put together their first full length which was remarkable. It took everything good about black metal, highlighted the dark and beautiful and disgusting and somber elements and dominated the world. I don't care if you didn't hear it. It dominated the world. It should stand as a black metal milestone, something to measure other modern black metal works of greatness by.