adg211288 Some albums out give me a ‘WTF’ moment before I’ve ever heard it, or even the band that made it previously. One such album is the third full-length album by Swiss black metal act Blutmond, which was released in 2012. Entitled The Revolution is Dead! and featuring a blindfolded and open-legged yet with no apparent genitalia nude female with a megaphone on the cover, it doesn’t exactly cut an image which screams black metal at me. To be honest, I’m not sure what sort of image it cuts, but I guess that’s the point given the direction Blutmond take black metal in.

Although Blutmond’s sound certainly contains black metal elements aplenty, they’re most definitely one of the most avant-garde bands in the genre first and foremost. You can’t really have any expectations of what a band like Blutmond will sound like; calling them avant-garde black metal is the most accurate and vague description of their music at the same time. What I do know is that The Revolution is Dead! is most certainly one of the most different sounding metal albums I’ve encountered this year. We’re most certainly not talking your run of the mill band when it comes to Blutmond.

Featuring a full time saxophonist in their line-up alongside a more traditional black metal band setup is only the beginning of Blutmond’s sound. The vocals are mostly growled, but not always in the raspy style associated with black metal. Some of the vocals sound closer to a crust punk style, the band having two vocalists, and there are also clean vocals, including some guest female vocals, some of which also go into a screaming style, which actually sounds pretty tortured. The album features a number of guest performers including Anna Murphy (Eluveitie), Managarm (Varg), Markus Baltes (Autumnblaze) and Fredy Schnyder (Nucleus Torn).

The result is something which sounds pretty crazy and random. A more traditional black metal part here, a thrashy riff there, layers of saxophone which add something of a bleak atmosphere to the whole thing and much more, more than I could ever accurately write about here. But that’s really the main appeal of it. It is different, which is of course exactly what being avant-garde is all about. Most definitely not an album for the impatient, and it will take several spins to even begin to work out what it’s all about, but The Revolution is Dead! has ultimately been a rewarding experience for me, and the creativity of the band is never in doubt from start to finish. It’s just one of those niche albums which I think will end up and love/hate thing for most listeners. Personally speaking I can’t say I like this as much as some of the other avant-garde metal I’ve come across, including Blutmond’s labelmates Akphaezya, but I appreciate what they made here and a great album tier rating is deserved. If you’re an adventurous soul when it comes to music, then I think Blutmond will be very worth you giving a shot.

75/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org/blutmond-the-revolution-is-dead-t2710.html))

UMUR "Thirteen Urban Ways 4 Groovy Bohemian Days" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Swiss black metal act Blutmond. The album was released through Code666 in September 2010.

Whenever Code666 releases something you know you´re in for something a bit out of the ordinary and that´s certainly also the case with "Thirteen Urban Ways 4 Groovy Bohemian Days". The title of the album should also give you an indication that this is no regular sounding black metal album. I haven´t heard the debut album by the band yet, but as far as I´ve been able to gather of information about it, the music style on that album is more "regular" raw black metal. The music on "Thirteen Urban Ways 4 Groovy Bohemian Days" can be labelled avant garde/progressive black metal and reference points could be acts like Code, Dødheimsgard and even Ulver at times. The occassional use of flugelhorn (it might be a saxophone, I´m not an expert) creates a desolate urban feel I associate with some of Ulver´s work. The music is hard to describe acurately, but experimental black metal with both raspy, aggressive, and clean vocals is a shot at it. The band are very well playing and it´s obvious from listening to the music that they are full of innovative and adventurous ideas. Sometimes the experimentation works and sometimes it doesn´t. The fact that the album is 63:54 minutes long influences my opinion too. It´s simply too long for it´s own good and I´m sure a 40 minutes long album packed with all those great ideas would have worked a lot better. The hour long album unfortunately loses my attention along the way.

So at the end of the day I´m left partially impressed and partially not so entertained. I think the album promises a lot and only partially delivers what it promises. I´ve been giving it some thought, and I think what is lacking here to make this a truly great album is some memorable riffs. I´ve come to the conclusion that it´s the basic riffs that aren´t powerful or distinct enough to really make an impression. The experimental ideas are for the most part successful enough and are a contributing factor to the generally effectful dark/weird atmosphere on the album. The weird song titles like, "You vs. The Modern Lifestyle Obsession", "Working Poor, Yuppie Yeah (A/A 3000)", and "Martini Midnight Madness" are also contributing factors to the alien atmosphere. It´s hard to know who I should recommend the album to, as it is sure to be an aquired taste, but the open minded extreme metal fan could find something of interest here. If you´re able to find enjoyment in the more basic metal elements on the album too and have no problem with the hour long playing time, this album might be worth the investment for you. A 3 to a 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.