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/:: Artist :: Blut aus Nord ::\
:: Album :: Ethereal Horizons ::
:: Year :: 2025 ::
:: __ _ _ __ ::
-:--\\-----------------------------------------------------------------//--:-
:: \ / ::
:: . Genre :: Black Metal Source :: CD . ::
:: Label :: Debemur Morti Productions R.date :: 2025-12-20 ::
_::__ Cat.nr. :: DMP0265-CD S.date :: 2025-11-28 __::_
::// \\::
::/---------------------------------------------------------------------\::
:: ::
/: Encoder :: LAME 3.100 -V0 :\
..: Bitrate :: avg. 265kbps :..
. Quality :: 44.1 kHz/Joint Stereo .
. Size :: 103.53MB .
. .
__ __ _ . : _ ____ _ _ ____ _ : . _ __ __
.\\\\------- : | ---\ /---------------------\ /--- | : -------////.
+/ -\------- | | ----\ tracklist /---- | | -------/- \+
/: . : : . :\
/:: ::\
:: 1. Shadows Breathe First 7:15 ::
:: 2. Seclusion 8:17 ::
:: 3. The Ordeal 7:17 ::
:: 4. The Fall Opens the Sky 7:47 ::
:: 5. What Burns Now Listens 6:22 ::
:: 6. Twin Suns Reverie 2:21 ::
:: 7. The End Becomes Grace 12:23 ::
:: ::
:: ::
:: ------- ::
.. >> 51:42 ..
__ __ _ . : _ ____ _ _ ____ _ : . _ __ __
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+/ -\------- | | ----\ release notes /---- | | -------/- \+
/: . : : . :\
/:: ::\
:: ::
:: A bit in the vein of a 'Hallucinogen', 'Ethereal Horizons' ::
:: marks a return to luscious melodic BAN but with the progressive ::
:: undertones of the former transfigured into more purposeful and ::
:: tighter writing, and what felt more like a damp atmospheric ::
:: reverb now more vast with a genuine sense of cosmic breadth. ::
:: 'Shadows Breathe First' kicks this off and it's immediately ::
:: clear it was meant to be a classic in the band's overall ::
:: catalogue. That melody sticks like few they've ever made, but ::
:: in the best, most characteristic BAN sort of way, between epic ::
:: and sorrowful, and always with that gravitas. They've really ::
:: nailed that unique feeling of solemnity throughout the years. ::
:: ::
:: 'The Ordeal' offers a more troubling vision to be explored as ::
:: it starts off, until the clean sung verse brings its tempering ::
:: presence through that devotional vocal delivery and lush ::
:: harmony work on the tail. The album will sometimes revert to a ::
:: standard mode with sections more or less generic, but as the ::
:: listener grasps the full spectrum of the songs, the point of ::
:: these parts becomes clear: here the middle acts as a bridge to ::
:: the beautifully crafted melody in the outro with its defiant ::
:: presence, like the spirit of freedom depicted for a minute or ::
:: so via dynamic scoring. ::
:: ::
:: 'The Fall Opens The Sky' is a return to tragic BAN: there's ::
:: that desperation, that representation of profound sadness that ::
:: one might find on the '777' trilogy. Only in a slightly more ::
:: contained, ripe format here. That long bout in the middle with ::
:: plain hi-hat lead drums in the foreground and soft synth-like ::
:: guitars playing in the background is as close as the album gets ::
:: to a feeling of floating in space, as hinted at with the album ::
:: title and cover. An interesting mastering of the quieter ::
:: passages previous records couldn't do, and although this might ::
:: not have the youthful intensity and climactic apex of earlier ::
:: BAN, it is more mature in its consistency and smooth delivery ::
:: of quality, track after track. ::
:: ::
:: Arguably the most eventful song, 'What Burns Now Listens' comes ::
:: next and proposes a series of themes consecutively distributed; ::
:: albeit with a proper sense of structure. It's that track that ::
:: mixes things up when the others were busy establishing a ::
:: consistent aesthetic for the album. And another lovely outro ::
:: section, full of dramatic drive and momentum. Classic BAN. The ::
:: short instrumental 'Twin Suns Reverie' adds exactly the sort of ::
:: break a mature musician will slot in before the grand finale. ::
:: Graceful and drumless, it'll supply just enough rest to the ::
:: ears. The worthy final 'The End Becomes Grace' adds more of ::
:: that velvety, atmospheric flavor heard across this expedition ::
:: into horizons ethereal; namely that section right after the ::
:: middle rest, detonating with boldness - chivalrous even, one ::
:: could say. ::
:: ::
:: . _ _ . ::
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