The new album from BLUT AUS NORD is the culmination of a 30-year vision - as Vindsval connects each element of the band's history to launch yet another intrepid exploratory evolution. "Ethereal Horizons" is BLUT AUS NORD fully realized: richer, deeper, grander, more enigmatic and simultaneously more human than ever. Intermeshing the earthen and the futuristic as a vessel for the dark dreamer, soaring and ascending to vivid realms. "Ethereal Horizons" incorporates otherworldliness from all eras of BAN - traces of churning dissonance, subtle industrialized elements, the weeping of celestial leads, V's spectral & subliminal snarl - but brings in a suite of new and more grounded feels too. Far-reaching melodic themes turn inward and outward, frequently resolving into the swing of classic, prog and post rock. The warmth of swirling psych-organ and expanses of kosmische synth provide a bed for emotive themes to build and release into full-throttle ruthlessness.

The album has seven songs, and "Shadows Breathe First" is the first track. Solemn, clean guitars open the song, but you aren't ready for the ensuing onslaught. It's dark, thick, and aggressive, fueled by vocal screams and a concrete wall of guitars and drums. It breathes however, with passages of clean vocals and melody. "Seclusion" is another aggressive offering, where the sound borders on chaos altogether. The chaos subsides a bit, replaced by a steady and hypnotic sound, but it swells once more, sounding like a blind man trying to make his way through the dark. Segueing into "The Ordeal," the intensity holds. The sounds shifts a little along the aggressive journey, but the shifts are subtle, and the rage hardly subsides. Moving to "The Fall Opens the Sky," it's a strong, heavy starter that moves so fast you can barely keep up with the scorching pace. Suddenly, the release the gas pedal and let a gentler sound flow through you, and we have some Progressive elements coming through.

"What Burns How Listens" presents yet another thick and overgrown sound from riffs that are towering, but there is melody in tow. The keep the fires burning brightly throughout the song by adding more and more accelerants. "Twin Sun Reverie" is a brief interlude that give you a chance to catch your breath, and here is where I get images of outer space…stars, suns, gas giants, and galaxies where the word "wonder" doesn't begin to describe their beauty. The final song it titled "The End Becomes Grace." It's yet another deeply aggressive song but again, also one where guitar melodies aren't left behind. The clean vocals give it a bit of a dreamy quality, but it's hard to drown out the aggression. The mid section of the song is gentle, almost calming, but once more, the aggression returns. You do get hints of melancholy here also…somber tones that are cold in their delivery.

Maybe the album was hyped too much, because although it was excellent, it didn't deliver enough experimental or Progressive elements for me. They were there, but nearly always took a back seat to the ferocious and naked aggression on the album. It's clear that Vindsval is talented, and his vision is unwavering, but I would not have minded some more experimentation.