Known for their distinctive style and growth from album to album, many fans of the Ambient Black Metal band BLUT AUS NORD were thrilled to learn of the return of the "Memoria Vetusta" series, five years after the last instalment, and 18 years after the first album in this succession, each album having as disparate a sound as possible to its predecessors. This year sees the unleashing of the third chapter; released just last week, this 11th full-length album "Memoria Vetusta III: Saturnian Poetry" is the follow up to the 2009 album "Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue with the Stars".

Starting off with an atmospheric opening, the listener is slowly submerged into a primordial pool of drifting darkness. However, this fragile tranquillity is soon shattered by the storming of "Paien" which conjures up majestic soundscapes of ancient might. Thunderous drumming and captivating melodies intertwine with icy keyboards, taking you on an epic journey through time-forgotten lands, at times whirling through at a frenzied pace, and at other times slogging through drudgery against the agonising pain. An absolutely stunning song that grips your very soul and sears it with its burning beauty! Things get taken up a notch in "Tellus Mater", although this too is a tapestry of sweeping melodies and pounding percussion woven into a flowing whole, countered by darker and almost disharmonic phases that enhance its sepulchre splendour.  This fluid grandiose feel is kept up throughout the major part of the remainder of "Memoria Vetusta III: Saturnian Poetry". However, merely because this general structure is followed throughout is by no means to say that the songs are repetitive: each has its own unique blend of elements that emblazon themselves on your very soul. There are moments that will arouse emotions of keening agony, whilst other sections will sink you into a nirvana-like bliss. "Metaphor of the Moon" is striking in that it takes a much darker and discordant approach than the previous tracks, evoking feelings of chaotic frenzy that is as virulent as a full moon to a werewolf. This darker strain is carried over to the final song "Clarissima Mundi Lumina", although in a more veiled and subtly threatening manner. And so the album ends on this very crescendo, being the very polar opposite of the first track.

In short, the "Memoria Vetusta" albums are a progression through time; thinking about them as separate parts of a distinct whole doesn't quite fit, as each is an opus in its own right. Nevertheless, whether you regard them as a trilogy or not, "Memoria Vetusta III: Saturnian Poetry" is a stunning album that will grip your very essence. With this release, BLUT AUS NORD have once again shown why they are such a spectacular band when it comes to producing spellbinding Black Metal that takes your psyche on an expressive journey through the full depths of emotions. Definitely a contender for the "Best of 2014" list!