Moonblood - Blut Und Krieg
Sombre Records
Black Metal
10 songs (56:52)
Release year: 1997
Reviewed by Misha
Archive review

Moonblood is one of those bands that every respected blackmetalfan has heard of, but only a few people actually have an album of. Moonblood literately released a litany of demos and rehearsals in the ten years that they had been around, but merely two actual albums. Blut Und Krieg and the later Taste Our German Steel were both limited, the latter even to a hundred copies. With all of the material sold out, there is no real chance of getting this stunning success anymore save paying extremely high prices on trading sites. Moonblood is unanimously entitled to be high quality kvlt, yet its sound is usually pretty accessible. All instruments are played by Occulta Mors, a black metal intellect also behind the excellent Viking black project Nachtfalke.

After a fourteen in a dozen short intro that is just begging to be skipped, Blut Und Krieg kicks of with In A Bloody Night Of Fullmoon. The song is simply perfect to open an album with. It’s the sonic equivalent of a march from birth straight to never-ending Death! The style is quite unique, while most bands are either evil, aggressive and powerful (Darkthrone like), or gloomy, melancholic and beautiful (Burzum style), Moonblood combines the best ingredients of both into something far more epic. While the first song is building up, Gaamalzagoth waves along on vocal duties. His voice is quite high in the mix but not to annoying level, while his voice sounds like that of Nocturno Culto, he seems clearer and more articulated. The production makes his voice sound somewhat soft and easy, but more gloomy and epic at the same time. This production is very drab and leveling and not very raw as the production of the later effort of Taste Our German Steel. The guitars overshadow almost every other instrument but at the same time the sound has something dynamic. Every aspect sounds like very slightly waving to the front and back like if it were recorded on one bent LP per instrument, this mostly affects the gloomy and evil facades of the album. So however fuzzy, droning and vibrating it may sound, it only enhances the overall atmosphere of the album.

While the drums are extremely primitive, and the bass does not achieve more than a rumbling and burdened atmosphere (nothing wrong with either of those), the riffs are superb. It’s really hard to compare this to anything on the planet, so I won’t try. The sinister atmosphere however is most equivalent to the mix of Burzum and Darkthrone I mentioned. The first may suggest the use of keys, which is true, but the keyboards on this album are more hidden and subtle than expected. Whenever present, they don’t really create much of the atmosphere the guitars are responsible for, and In A Bloody Night Of Fullmoon is about the only song in which they play a responsible role in melodic aspect.

If you care for consistency throughout an album, Blut Und Krieg matches. The tempo rarely leaves the midtempo and slightly groovy sound, and the idea of the riffage doesn’t really change either. As was to be expected, all songs are equally good and interesting, and you will not find boring moments on this album. There is just one song that stands out: the first song, which has a slightly different setup. It is constantly building up to a new set climax, and is therefore the most hypnotic song on the album. The last track I Am All is the only track showing filler tendencies. Personally, I do not think of this album as very influential, but nonetheless it is highly original and its sound is simply unique. The quality of the album is clearly outstanding and I’m sure this piece of art is at the top ten of favorite albums of quite a lot of admirers of the genre, including mine. Its sinister appearance is only equaled by that of its sound, a pure and spectacular black metal classic!

Killing Songs :
In A Bloody Night Of Fullmoon, and the rest ofcourse...
Misha quoted 80 / 100
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