Although not well known in the United States, the French black metal/alternative metal band Blut Aus Nord has enjoyed a small underground cult following in Western Europe since the mid- '90s. Blut Aus Nord, unlike many bands in the European d**h metal/black metal scene, does not govern by brute force alone; while the band can be loud, dissonant, intense and forceful, they are also moody, darkly haunting, and relatively melodic. Atmospherics are quite important to Blut Aus Nord, who thrive on an eerie, gloomy sort of ambience. Blut Aus Nord brings an interesting variety of influences to their work--some metal, some industrial, some goth. The band has frequently been compared to Neurosis, and their other influences (either direct or indirect) range from Cradle of Filth to Godflesh, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, k**ing Joke and the infamous Slayer (whose innovations have affected just about every d**h metal or black metal band imaginable in some way or another). Blut Aus Nord was never a Goth rock band in the strict sense; however, the dusky, shadowy elements in their black metal and alternative metal do show some awareness of Goth icons like Bauhaus and the Sisters of Mercy. br /br /Blut Aus Nord is the creation of Vindsval, a singer/guitarist who got the ball rolling in Mondeville, France in 1993. At first, Vindsval's creation was known as Vlad -- as in Vlad the Impaler -- and for a few years, Vindsval had more of a project than an actual band. Thanks to technology and a thing called overdubbing, Vindsval was able to record two demos by himself as Vlad (In the Mist in 1993 and Yggdrasil in 1994) and function as a "one-man band" in the studio. After about a year, Vindsval changed his project's name from Vlad to Blut Aus Nord -- and when labels started showing some interest, Vindsval began to employ some other musicians, and gradually turned his project into an actual band. After working with various session players on Blut Aus Nord's albums, Vindsval ended up with a regular lineup that consisted of himself on lead vocals and guitar, Ghost on ba**, and W.D. Feld on drums and keyboards.br /br /Ultima Thulee, Blut Aus Nord's first official full-length album, was released in 1995 on Impure Creation Records (a small French label that later changed its name to Velvet Music International). Subsequent European releases included Memoria Vetusta I: Fathers of the Icy Age (which came out in 1996 on the ICR label) and 2002's The Mystical Beast of Rebellion. None of those '90s or early- 2000s discs were released in the United States -- they were only sold in North American stores as imports -- but in 2004, Blut Aus Nord finally enjoyed some North American distribution when The Work Which Transforms God (which had come out in Europe in 2003) was released in the U.S. by Candlelight (a British label with an office in the Philadelphia suburbs). ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide