Never sanctified

Vlad Tepes. Aäkon Këëtrëh. Deathspell Omega. Peste Noire. Alcest.
 
If there’s one thing that can be said about French black metal, it’s that it pushes boundaries.

Blut Aus Nord has been leading the movement’s bizarrist assault from Normandy since 1995’s “Ultima Thulée,” and the trio’s output continues to polarize.

“777 — The Desanctification” follows April’s “777 — Sect(s)” down Blut Aus Nord’s long, winding road away from anything resembling conventional black metal. Mainman Vindsval builds riffs that both submit to and override concurrent riffs, creating the most convincing descent-into-madness sound in the genre since Deathspell Omega’s terrifying “Fas — Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum.”

And yet, somehow, “The Desanctification” is a crossover record, with acclaim coming in equal measure from dyed-in-the-wool metalheads and open-minded hipsters.

Vindsval almost certainly doesn’t care, and it probably doesn’t deserve the distinction, but his ninth full-length could be his most well-received yet.