In 1995, French black metal group Blut Aus Nord released their debut
Ultima Thulée, which bandleader Vindsval composed in his mid-teens. While it resembles much of mid-’90s black metal with its bitterly cold sound and budget symphonic keyboards, it hinted at the expansive vision Vindsval would eventually wield as black metal’s dominating iconoclast. He is not a nostalgist, and even his more conventional works are made with an omnidirectional glare, never dwelling on when he was a budding prodigy. Vindsval’s debut as Forhist is his most straight-ahead black metal album since
Thulée; far from a retreat, it only affirms his mastery. It’s heavy on the Norwegian trances, those dizzying tremolos and constant soft double-bass pulses that are black metal’s cornerstones. Where blasts recede, keyboards bring in an understated glow. You’ve heard those patterns everywhere in black metal —