Vindsval began a solo project, under the name "Vlad", in 1993. He released two demos before changing the project's name in 1994 to Blut aus Nord, before the release of
Ultima Thulée in 1995. The next three albums were recorded with the aid of session musicians. It is only recently that the group has had any permanent members apart from Vindsval. The project's most critically acclaimed release is
The Work Which Transforms God, a
concept album which, in spite of being mostly instrumental with none of the lyrics made public, is meant to challenge the listener's prejudices and preconceptions about reality and various
metaphysical subjects. Vindsval is head of the underground French record label Appease Me..., which is home to several extreme metal acts, in addition to Blut aus Nord. On their follow-up release, 2006's
MoRT, Blut aus Nord moved even further away from traditional black metal. The sound on
MoRT is closer to
experimental metal, comprising a mixture of dark and surreal noises and sounds that create a disturbing and bleak atmosphere. Blut aus Nord's 2007 album
Odinist: The Destruction of Reason by Illumination (the subtitle being a quote from
Aleister Crowley), was leaked to the Internet on 10 September 2007. While the album's superficial sound is similar to that of
MoRT, the album demonstrates a return to more traditional black metal songwriting and structure. The sequel to
Memoria Vetusta I, subtitled
Dialogue with the Stars, was released in February 2009. In June 2010 they released an LP entitled
What Once Was... Liber I on Debemur Morti Productions. In late 2010, the band re-released
The Mystical Beast of Rebellion through Debemur Morti, with an additional CD of newly recorded material meant to act as a complementary work to the original. The name "Blut aus Nord" translates from German as "Blood from the North", though the non-standard grammar suggests nautical jargon (a more standard phrasing would be "Blut aus (dem) Norden" or "Blut von Nord(en)", though
cardinal directions are seldom used in spoken German to begin with). They released a split EP with
Ævangelist in June 2016 through Debemur Morti Productions. Two new albums,
Deus Salutis Meæ and
Hallucinogen, were released in 2017 and 2019 respectively.
Loudwire named the latter one of the 50 best metal albums of 2019. ==Musical style and conceptual elements==