I missed some interesting discussion in the past few days...
First, SMRC absolutely could lose 15-20 minutes with ease. It's like they were trying to preserve a 2LP structure with the prayers starting the A, B, and C sides. Only they didn't have one for the D side...and there's a cover song that's inessential, and the "4th prayer" is super bloated, and one of the other songs is a basically a tribute song...
If SMRC was slashed down to 50 relentless minutes, it would be even better. I wouldn't even cut the prayer tracks. Some of the metal songs are 6+ minutes when they be just as good at 5. I think one of the main reasons people love Kenose and Paracletus is the shorter running times and sense of momentum. Something exciting is always about to happen. (Fas, on the other hand, is full of dumb ambient filler that works much worse than the prayer tracks on SMRC.)
I like some Blut Aus Nord, especially Ultima Thulee, but there are way too many forgettable albums in their discography to compare them to DSO as a whole. I liked Sects quite a bit, but MV II was one of the more overrated albums of the '00s.
I've never been a big Beherit fan, so I mostly agree with unknown's thoughts. I won't judge anyone who digs it. I like some Ildjarn and Bone Awl and stuff that is pretty raw and minimal, but the attempt to intellectualize Beherit is laughable. To say that Engram is the best black metal album in the last 20 years is a pretty insane opinion.
Going back to French metal. SVEST is the shit. Urfaust is great, and so is what they did on the DSO split. Proggy, but also messy and catchy as hell, with cock-out solos. I love these songs.