THE BURZUM REISSUE CHRONICLES
Satanath Records
Part One of Three
The Russian label Satanath Records has recently re-released most of the BURZUM catalog which is for sale in Russia but is licensed from Byelobog Productions. By the way Satanath Records are a great label and they'll send you one too. So this is a perfect opportunity for yours truly to go through and write a few things about BURZUM. I have written about some releases, aka: the first ones when Varg Vikernes was released from prison. I make no apologies about it. I am and will always be a fan of BURZUM. But I am objective to a point. You see I always strive to the importance that it's always about the music.
Now for you ignorant ones, BURZUM was the one man Norwegian black metal project started in 1991 by Varg Vikernes. He is still one of the most influential musicians in black metal's history, especially for one man black metal acts across the globe. On the other side of the coin Vikernes was convicted for the murder of Oystein Aarseth aka: Euronymous of MAYHEM. He was also convicted of arson and served fourteen years in prison.
Now for you truly ignorant ones, if you hate Vikernes for his crimes then fine, move on. If you have some sort of grudge against him then let me remind you. Unless you are over forty-five, Norwegian and a friend or family member of the Aarseths then you just need to shut the fuck up. I am a huge MAYHEM fan as well and you know what? I just live my own life and enjoy the music.
So as far as my looking at all of these releases well it'll be short, sweet, informative, opinionated as well as fun. Besides it's January, it's cold and windy outside right now and we're expecting freezing rain or even snow in the coming days. So what else is there to do then listen to BURZUM's whole catalog, let's get into it.
BURZUM - The Ways of Yore
This is the eleventh album by BURZUM which was released in 2014. I didn't hear it until 2015 and let me say I'm not a fan it at all. By this time in his career Varg had given up on metal and moved onto ambient medieval folk. Most of this is synth generated earth fart type of stuff. There's a few cuts where we're treated slightly by some tremolo picked riffs. There's plenty of acoustic moments displayed. Varg is in total spoken word mode here. Frankly WARDRUNA did it better. But in the end as a fan I thought this was a let down. Unless you're into ambient sounds of medieval yore then you'll like this one. Supposedly this was Varg's last release but hey you never know with this guy. In the end it's all medieval folk Varg trying his best.
https://satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat233-burzum-the-ways-of-yore-re-release-2018
BURZUM - Sol austan, Mani vestan
I never heard this album until this week and I had my reasons. Released in 2013, I had heard it was completely ambient synth type of stuff and it is. To make an even more blatant point. This release makes Varg's in jail Casio keyboard stuff seem good. This was just synth rock for bored stoners and hipsters pining for a future where socialist boredom and un-creativity is the norm. A friend of mine once told me she had to take a lit cigarette and burn herself every few songs in order to keep awake while playing this. I'm not up to scarification. After every third cut I'd just push pause, strip down naked and walk outside into the frigid cold for a few minutes. That worked as far as waking up but I ended up with a pinkish hue. I did find it good to fall asleep to.
https://satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat232-burzum-s-l-austan-m-ni-vestan-re-release-2018
BURZUM - Umskiptar
This was the ninth studio album for BURZUM and the fourth since Varg was released from prison. It's also a underrated folk metal classic. Umskiptar is the final work upon which Varg was building with earlier post prison releases. Whether it's the sheet metal riffs of the more melodic blackened cuts, the psych elements, the atmospheric and beautiful ambiance put forth through the keys, repetitive drumming and of course Varg's shifting vocal style. It's all here for anyone to enjoy and be mesmerized.
https://satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat231-burzum-umskiptar-re-release-2018
BURZUM - From the Depths of Darkness
Here's one that I did review back in 2011 on the lost SFM666 site (aka: The Archives). At that time I thought it was great for a variety of reasons. The skinny on this one was simple. Varg picked a handful of cuts from his first two full length releases (the Self Titled debut and Det Som Engang Var) re-recorded them, added some ambient intro pieces, tweaked the vocals and enhanced the production a little. For me it was no big deal simply because they're his songs. If he feels he could've done them better then by all means go ahead.
In the end I thought it was not heresy as some other dipshits in the metal media opined. Actually in an era where old releases get remastered constantly (with mixed results in my opinion) and are promoted by these same metal media dipshits. It just showed off their hypocrisy. Maybe that's why I considered this to be good. While a few years prior they were promoting that hipster's guide to BURZUM best of album put out by Back in Black or was it Candlelight? Yeah I had written about that one as well. LOL!!! Yes this is a must have.
https://satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat230-burzum-from-the-depths-of-darkness-re-release-2018
BURZUM - Fallen
Also in 2011 Varg unleashed upon us all his second post prison release Fallen. This release was as beautiful musically as it's cover suggested. To just paraphrase all of what I said about this one that year in my review, this had it all. You heard ambiance, pagan folk, plenty of frantic tremolo picking, repetitive melodic riffs, Varg using clean vocals, his aged harsh rasp as well as those whispers.
Fallen starts off slowly but a quarter of the way in is where the excitement starts and I kinda liked that then as I do today. It was not the type of release for the superficial hip crowd in 2011. Instead it turned out to be the perfect release for those who had followed Varg's musical career. This was the real follow-up of 1996's Filosofem.
https://satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat229-burzum-fallen-re-release-2018
BURZUM - Belus
Varg's first release since being let out of prison. 2010's Belus was not the shocker nor predictable piece of work that many people believed it would be. For the most part at least it washed away the sins of his prison bound Casio keyboard recordings. As I said back in my 2010 review of this, Belus is part Hvis Lyset Tar Oss and part Filosofern. I also called it the true follow-up to Filosofern. I changed my mind once I heard Fallen a year later.
Still it was simply a decent return to the final days of Black Metal’s Second Wave but with a more mature and determined composer at the helm. The sad thing about it was that sure Varg had returned from where he left off. And yet you had over a decade of imitators who have been overwhelmingly influenced by BURZUM. Not all of course but some of those artists released damm good music in Varg's absence. That's not a slight at all against Belus but on a whole there was no huge fanfare for the return of the white king. This release would be the last outing for Varg as far as his creating straight up atmospheric black metal goes.
https://satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat228-burzum-belus-re-release-2018
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