In essence, this is Norway's answer to Sweden's Bathory (at least in the musical sense, rather than deeds...more on that in a sec.) No joke people, this is SERIOUS old-school black metal. One-man band created by Varg "Christian" Vikernes, aka "Count Grishnackh". All it took was a 30-second clip of "Dunkelheit", which I downloaded years ago, to realize that this was essential material...the lo-fi full songs from the official Burzum website confirmed that fact. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, I got canned before I got around to ordering the damn CDs...thankfully, Napster filled the void!

All right, more about this Varg character. Black metal has always had the stigma of being associated with church burnings, graveyard desecrating, etc....well, this guy lived that image to its fullest! Already under indictment for torching several ancient Norwegian churches, Mr. Grishnackh joined the band Mayhem, which featured the guitarist named "Euronymous". To say this was not a match made in heaven would be an understatement -- their rivalry grew so bitter that, one dark and stormy night, "The Count" paid a visit to Mr. Euronymous and STABBED HIM TO DEATH!!! This led to a major show trial (as big a news circus as the O.J. Simpson trial, at least in Norway); and suffice to say, Mr. Grishnackh is now confined to prison, where he's relegated himself to burning up toothpick models of churches, and torturing black metal fans everywhere with incredibly bad synthesizer music.

Some people have said that I shouldn't feel obligated to spend money on Varg's music, since he's a murderer and a hate-mongerer. Well, the murder thing I can live with (c'mon people, DEATH HAPPENS, live with it), but the church-burning I simply can't condone. Forget about Christianity, that has nothing to do with it...you just don't FUCK WITH architecture!!!

Additionally, Quorthon (of Bathory) has consistently denounced the actions of Burzum & his ilk. Satan bless him. :)

"Det Som Engang Var"

1. "Den Onde Kysten"--instrumental (2:20)
2. "Key to the Gate" (5:14)
3. "En Ring Til aa Herske" (7:10)
4. "Lost Wisdom" (4:38)
5. "Han Som Reiste"--instrumental (4:51)
6. "Naar Himmelen Klarner"--instrumental (3:50)
7. "Snu Mikrokosmos Tegn" (9:36)
8. "Svarte Troner"--instrumental (7:05)

I got this from a trader who at first told me that it was the original, rare edition which was released on Varg's own Cymophane label and only had 950 copies pressed (most of which were given away to friends or seized by the police when he got arrested, so it is quite a rare item indeed.) Luckily, I asked a few questions before committing to the trade, and found out it was really "the first Misanthropy pressing", which of course ain't worth diddly-squat. (In his defense, he wasn't trying to rip me off, he was just confused -- I *did* get the thing from him, after all! Just didn't offer as much...)

This is probably my least favorite "real" Burzum album. The music is sounding a bit derivative at this point, and the instrumental tracks "Den Onde Kysten" and "Han Som Reiste" are way too midi-ish. (The latter would work well as background music for Quake, though...)

"Hvis Lyset Tar Oss"

1. "Det Som En Gang Var" (14:21)
2. "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss" (8:04)
3. "Inn I Slottet Fra Droemmen" (7:51)
4. "Tomhet"--instrumental (14:11)

Only four songs, but my what songs they are. "Det Som Engang Var", in particular, has got to be the BEST BLACK METAL SONG OF ALL TIME! (I played that song for my brother, and asked him if it remined him of Bathory, and he said, "Well, it sounds like one part of Bathory played over and over." How very astute.) The title track is another kick-ass powerhouse, whereas "Inn I Slottet" just repeats a basic two-chord riff that gets rather tedious after awhile. "Tomhet" is Varg's first experimentation with ethereal, ambient music, and is done very well (unlike that Casio-synth garbage he recorded while in jail...) This CD is getting more difficult to find these days, so pick it up quickly if you can!

"Filosofem"

1. "Dunkelheit" (7:05)
2. "Jesus' Tod" (8:39)
3. "Erblicket die Töchter des Firmaments" (7:53)
4. "Gebrechlichkeit I" (7:53)
5. "Rundgang um die Transzendentale Säule der Singuläritat"--instrumental (25:11)
6. "Gebrechlichkeit II" (7:52)

As I said earlier, it took but a 30-second clip of the eerie, sinister "Dunkelheit" to convince me that this was a band worth investigating. "Jesus Tod" (Norwegian for "The Death of Jesus") follows up with a massive two-chord riff that literally peels the paint from the walls. But the real masterpiece here is the 25-minute opus "Rundgang um die Transzenyada yada yada", an all-synth ambient track which is simple yet mesmerizing. It's rumored that Varg has never heard the final mix of this album, as he went to jail shortly after it was recorded, but I'm sure he'd agree that this is the finest Burzum album ever.

"Burzum: Collection" (2CDR comp; mp3 source)

DISC ONE:

   from "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss":
1. "Det Som Engang Var" (14:20)
2. "Inn I Slottet Fra Droemmen" (7:50)
      from "Filosofem":
3. "Dunkelheit" (7:00)
4. "Jesus' Tod" (8:38)
5. "Erblicket die Tochter des Firmaments" (7:52)
      from "Burzum":
6. "Feeble Screams from Forests Unknown" (7:27)
7. "Ea, Lord of the Depths" (4:51)
8. "Black Spell of Destruction" (5:36)
9. "War" (2:30)
10. "My Journey to the Stars" (8:10)
11. "Dungeons of Darkness"--instrumental/ambient (4:52)

DISC TWO:

   from "Aske":
1. "A Lost Forgotten Sad Spirit" (10:52)
      from "Det Som Engang Var":
2. "Den Onde Kysten"--instrumental (2:19)
3. "Key to the Gate" (5:14)
4. "Lost Wisdom" (4:36)
5. "Han Som Reiste"--instrumental (4:50)
6. "Snu Mikrokosmos Tegn" (9:36)
7. "Svarte Troner"--instrumental (2:16)
      from "Daudi Baldrs":
8. "Daudi Baldrs"--instrumental (8:48)
      from "Hildskjalf":
9. "Tuisto's Heart"--instrumental (6:15)
10. "Die Liebe Nerphus"--instrumental (2:14)
11. "Arijos Goldene Tranen"--instrumental (2:38)
       from "Gummo" soundtrack:
12. "Rundgang um die Tranzendentale Saule der Singularitat"--instrumental (6:24)
       demos:
13. "Seven Harmonies of the Unknown Truth" (3:10)
14. "Depressive Visions of the Cursed Warrior"--instrumental (3:34)
15. "Rite of Cleansure"--instrumental (6:17)

Lemme tell you, Burzum songs are NOT the kind of songs you want to download from Napster if you've got a slow connection, unless you have a masochistic streak, or are hopelessly obsessive/compulsive. (And since I'm both...well, you know.) It took well over a month to collect all the songs from Varg's six albums, and lemme tell you, for much of that month I wanted to kill anybody who walked into the room!! This compilation takes the best selections from each CD, and even though most of them are at crappy 128kbps, it's good enough for now (I *do* plan on buying the real CDs, when I can afford it!!!)

"Ragnarok (A New Beginning)"

1. "Et Hvitt Lys Over Skogen" (9:12)
2. "Lost Wisdom"--instrumental demo (4:51)
3. "Spell of Destruction"--instrumental demo (4:57)
4. "Channeling the Power of Souls into a New God"--instrumental demo (3:59)
5. "Outro"--instrumental demo (1:57)
6. "A Lost and Forgotten Sad Spirit"--original version (9:20)
7. "Duet with Mayhem" (1:05)
8. "Havamal" (12:17)

I'm not sure if the oxymoron in the title was intentional (for the uninitiated, "Ragnarok" signifies the final apocalyptic battle in the Nordic religion, in which the Gods will ultimately be destroyed) or if it simply refers to the fact that this will be the last Burzum album. Limited to 1000 copies (mine is #961), this final send-off includes rare demos, rehearsal tapes, and unreleased songs that were previously only available as lo-fi RealAudio snippets from The Burzum Homepage.

"Et Hvitt..." is the key track here, previously available on the Presumed Guilty compilation, although I can't figure out why NONE of the other songs from that session were included ("Once Emperor", "Seven Harmonies"). Also of prime interest is the original version of "Lost & Forgotten Sad Spirit", which was replaced with the Aske rerecording on the currently available self-titled album. The instrumental demos are of incredibly BAD quality, and once again don't include other early demos such as "Rite of Cleansure". "Duet with Mayhem" is a rehearsal tape of Varg singing "All the little birdies are happy" with other Mayhem guys; equally pointless is the excruciating "Havamal", which is nothing more than some prayer to Odin being sung over a looped tape of "Han Som Reiste". That's it. The packaging is ridiculously sparse, with virtually no liner notes to speak of (why not a rant from Varg about how nobody understands his pro-Aryan, anti-semetic message? and how he's pissed that stores continue to file his awful synthesizer music in the black metal section?) -- for God's sake, there's not even a TITLE on the spine! Jesus Wept, if you're gonna give your fans a final farewell, at least put some real effort into it...or if the four walls of prison don't allow you to, have one of your neo-Nazi underlings do it for you.

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