blackmetal84
10-14-2008, 02:49 PM
Burzum is my favorite black metal band of all time, followed by Mayhem in a close second.
First off, a little background info on Mr. Varg Vikernes, the man behind the music.
Varg Vikernes is seen in Norway either as a hero or the most despicable person on the face of the Earth. He is the sole member behind Burzum. At one point he was the bassist for Mayhem, for the album "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas." At this point, Varg was really big in the black metal scene in the early 90's. The guitarist for Mayhem at the time was Euronymous, a big blowhard with little talen (in my opinion.) He managed the record label that Mayhem and Burzum were on, and terribly mismanaged all funds and basically ran his record store Helvete into the ground. Euronymous owed Varg some big money, and they were in a big dispute. That is when all hell broke loose. One day, Varg went over to Euronmyous's apartment to get him to sign a contract. No one is really sure what happened after that, but Euronymous ended up with 40 some stab wounds in his back. Varg claims it was in self defense, but he ended up in jail.
But that wasn't Varg's only offense. He burned down several historic churches in Norway, as an act against Christianity which he despised (I agree there but not with the violence.) He is actually spending more time in jail for the murder than the church burnings (kinda fucked up, isn't it?)
So he was sentenced to jail for 21 years in 1993, the maximum sentence in Norway.
Now that the short biography is out of the way, if you are still reading here comes the music part.
I have pretty much every Burzum album. I enjoy them all. The early Burzum years were a fresh sound for black metal, while the later albums made in prison where ambient records based on Odinism. The metal records are the best, while the ambient isn't too bad, but very repetitive. The undisputed classic by Burzum is the song "Det Som Engang Var," translated to English "What Once Was." My favorite songs include "Lost Wisdom," "Snu Mikrokosmos Tegn (Turn The Sign of Microcosm,) and "A Lost Forgotten Sad Spirit."
Burzum is famous for very melodic, atmospheric black metal. Listening to Burzum at night is the way to get a true experience with the music. In an interview with Varg I had read he does suggest listening to Burzum at night since it has the proper atmosphere. Since Varg was the only member of Burzum, he played all instruments. He was a great guitarist, and pumped out some very heavy, melodic riffs and speedy black metal chord changes. He was an excellent drummer for the style, and was a great bassist who could write a song with complex bass even with what is considered a limited style. Burzum does not really sound like you would expect black metal to be, but I think they are the best.
Check them out if you haven't already.
For more info, visit www.burzum.org, the official site, or Wikipedia's article on Buzrum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burzum. If you want more information on the man himself, visit the Wikipedia pages linked from the Burzum Wiki and the official Burzum site.
:rock
First off, a little background info on Mr. Varg Vikernes, the man behind the music.
Varg Vikernes is seen in Norway either as a hero or the most despicable person on the face of the Earth. He is the sole member behind Burzum. At one point he was the bassist for Mayhem, for the album "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas." At this point, Varg was really big in the black metal scene in the early 90's. The guitarist for Mayhem at the time was Euronymous, a big blowhard with little talen (in my opinion.) He managed the record label that Mayhem and Burzum were on, and terribly mismanaged all funds and basically ran his record store Helvete into the ground. Euronymous owed Varg some big money, and they were in a big dispute. That is when all hell broke loose. One day, Varg went over to Euronmyous's apartment to get him to sign a contract. No one is really sure what happened after that, but Euronymous ended up with 40 some stab wounds in his back. Varg claims it was in self defense, but he ended up in jail.
But that wasn't Varg's only offense. He burned down several historic churches in Norway, as an act against Christianity which he despised (I agree there but not with the violence.) He is actually spending more time in jail for the murder than the church burnings (kinda fucked up, isn't it?)
So he was sentenced to jail for 21 years in 1993, the maximum sentence in Norway.
Now that the short biography is out of the way, if you are still reading here comes the music part.
I have pretty much every Burzum album. I enjoy them all. The early Burzum years were a fresh sound for black metal, while the later albums made in prison where ambient records based on Odinism. The metal records are the best, while the ambient isn't too bad, but very repetitive. The undisputed classic by Burzum is the song "Det Som Engang Var," translated to English "What Once Was." My favorite songs include "Lost Wisdom," "Snu Mikrokosmos Tegn (Turn The Sign of Microcosm,) and "A Lost Forgotten Sad Spirit."
Burzum is famous for very melodic, atmospheric black metal. Listening to Burzum at night is the way to get a true experience with the music. In an interview with Varg I had read he does suggest listening to Burzum at night since it has the proper atmosphere. Since Varg was the only member of Burzum, he played all instruments. He was a great guitarist, and pumped out some very heavy, melodic riffs and speedy black metal chord changes. He was an excellent drummer for the style, and was a great bassist who could write a song with complex bass even with what is considered a limited style. Burzum does not really sound like you would expect black metal to be, but I think they are the best.
Check them out if you haven't already.
For more info, visit www.burzum.org, the official site, or Wikipedia's article on Buzrum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burzum. If you want more information on the man himself, visit the Wikipedia pages linked from the Burzum Wiki and the official Burzum site.
:rock