Burzum, Hvis Lyset Tar Oss

Burzum, Hvis Lyset Tar Oss (Misanthropy-1994)

Recorded in September of 1992 this album along with three others were recorded in just over a year. Each for me are well worth buying and highlighting “Filosofem” from 1996 as it really is two completely different sounding albums.

This album is a concept album and in English is called If the Light Takes Us. Much of the Black Metal world was all about volume and speed where this music rewound all that back. This is far more of an ambient album. But the influence is there.

"Det som en gang var" ("What Once Was") starts the album with a guitar sound that has been made to sound very empty owning to the concept of the album. He messes about with synthesizers and guitars multi tracking to make a sound I really do not think could be done live. Well up to a point where a full band sound kicks in and all the rock fans out there will recognize some classic elements of riffs and rhythm. All still played while there is a droning in the background. About now you are shocked that it is all done by one person, every instrument, mixing and production was all done by one person. I think this is the key here as most people would most likely get someone else to play drums due to not being good enough but on this album it really does work very well. The production is not crystal clear but that is the whole point as well.

What is new here is the mix of ambient and metal in the same songs and at the same time. None of this one minute intro of building music up to a big guitar blitz. This is all here at once. Fourteen and a half minutes fly by.

"Hvis lyset tar oss" ("If the Light Takes Us") brings us back to a style most would see as BM but again there is that droning guitar sound. Same goes for track three "Inn i slottet fra droemmen" ("Into the Castle from the Dream") this has more of a repetitive nature to it. Not that far away from a drum and bass sound. The screams and growls keep you where you want to be though. Saying that the vocal work on this album is really kept to a minimum and I think that is helpful to many new ears on the style of music. Track three has most of the vocals on the whole album. And to those like me who can’t speak Norwegian you will not know what he is singing. There are plenty of pages on the web with translation and the lyrics are really nothing amazing. First verse of track three is “Between misty vales, Between gloomy mountains, Under gray clouds, In the black night”

Lyrics are never this style of music’s strong point. Well it is one of those reasons it exists. Can’t sing well it is not needed. Same as in track four "Tomhet" ("Emptiness") why bother writing bass, guitar and drum parts when you can use a synthesizers to make the epic feeling of nothing. I have read some say this track is a filler track and for me they are wrong it is my stand out track. I once went to Norway and got the train from Oslo to Bergen and got off at a stop in-between and went for a walk in the mountains of Finse. With 2hr wait between the trains I had a good listen to this music and it really does sound right. There is more to the track as it builds up and it really catches you unaware. I won’t ruin it but is for me a fantastic track. Other times I listen to it is on long flights more so at the start of the flight just to settle me down a bit. It has that effect on you.

This blog is about albums that missed the big time. This could never have made it big but looking at the last few years of Black Metal and bands headlining 60,000+ festivals and making big money then yeah the payoff never happened. Can’t do this live and I would never want to see it live. But what a great album.

If you like this check out “Filosofem” as well.

Twitter: 29xthefun 

My trip to Norway in 2012 on Flickr

Ulver, Bergtatt

Ulver, Bergtatt - Et Eeventyr i 5 Capitler (Head Not Found-1995)

This is an odd one for this blog, as the cover shows that it is black metal in it's content so commercial success really was never going to happen. But as many bands from that genre have now went on to headline big festivals and even start to sell very well I feel this can now be placed here. Many kids now seem to be right into the sound that was black metal from back in the 90s. But it really was back then underground. No radio station would play it and with all the stupid church burnings and silly corps paint the mainstream ran a mile.

Some of the music from many of the bands was pretty crap. But a few bands really did make it all work and with each album move on the style. This band moved it on with the very first album. Forget all the harsh vocals and screaming lyrics about religion here was a well made album that really has you enjoying it's content.

The album has the classic guitar, drum and bass content but the whole construction is quite different as it adds a lot of Norwegian Folk music to the mix. So much so the genre could be easily mistaken. But the elements of black metal are still there but used in more of an atmospheric way, helping to enlighten you to some sort of story. The title in English is "Taken into the Mountain - A fairy tale in 5 Chapters".

Back then you could not get this album very easily and I had to get it mail order. Not only that there was no internet shops so I had to phone a shop in Germany and ask how to get this. Then I had to get German Deutsch marks and send it in an envelope. People now would never ever bother with all the trouble but is how we did it back then kids. Two weeks later I got this (and others). The CD copy I have is all in Norwigen and has no English at all so it was all a nice mystery to me.

First listen is a real eye opener, the album it starts with some fast drums and guitar but nothing faster than a normal rock album. The first vocals are more of a chanting, and the music is quite confusing. You really do not expect any harmonies and melodic music in this album. It is different but it is there. At the time I had never heard such repetitive music not so much the same note but the same melodic tone repeated. A great little guitar solo played in a riff style accompanies the music. At the time I am sure I looked at the CD to make sure it is the right one.

The whole album has the Folk style there and is mixed with the classic down tuned black metal style but it is done in a way it feels right. The drums can be played very franticly and this is evident on track two where even that starts with a passage of acoustic picking style much like the folk music mentioned. Flute and piano are also welcomed into the music and again all mixed up in that metal style so many feel is to heavy. But this album is so refreshing and my best comparison is to opera. Not so much in musical content but in performance.

The album really was big news back then as it shocked so many hardened fans. Some disliked it most took it as a new start and from now on the style changed every year. This band did not tour live or even have photos or interviews helping to keep some sort of mystery about the band and the album. Who were there inspirations? what's the album based on? what is next? do you burn churches? all questions never asked as there were no one to answer them.

The repetitiveness of the music really trained my ears and got me into some other bands including many other styles of metal music that pushed the boundaries. Ulver to this day are still one of my favorite bands/artists and even now the music they make is for me utterly compelling. Later albums like "Shadows Of The Sun" again got me into even more bands and artists. Bands like Merzbow, Nurse with Wound and Thorr's Hammer were welcomed to my ears now.

The production is spot on here, not too polished but enough engineering so it can all be recorded right as the performances by the artists are simply stunning. The band went on to record more music under the black metal style but by album four they switched to a more Avant-garde metal style. And later ambient/electronic styles were explored, but the link to BM is always there and this album is one of the best even to this day 19 years later so many have tried to copy it and failed badly.

If you only hear one black metal album ever make it this one. And to the kids into Watain and Nachtmystium this is why they exist.

Twitter: 29xthefun