Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss

Burzum is a tricky subject, but I am not going to try and navigate it here. As I'm sure I mentioned in my last Burzum post many moons ago, I try to keep politics out of music. If politics happen to be the driving force behind music, then that is fine by me, but I don't let it get in the way of my enjoyment of it. I'm no more a racist for wanting to own Vaginal Jesus CDs than I am a left wing, vegetarian anarchist for owning Agathocles stuff (2020 edit: I am now the left wing veggie snowflake incarnate!- Ed).

Hvis Lyset... is probably my favourite Burzum stuff. The opening track, "Det Som En Gang Var" is a 15 minute journey of absolute epic proportions which pretty much sums up everything that I love about this project; the wasp-like guitars, the simple yet effective backbone of thick bass and sparse drumming, the chilling synths, and those horrendous vocal screeches. Production wise, Hvis... has more in common with Aske than say, Filosofem, but still sounds pretty necro.

With releases as near perfect as this, one has to wonder what road Burzum would have gone down if Varg hadn't gone to prison. Would Burzum have continued to unfurl into the greatest (if maybe not so over-rated due to the murder controversy) black metal project ever alongside Darkthrone? Or would he have fizzled out early and lost all favour with the majority of the community through his ramblings about racial purity?  I guess it's pretty pointless of me to speculate, but it does make you wonder.

As with every other Burzum album, this has been fantastically re-issued on the Back on Black label in a lovely gatefold sleeve and is brilliantly easy to find. However, if you are after the original, you might wanna start saving up.