Burzum - Det Som Engang Var

It was recently the 20th anniversary of this record so I pulled it off the shelf, dusted it off and give it a spin for good measure. I'm a good way into collecting a bunch of Burzum vinyl, and Det Som Engang Var has to be one of the best in his release history. I feel this album lives up to the whole "spell" thing that Varg originally intended with Burzum and it has a great variety of not just viciously lo-fi black metal, but a whole bunch of excellent atmospheric noise tracks, really bringing in those creepy keyboard sounds that would become so prominent on his later works.

 I love the opening track but the first black metal song, "Key To The Gate", doesn't rank that high for me. "En Ring Til A Herske" is absolute brilliance, as all of side B - opener "Han Som Reiste" is a fantastic, eery keyboard piece and "Snu Mikrokosmos Tegn" is an enormous black metal classic that will never be forgotten until the end of time itself.

This is - you guessed it - a Back on Black repressing, which explains it's lovely shiny exterior. The cheap pencilled artwork has never looked so good; and if you look carefully you can even see the little man and the tree from the first album down in the bottom by the gates; I never knew until I bought this that the artwork was something of an extension to that on Burzum. I guess you learn something everyday, eh?

Burzum - Dauði Baldrs

I know this doesn't exactly rank high amongst the playlists of many black metal enthusiasts, but I am a huge fan of the prison-Burzum era. I think we need to reflect on what the man was simply left to work with; any country that allows you make an album whilst serving prison time for murder is pretty unusual in my opinion, and to be fair, considering Varg was supposedly only allowed to use a synthesizer, he did a pretty good job. Sure, it sounds cheap, but so does any synth music made in that era - just check out early Mortiis, that sounds similar and that dude wasn't chained up in the clink when he was writing his shit.

I think that the cheap, tacky feel of the keyboard sounds really contribute to the full atmosphere of the record. Sure, these tracks would sound absolutely stunning performed by a full orchestra or even a small group, but the tacky electronic instrumentation really gives this record it's charm. I was chuffed to bits then, when Back on Black re-issued not only the guaranteed-to-sell Burzum records, but the whole shebang, allowing me, the crappy keyboard music enthusiast, to get a lush new copy of this record on wax. I am not usually that keen on re-issues but Back on Black has made the whole Burzum catalog (not to mention a lot of "classic" black metal) much more affordable for vinyl fans. The fact that this label seems to get through so many releases can only be a good thing for the vinyl world, right?

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.

Burzum - Burzum

So I finally grew the fuck up and got this album. After years of holding out, hoping and praying for a shot at the original pressing from back in the day, I finally gave up on owning a piece of musical history. I can only justify so much for a record. It is, at the end of the day, historic or not, it's just a piece of vinyl. I don't like Burzum enough to justify spending hundreds on an original Deathlike Silence pressing. Back On Black's repress in a lovely gatefold that includes the follow-up EP Aske (which is just as pricey in its original form) will do nicely, methinks. I still paid over the odds for it thanks to Plastic Head but it is a fancy package so I'm not too unhappy with how much I paid.

I'm not sure if Burzum is the black metal record; but it definitely encompasses what the original scene was trying to achieve. For me, personally, at least. Every time I suggest this around metalheads I seem to face mostly disagreement, but if there is anything that will satisfy my "black metal urges" it is this record (or something by early Darkthrone). It was made at such a place and time that wholly impacts upon its structure, delivery and the entire finished product. If Burzum was recorded at any other point in time, or even with a different producer at the studio, or through a different guitar amp, it would not be the same record. That might sound a bit obvious, but it is more than that; what Burzum reflects is an idea, a vision so strongly held in belief by its creator that it eventually led to arson and later to murder. To know through these terrible acts that there was 100% belief and conviction in this music, in this way of life, makes the listening all the more powerful and dark.

Not that I personally advocate the burning of churches or stabbing your friend and record label boss in the face. And I don't sympathize with the views held by Burzum's bat-shit insane creator Varg Vikernes either. But, I am all about the music here, not politics, so if Varg's (possibly worrying) drive for Norwegian racial purity fuels him to continue creating such beautifully vicious and mood altering music, then so be it.

1349 - Hellfire

Another smashing Back On Black black metal pressing (did you have to read that twice? Ha ha). This is really fancy, smooth and shiny and looking as sexy as black metal can in all its gatefold glory. I learned my lesson after purchasing Burzum's Burzum and instead got this from HMV for the fucking criminal price of £9.99 including delivery rather than being raped by Plastic Head. Why go direct, eh? 

1349 are something else. I'm not particularly massively into black metal anymore but they are one of the modern day black metal bands that continue to impress me. This record is fucking nasty! It is just so fast, so brutal, so necro! Frost is an absolute animal on the drum kit. I heard "Sculptor of Flesh" by accident back when this first came out and I was totally blown away by it. After finally seeing the band live recently I decided it was about time to get some records. Whilst some of their other albums have been a tad questionable for various different reasons, Hellfire is relentless and absolutely punishing and is a must for die hard black metallers. Listen and love, reading masses!

It is hard to pick stand out tracks so I'll just go and put the first song "I Am Abomination" as this post's video link. The drumming is absolutely insane on this record, even if it sounds like Frost is playing on cardboard boxes. Also, somehow I forgot to take pictures of the actual discs (Ha) for this post (what a twat). I almost put my girlfriend's camera back together and took some more but all you need to know is that they are black and rather boring, so I decided against it. Another Lines In Wax first; a vinyl blog post with no pictures of vinyl. Stayin' original, that's what that is.

Immortal - Sons of Northern Darkness

One of the first black metal records I ever heard, and one of my favourites. I waited a very long time to get this on wax; eventually getting a copy on white when Back on Black were good enough to release represses. The original vinyl pressings on Nuclear Blast are worth a bit more, but that's ok, I'm not particularly wild or fanatical enough about black metal in the grand scheme of things, so I can let the original pressings slide and live with a repressed copy.

 

Immortal seem to have a suprisingly varied back catalogue with albums ranging from the downright 'necro' right through to highly produced riff fests, such as this. I gotta be honest, I think I prefer this Immortal to the 'vltra kvlt' Immortal sound. They are really talented metal musicians and the almost thrashy sound works well for them.

I'm not entirely sure if Immortal are serious or not, although I guess this lends to the whole 'atmosphere' surrounding them. Do they really, really think they are more metal than metal itself with all that gurning and waving about of spiked weaponry? Or is it all just an act and they always laugh at themselves? Who knows! I gotta say, I really wouldn't be suprised either way. Some crazy shit has come out of Norway in the last twenty years or so.

I didn't order the coloured version so I was mega happy when I ended up with a white copy, thank you HMV. The HMV store is generally very poor but if your in the UK you can get a limited supply of vinyl at generally very acceptable prices with the added bonus of free shipping thrown into the mix. Bonza value, mate! £9.99 for a double LP delivered to my house is pretty awesome.