BURZUM

The Mystery Project

Ever since its origin, everything has been mysterious with Burzum, from the fantasy its music is said to create, to the controversial arrest of Varg Vikernes, the only man behind the whole project. Burzum, one of the earliest Scandanavian Black Metal Bands had its origin in Norway in 1987. As a solo-project of Varg Vikernes (aka Count Grishnackh), Burzum is regarded as one of the most notorious band in the scene of Norwegian Metal espicially due to the arrest of Vikernes for the murder of Oystein Aarseth ( Euronymous ) of Mayhem and controversial incidents including arson of churches and involvement in Anti-Christian movements.

Varg Vikernes was first involved in a band named Kalasnikov ( later named Uruk-Hai) which he left because he thought that the bandmates were just of the normal sex, drugs and rock n roll attitude and he needed some serious and dedicated bandmates. That was when he met the band members of Old Funeral ( Later Immortal) and involved in it from 1989 to 1991 which he then left because he thought it transformed from a cool technocrash band to a boring Death Metal group.

After leaving Old Funeral, Varg brought the concept of Burzum into existance inspired by the magic of fantasy. He thought that Burum would act as a vessel to stimulate the fantasy of mortals by leading their spirits to a higher musical altitude which would be based on fantasy and magic. The term Burzum literally means Darkness in Judeo-Christianity terms but that darkness of Christianity stood for light in terms of Varg. Even the nickname Grishnackh which Vikernes had taken was inspired by the famous J.R.R.Tolkien fiction “The Lord of the Rings”. The reason of popularity of the music of Burzum is its so-called magic of fantasy. As Varg himself states “The songs are spells and albums are arranged in a special way to make the spells work”. According to him, the albums are made to be listened in the evenings when sun beams can’t vaporize the power of magic, preferably during bedtime before falling asleep. The songs are arranged to prepare, exhaust and then calm down the listener. Whether the spells work or not varies upon the listener. According to Varg, the project is not like other braindead drugs, sex and rock n roll attitude bands who just play to laid and get popular. The music of Burzum seeks impressions from Norse mythology, pagnism and Tolkien Fiction. Varg himself regards the music of Burzum as monotonous, mostly uncomplicated and also melancholic. According to Varg, the whole message of Burzum is summed up in the first track from the Aske album, “Feeble Screams from the Forests Unknown” and all other songs are just regarded as footnotes of the song.

Black metal was on the rise in Norway around the late 80’s. It was a period of bands like Darkthrone, Enslaved, Myhem, Morbid Angel, Death and others when Burzum entered the scene. Burzum debuted its first self-titled album Burzum/ Aske in 1991. The reason Burzum came to so much focus in the early 90’s apart from the music it created was the controversy that surrounded Varg. Varg was imprisoned in 1993 for the murder of Oystein Aarseth (Euronymous) of another popular Norwegain Black metal band, Mayhem; arson of 4 churches and storage of 150 kg. of explosives which brought the end of so-called Golden era of Burzum. Though the government and media describes the murder as an intended murder with an incomprehensible motive, Varg denies the accusations and describes that Euronymous’ murder was done for the sake of self-defense.and it was Euronymous who had actually plotted to kill him. Many fans of the Scandanvian metal scene regarded this murder the result of the power struggle and idealogical differences between the two popularly rising bands in the scene. Others regarded it as a trifle over the sum of money that Varg had lent to Euronymous for his DSP ( Deathlike Silence Prductions) records through which Burzum had released its previous albums too.
Although the golden era of Burzum ended with the imprisonment of Varg for 21 years, the albums and songs Burzum created are still regarded as the best of Black metal. The first mini-LP Aske (1991) evokes a dark and emotional despair that is suppresed fear within human existance. Vocals are lengthly screams that spread the hoarse demon screech over several notes. On being asked about his best album, Varg refers to Hvis Lyset Tar Oss (1992) because of its originality, consistency and closest to what he wanted to achieve when he made and recorded it. He remarks, “This album is the first album I played music, instead of just playing different instruments”. In Det Som En Gang var (1994), the music is dark, simple and rough but well played and obviously planed and sensed. Filosoferm (1995) includes the first ever Burzum track, Dunkelheit (the German version for Burzum). The album was mixed/ produced while Varg was in prison. Living and hypnotic music radiates from the simple, defintive riffs with a flexible technique that smears a disorted flow of notes into chords and melodies. Daudi Baldrs (1997) approaches to a more complex ideal of song stucture and the songs range from the pop-like melodic tendencies of the previous Burzum album to classically-inspired ambient looping sructures. Hlioskjalf (1999) sounds as if Burzum hs evolved from raw black metal to an atmospheric style of classical music that reflects powerful concept and design. So every new album gives a sense that Burzum has grown into a more mature Ambient Black Metal band.
In October 2003, Vikernes failed to return to his low-security prison in Tonsberg, Norway after having been granted a short leave. After hijacking a car, Varg was pprehended by the police. He was caught with an unloaded assult rifle, a handheld GPS system, military uniforms, and camouflage clothes. He received an additional senence of 13 months for the incident, and has been moved to a maximum-security prison in Trondheim. Tough laws have changed since his imprisonment and the new laws suggest his release around August 2006, Varg isn’t much positive about his release. Burzum has released its two ambient albums, Daudi Baldrs and Hlioskjalf in prison which boh focus on Norse mythology. In prison, Varg devotes his time espicially in studing ancient Aryan and Pagan religion and complains that he has been denied with facilities and equipmensts to create music. He has also published two of his books, Vargsnal I and II along with other shorter works namely Irminsul and Germansk Mythologi og Verdensanskuelse. He denies himself of being a Satanist as reffered by many media and says he neither believes in God nor Satan. On being asked his plans for the nearest future, he comments that apart from the computer programming and translating books, he plans to buy a small farm somewhere in Norway and live there, write books, make music, enjoy nature, get some peace and so forth.
I wonder how winter will be with a spring that I shall never see
I wonder how might will be with a day that I shall never see
I wonder how life will be with a light I shall never see
I wonder how life will be with a pain that lasts eternally
(Beholding the Dughters of the Firmament)
Albums:
1. Aske (Ash or Cinder)
2. Hvis Lyset Tar Oss (If The Light Take Us)
3. Det Som En Gang Var (What Once Was)
4. Filosofem (Philosofem)
5. Daudi Baldrs (The Death of Baldr)
6. Hlioskjalf (Hidden Opening Intro Asgardr or Secret Ritual-Site)