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Burzum: Belus
14/04/10 || Euthanatos
Let’s agree on something right off the bat here; Kristian “Varg” Vikernes is a cunt. It doesn’t matter what he does nowadays, doesn’t matter he’s a lonely troll in a Norwegian forest, procreating in order to keep the white pride line of man pure. He’s a cunt, and that’s pure and simple. He’s a racist cunt, he’s a murdering cunt, he’s an egotistical, megalomaniac, paranoid cunt. He just so happens to be a cunt that writes music. Some consider it to be good music. Some even consider it to be legendary, genre-creating, pioneering music. So what I’ll do here is review the music. No judgment on the man. Nah, fuck that, I’m judging him all I want.
As I said, Burzum is hailed by some as this epic one-man act that kickstarted black metal, along with Mayhem and Darkthrone, bands in which Kristian also participated in, and also the infamous Norwegian black metal scene, with grim music and church burnings. So Kristian goes bat-shit insane in his quest for popularity and kvltness and kills a man. Also (supposedly) burns some churches. Kristian goes to prison for nearly 20 years. When in prison, he releases two shitty “atmospheric” albums, which were just what a Casio keyboard sounds like when you hit the “demo” button and drastically decrease the tempo. Now, Kristian plays nice, tries not to say bad things about people of different ethnic background, and even went back on his word of never playing black metal again and releases a black metal album. Such is life.
Initially called “The White God”, Kristian changed it to “Belus”, who is the same white god, but with a more family-friendly name. See, Kristian has taken a liking to Norse mythology, and basically all his writings, when not about himself and his honorable crusade for the Norwegian people, Norwegian tradition and a racially clean Norge, are about said mythology, its gods and monsters and quests and adventures.
“Belus” comes out of Kristian and prison much like Burzum’s final pre-incarceration album, “Filosofem”, but I actually consider this new one the better effort. The production is finally something that’s listenable, and even Kristian’s playing has improved. Dramatically, I would say, as has his songwriting. Instead of composing shitty instrumental keyboard tracks, Kristian has taken his knack for the epic and thrown it into guitar riffs, which, albeit repetitive, become quite enthralling.
Kristian’s vocals are also rigorously the same as before, but he has incorporated a lot of spoken passages and even clean singing into his repertoire. Surprisingly, he also excels there, making quite the effort in sounding professional. “Kaimadalthas Nedstigning”, in my mind, is the very definition of what’s best offered in “Belus”; it’s not too long, not too short, it’s atmospheric, but not boring, and packs plenty of a metal punch.
At other times, Kristian goes full-nostalgia mode, like with “Sverddans”, which is a raw, dirty, 100% old school black metal track that only suffers because of the paperweight production. You put this in a rasp-Dark-Funeral like guitar sound, it would melt your balls off. But, yes, I realize that is not the point Kristian is trying to convey.
I’ve never been a huge Burzum fan, and Kristian never did much to get me to appreciate him or his band more. But I do have to admit “Belus” is a really good album, it’s well-written and well-executed, and for Kristian to not have lost his mind and come out of prison playing hip hop shows enough mental fortitude as it is (although, some would speculate the Norwegian incarceration prison has more life quality than my abode here in the 3rd world). I think the fans will also appreciate Kristian not pooping on his musical legacy like some other bands that came back after a long period of forced absence did cough, Dissection, cough.
I have no idea if these are Kristian’s final words to the black metal world, but if so, it’s a very fitting tribute to the man’s vision of the genre and an appropriate and worthy placement in his discography. Yes, I liked it. A lot.
He’s still a cunt, though.
The cover: Something taken out of Google Images, for sure.
- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Byelobog Productions
- Website: www.burzum.org
- Band
- Kristian “Varg” Vikernes: pretty much everything, plus being a martyr, a beacon of light, an enlightened prophet of his cause.
- Tracklist
- 01. Leukes Renkespill (Introduksjon)
- 02. Belus’ Død
- 03. Glemselens Elv
- 04. Kaimadalthas’ Nedstigning
- 05. Sverddans
- 06. Keliohesten
- 07. Morgenrøde
- 08. Belus’ Tilbakekomst (Konklusjon)
