Burzum

Filosofem

Labels / Brands:
Back On Black
Genre:
Metal, Electronic
Style:
Black Metal

Not available

Specification
Description
Track-list

Condition	Sealed
Manufacturer	United Kingdom
Format	2xLP, 180 Gram Vinyl, Reissue, Gatefold Sleeve
Date of release	1995/2008
Barcode	803341230170

Black metal can be a complicated genre to talk about, both music-wise and musician-wise. It is not just music that made black metal a big deal, it was the intire movement. While black metal certianly has its roots in the 1980's, it is Norwegian black metal that most of people think of. While the movement itself was pretty brutal and dark, the music that came out of it actually brought some interesting ideas to the extreme metal genre. A lot of classic bands came out of that era, and surely one of the more popular was one-man band, Burzum.
Varg Vikernes was the sole member of this band that rose to fame in the scene in the early 90's. Burzum actually is a band worth hearing (tho the bad thing for die-hards is that he does not preform live). His early records are still some of the most iconic in the genre (tho not the best by any means), and while people have their favorites, this record, "Filosofem" is his finest work.

1996's Filosofem is often hailed as Burzum's finest hour, which is quite ironic for an album filled with musical leftovers. Allegedly composed at different times but recorded simultaneously in March 1993 (hence the unique mix of Norwegian and English lyrics), these sessions were later compiled and released two years into their creator's 15-year incarceration for murder! But, since Burzum mastermind Varg Vikernes notoriously held onto his work for months on end before unleashing it on the public, first time listeners will find that Filosofem‘s overall musical aesthetic is not dissimilar from preceding cornerstones of his career, like Det Som Engang Var and Hvis Lyset Tar Oss. Hauntingly dawdling opener "Burzum" (literally, the first song Vikernes wrote for his fledgling musical project) and, later, the two-part "Gebrechlichkeit" contrast filthy buzz-saw guitars with chirpy electronic melodies, topped with examples of both Vikernes' desolately unemotional narrations and tormented howls (possibly proving that no prisoner this schizophrenic was ever going to feel entirely alone with himself). Striking within their midst is, arguably, the pièce de résistance of Burzum's entire catalog: "Jesu Død" ("Jesus' Death") - a blastbeat-driven array of layered, treacherous guitar parts - as hair-raising as it is hypnotic. And in the 25-minute "Rundtgåing av Den Transcendentale Egenhetens Støtte" ("Walking Around the Transendental Pillar of Singularity"), Vikernes assembled his weightiest musical tome -- literally, if not creatively - since its endlessly repeated electronic patterns (resembling a sparse classical canon) have no metallic quotient whatsoever and therefore weren't for everyone. This does nothing to diminish the fact that all of Filosofem's musical ambitions (including short stories penned for the CD booklet by Vikernes, to frame song meanings) were accomplished almost entirely on first takes, without so much as a studio or even serviceable recording equipment, for that matter. Instead, Varg simply plugged his guitar, fuzz pedal, and in his own words, "the worst possible microphone" he could find, directly into his brother's stereo to achieve the album's distinctively bleak, lo-fi sound. What he achieved was unique, alright, and historic to boot, as Filosofem continues to figure among the most seminal works in black metal history, despite its creator's checkered personal life.

- Eduardo Rivadavia. Allmusic.com