Metal Reviews

Perfect garage production, endearing but sloppy playing, and absolute perfection in the sorrowful riffs. When I was nearing suicide due to OCD and depression this music sounded so perfect to me...


On another note, no Burzum, no weakling, simple as that. The melancholy riffing side of bm is all Burzum baby (with a little Mayhem) (as opposed to symphonic bm (Emperor) or punky bm (Darkthrone)

Only Burzum I've heard so far is Hvis Lyset Tar Oss and Hlidskjalf. I rather liked both, especially the former. Is the earlier stuff worth checking out then?

This is the first Burzum review here since the relaxation of policy so it is hardly surprising that the review discusses the politics. It's not like there is no cogent discussion of the music as well, so fair play to James, pls.

Yes indeedy, check Filosofem out as well.

And agreed with rio, that was a fine review. Thumbs up, James, you do a great job highlighting the more obscure Black Metal bands in general, and this is of the usual high quality; good stuff.

I agree. A good, brief review that gives a general feel of what the album may be like. Yes, there were jabs at Varg, but I didn't find that to be a deterrent or irritant of any sort. Metallica's ....And Justice For All review suffered due to constant digs at the band.

It's too bad that the man's musical legacy is forever to be overshadowed by his extramusical shenanigans, because some of it is absolutely brilliant, despite, or maybe even because of, the primal rawness of pure emotion. Simple, yet effective.
I don't understand why people can't just listen to music without external factors getting in the way.

Yes, because the gurgle, belch, vomit of all those brootal death metal "vocalists" is sooo much less lolz inducing...

It's actually some of the best vocals in black metal IMO.

I agree.

Quite. I don't know anything like it, with the exception of the guy from In the Woods.

Couldn't agree more with the three gentlemen above me.

On another note, are there other Burzum reviews forthcoming? I can't wait for a review of Hvis Lyset Tar Oss

This makes up for your anti-Venom stance... digging Burzum is good enough, though I'll never for the life of me understand how one cannot derive pleasure from the original unholy trinity.
Meh, there's something for everyone in this world, I suppose.
And, yes, more Burzum, please.

I'll admit Venom were influential, I just personally don't like them. *shrug

Nahhh, it's cool. You don't dig them, fair enough.

Moar Burzum is forthcoming, the levee's broken so expect it preeeetty preeeeetty soon... probably not in today's update though.

D:



I guess. I don't really care about how influential something was though.



Nobody said those dudes were good either.

All Metal vocalists are a bit rubbish. King Diamond's yowls, for instance.

King Diamond rules, his falsetto fits his music perfectly.

I was just browsing past MR and couldn't help but notice that the classics section features a Burzum review. Nice to see that the rigid site policy has become a little softer. This certainly fills a historical gap in the list of classic Metal. Good call!

However, I can't help but wonder why the review spends so much effort to distance itself from Varg's ideology, while the new Peste Noire (a band that –as opposed to Burzum- employ racism in their very band-concept) get a review free of disclaimers and jabs. Now, I don't mind that people of extreme ideologies get a few comments on the way, but why is the political agenda of an artist in a non-political band worse than the blatant racism of an entire band-concept (e.g. Peste Noire)?


By the way:



What an insightful post Rhys . You must have spent a lot of time not listening to Black Metal to come to such conclusions. What I'm saying is, that your analysis of 'riffing history' and following subdivision of Black Metal into "sides" makes little to no sense.

They do? Must be too subtle for me. I thought they had an Asian on bass and everything?