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 Post subject: 'Burzum - Burzum (#5653)'
PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:55 pm 
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Burzum - Burzum
Black Metal
Quoted: CLASSIC


Click here to see the review.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 5:25 pm 
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The review I never thought to see here.

:blink:


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 5:58 pm 
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I must admit that I didn't see this review coming.

But regardless of what I thought of the "No Burzum (and some others IIRC) reviews" policy this site has had for years, if this is the kind of Burzum review the site is going to give, why even bother?

It begins and ends with personal jabs at Varg and his website (the site is linked anyway), such as the statement, "And the less said about his moronic political beliefs, the better, seeing as he's been using his website as a mouthpiece for laughably far-fetched Anti-Semitic conspiracies, coupled with a dash of good old eugenics." You may not hold the same views as Varg, but maybe you should reread and reflect on your own "mouthpiece" of a review.

Varg, despite many faults, misconceptions, and failures at communicating his ideas, at least went to some effort to think about what he was saying and attempt to support his claims.

Sadly, there's really not that much discussion about the music here, especially for an album considered to be a classic. The only reason I can see this album being listed before any other Burzum albums is that there's an intent to review several of them as classics in chronological order (and the closing line with an ellipsis seems to hint at this). If that's the case, cool, but I hope this "review" isn't indicative of what those will be like.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 7:55 pm 
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Tyrion wrote:
I must admit that I didn't see this review coming.

But regardless of what I thought of the "No Burzum (and some others IIRC) reviews" policy this site has had for years, if this is the kind of Burzum review the site is going to give, why even bother?

It begins and ends with personal jabs at Varg and his website (the site is linked anyway), such as the statement, "And the less said about his moronic political beliefs, the better, seeing as he's been using his website as a mouthpiece for laughably far-fetched Anti-Semitic conspiracies, coupled with a dash of good old eugenics." You may not hold the same views as Varg, but maybe you should reread and reflect on your own "mouthpiece" of a review.

Varg, despite many faults, misconceptions, and failures at communicating his ideas, at least went to some effort to think about what he was saying and attempt to support his claims.

Sadly, there's really not that much discussion about the music here, especially for an album considered to be a classic. The only reason I can see this album being listed before any other Burzum albums is that there's an intent to review several of them as classics in chronological order (and the closing line with an ellipsis seems to hint at this). If that's the case, cool, but I hope this "review" isn't indicative of what those will be like.


Agreed.
Out of the five or so paragraphs, only one mentions the actual MUSIC, and then only fleetingly.
I noticed the Graveland review opened with a general put-down of Darken, as well.
Funny how only artists with nationalist and/or right-wing views are to be singled out for scorn, isn't it?


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:08 pm 
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Never really understood what people hear in this. Directionless songs and amateur performance imo.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:20 pm 
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noodles wrote:
Never really understood what people hear in this. Directionless songs and amateur performance imo.


and those vocals LOL


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:23 pm 
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cry of the banshee wrote:
Agreed.
Out of the five or so paragraphs, only one mentions the actual MUSIC, and then only fleetingly.
I noticed the Graveland review opened with a general put-down of Darken, as well.
Funny how only artists with nationalist and/or right-wing views are to be singled out for scorn, isn't it?


Well, without going into too much behind the scenes detail, these reviews are the result of quite a bit of in-house discussion. It would have been hard for me not to write a lot about that aspect of Burzum, especially considering the history on this site. I guess what I'm trying to say is cut him a little slack please. Its always tough being the first.

As for your other point, I can only speak for myself personally, but NS or nazi guys aren't the only ones singled out for my scorn. I can tell you right now, were I ever to review Thee Plague of Gentlemen, I'd have to spend a bit of my writing noting what a piece of shit the lead singer is (multiple child rapist, if you weren't aware).


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:24 pm 
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I regret the "no Burzum" policy.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:28 pm 
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Adam wrote:
cry of the banshee wrote:
Agreed.
Out of the five or so paragraphs, only one mentions the actual MUSIC, and then only fleetingly.
I noticed the Graveland review opened with a general put-down of Darken, as well.
Funny how only artists with nationalist and/or right-wing views are to be singled out for scorn, isn't it?


Well, without going into too much behind the scenes detail, these reviews are the result of quite a bit of in-house discussion. It would have been hard for me not to write a lot about that aspect of Burzum, especially considering the history on this site. I guess what I'm trying to say is cut him a little slack please. Its always tough being the first.

As for your other point, I can only speak for myself personally, but NS or nazi guys aren't the only ones singled out for my scorn. I can tell you right now, were I ever to review Thee Plague of Gentlemen, I'd have to spend a bit of my writing noting what a piece of shit the lead singer is (multiple child rapist, if you weren't aware).


Not you, my friend.
But nobody seems to have a problem when the bands / artist philosphy is the death / mutilation / torture of christians, etc..
At least those bands' reviews aren't prefixed with shot at the artists beliefs.
This is all old hat, though, just the same old bit.
Moving right along...


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:34 pm 
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Let's not even pretend that the AntiChristianism of everyone from Amon Amarth to Zyklon is equal to the racist neo-Nazism of the likes of Varg, because that's an insult to everyone's intelligence. These extreme right bands are not 'just' right-wing, they're way off the edge; if an extremist leftist group that advocated violent revolution and the massacre of all the middle class were ever to come into existence, of course they'd be criticised. It's nowhere near comparable!


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:34 pm 
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cry of the banshee wrote:
But nobody seems to have a problem when the bands / artist philosphy is the death / mutilation / torture of christians, etc..
At least those bands' reviews aren't prefixed with shot at the artists beliefs.


Well, considering I'm a Christian myself (though a rather open-minded one), I have a problem with that, which is the primary reason I take an "ignorance is bliss" approach to 90% of black metal and a lot of death metal as well. Pretty easy to do considering you can't understand a word they're saying without consulting a lyric sheet, which I don't.

I understand your point, but considering the history of NS on MR, its really hard not to distance yourself from those beliefs, sort of how Daniel did with the disclaimer in his Graveland review.

EDIT - Now yes, I'm moving right along as well. I'd hate for this thread to be chock full of discussion only regarding the NS aspect, and not the music.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:40 pm 
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noodles wrote:
Never really understood what people hear in this. Directionless songs and amateur performance imo.


In all fairness, its hard to sound like an expert when you play all the instruments yourself and don't have a big recording budget.

And directionless? You're entitled to your opinion, but wow, we are in serious disagreement there.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:45 pm 
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Goat wrote:
if an extremist leftist group that advocated violent revolution and the massacre of all the middle class were ever to come into existence, of course they'd be criticised. I


You should review some Iskra! They're great.

Quote:
In all fairness, its hard to sound like an expert when you play all the instruments yourself and don't have a big recording budget.

Yeah true. I guess my problem with Burzum is that I have to try pretty hard just to make out what's going on in the music so that kinda ruins the experience for me.


Last edited by noodles on Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:46 pm 
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Adam wrote:
cry of the banshee wrote:
But nobody seems to have a problem when the bands / artist philosphy is the death / mutilation / torture of christians, etc..
At least those bands' reviews aren't prefixed with shot at the artists beliefs.


Well, considering I'm a Christian myself (though a rather open-minded one), I have a problem with that, which is the primary reason I take an "ignorance is bliss" approach to 90% of black metal and a lot of death metal as well. Pretty easy to do considering you can't understand a word they're saying without consulting a lyric sheet, which I don't.

I understand your point, but considering the history of NS on MR, its really hard not to distance yourself from those beliefs, sort of how Daniel did with the disclaimer in his Graveland review.


I'm not the least religuious myself, but even I find the whole Death to Christ / Christraping blahblahblah not only lame and childish, but (perhaps even worse) unoriginal. It may shock Grandma, but any thinking adult would only shake their heads and laugh, especially since many of these artists are very serious about those beliefs (as opposed to a band like say Venom, which penned their lyrics with tongue planted firmly in cheek).
I don't see how being a nationalist is any worse than penning lyrics about gore, rape, pedophilia and the like, but whatever.
And anybody saying that"LOL,V, those lyrics are justa joke!"
I say, pick up the newspaper sometime and then get back to me, mmmkay?

MR's has a history of NS?
I must have missed something.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:46 pm 
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I'm not sure if it's a classic. I'm not very found of this one, I think Burzum get better in next records, and the real Burzum classics are Hvis Lyset Tar Oss and Filosofem, that are the ones I listen more usually.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:48 pm 
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ganeshaRules wrote:
I'm not sure if it's a classic. I'm not very found of this one, I think Burzum get better in next records, and the real Burzum classics are Hvis Lyset Tar Oss and Filosofem, that are the ones I listen more usually.


+1


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:52 pm 
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cry of the banshee wrote:
MR's has a history of NS?
I must have missed something.


Haha, I thought it was clear I was referring to charred remnants of old flame wars regarding NSBM. Maybe not clear enough then. That's what I meant anyway.

And yes, I can easily laugh off the anti-Christian sentiments (ala Marduk). You're right, some of them actually believe what they're writing, but it reeks of falling in line with what they consider the norm of their genre rather than having an original thought.

As for the classic-ness of this album, I think this is one that gets the tag based far more off influence and lasting effect than quality of material. I think most, if not all, Burzum fans consider this the weakest of the first 4, which are all arguably classics.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:55 pm 
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For me, this is a classic of Black Metal. The mixture of styles shows that Varg was still feeling his way, but the fact that the songs are pretty much uniformly brilliant shows that he was onto something; the purity of expression is quite amazing. Fine, it may not be as transcendental as Filosofem, but as a Black Metal album it's undoubtedly a vital part of history. Definitely a classic.


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 2:12 am 
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Shocked to see this here as well. I decided to give Burzum another shot after reading this review. Not nearly as bad as I remember. It's actually pretty catchy, at times.


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 2:41 am 
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This is they catchy Burzum album, yeah. The one I listen to most also because the later ones require total devotion and focus.


And yeah, the review was shit. Sorry dude.


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