Been listening to Black Metal since the mid 90's (after that infamous article in KERRANG magazine), and there are still no other bands that give me the same feeling as Burzum. Varg has said multiple times he wanted his songs to sound like spells, and that is exactly what I feel - each song, with its repetitive riffs and ambient atmosphere, feels like it's a meditative journey, putting the listener in a trance. there's just nothing else like Burzum.
Filosofem is such a great album. It's so cringe people trying to pretend Burzum albums are bad or not influential because of the creators ideology. The move away from Satanism is in itself a huge departure for that genre. You can hate Varg as a person, but I think the music is self evidently good.
You almost said Dauði Baldrs right, while "ð" is often anglicized to make a D noise, a more accurate sound would be a humming "th" sound similar to "this" or "smooth." So the pronunciation would be more like "Dauthi Baldurs." Sorry if I come across as a know-it-all, I just find languages fascinating and thought I'd share since not a lot of people seem to be aware of this. Great video 👍
Regarding Euronymous claiming to be a Stalinist, if you read what actual Stalinists believe, they are convinced that virtually everything negative that has been said about Stalin is built on lies and propaganda, and he was in fact a force for good. I believe 100% that Euronymous was being an edgelord in declaring himself a Stalinist.
Take the make up away from Euronymous and you'll see the goofiest most unserious edgelord you'll ever see. But Varg? That guy looks like evil incarnate.
Euronymous, stalinist? Based on what, one interview? He did also praise anal sex, was he gay? Stalin was a force of good? Give me a break. Dont talk about lies and propaganda to me in 2023. It is everywhere. Need a sunglasses, you know...
No way. Øystein was a aktive communist long before he became Euronymous. The contact between anarchist punk bands of oslo blitz like turbonegro etc comes from Øysteins connection do to him having been a communist many years prior, Many people openly loved Stalin within the communist party of Norway in the 70s/until late 80s, Øystein was a active member since his teens "the biggest communist party in the western world during the 70s and 80s. Øystein left at the end of the 80s early 90s when the party started condeming people like Stalin in public and openly accepting more and more of the western capitalist narrative of the world. The party more or less died along with its changes to be pc
Filosofem immediately became one of my favorite albums when I heard it for the first time, Burzum really does sound like ancient dark magic radiating around you as you walk through a cold and isolated forest, it’s beautiful. Thanks to the Thulean Mysteries album, I was inspired to check out more dungeon synth artists like Depressive Silence, Örnatorpet, and Aindulmedir, and now dungeon synth is one of my favorite genres (I’m even working on my own project right now lol).
@@tmp1k Great to hear, was also my first, followed by "Dunkelheit" and "War", bought "Det som engang far" afterwards because this song was my favorite and still is
Of all the videos on Varg I have seen (and black metal controversy as a whole) this might be the most honest, respectful, and unbiased. A real discussion on his music and giving credit to his accomplishments, while not glossing over or diminishing the controversy surrounding him. No agenda in this video one way or the other, and letting everyone else's interpretations of him be seen as valid. I've watched and enjoyed your videos in the past but this is the one that made me think, "I should subscribe to this guy". Rarely have I seen this topic dealt with using as much care as you have. Great work.
Controversy? I don’t know if you can stil remember his RU-vid channel back in the day but the dude has a bunch of screws lose and that’s omitting the fact that he is a cold blooded murderer. Yeah, yeah I know this dude will never shut up how was just defending himself. He did this every 3rd video or so on Thulean perspective but man, I have no love for this dude. Influential? Achievements? Ripping off qourthon’s riff...is unforgivable. I never judged this guy for his murder but damn his self righteous indulgence on his RU-vid channel was the final straw and I
And if from your vantage point you look at all of history and believe you are at its zenith, that your are morally superior, you are in for a big surprise probably coming soon
23:50 This point exactly is why I consider Burzum to be the most important Black Metal band of all time, because these albums showed the rest of the world that there is so much more that you can do with the black metal blueprint than just aggression.
Lmao I was not ready for the 'let's find out'. Burzum is probably my favourite band and loved to watch his channel. It was very calming with the ambient music in the background in the woods.
I like almost all Varg's 1992-94 music, but first four tracks from "Filosofem" album are absolute masterpieces. So raw and depressive. Forest black metal. Great video as aways! I've discovered lots of of interesting bands through your videos) Aspid rules!!!🤘
“Hvis Lyset Tar Oss” has to be my favourite album of his, mainly for the opening masterpiece that is the song “Det Som En Gang Var”, although it is difficult to choose. It is absolutely hypnotizing, and along with a handful of other artists, responsible for atmospheric and even DSBM sound we have afterwards. Love him or hate him, his influence is absolutely undeniable.
@Bolion23 Thorns for sure. Snorre has a new channel where he teaches some guitar tricks. Very cool to check out and he also interacts quite a bit in the comments.
Thanks for making these videos I’m new to black metal any metal tbh and I love learning more about the history and about the bands. I really love your videos 😊
Once again, what a great video man! Since I discovered this band/project I have liked more the artist than the individual. It's a matter of subjectivity. I totally agree with you, this band/project is an important landmark in the Black metal culture. Those who hate this musical entity will have to learn to live with it .
About 5 months late to the party but I think Burzum is one of the best black metal/ambient projects to ever come out of the Norwegian scene of it's time. I still remember just how mesmerized I was by the ambient tracks on Filosofem when I first listened it and I have yet to listen to something like them. I wish more people were able to look over Varg's views and appreciate the music he made. He did (and still does) say some odd and unhinged things, like the whole placenta ordeal, but I don't think that should change how influential his music was to many projects that came after his.
Yeah, Euronymous was the sociopath. Don't pay attention to the fact that there are decades of words from the guy who killed him. He's totally cool. I don't think euronymous was "cool" for lack of a better word. But really? Varg is the good guy? Nazi fuck. Not to mention the comment above tossing out the f slur, as some kind of negative. Way to bolster everyone's ideas about black metal morons.
Most of those people from my experience seen to hate all new waves of black metal or even the blackened style anything.. I personally love some of the newer bands utilizing a lot of it. They seem to hate a lot of NSBM and DSBM as well.
Brilliant video, thoroughly enjoyed it, your detail and unbiased analogy of burzum is brilliant, really enjoyed this as a burzum fan, once again great video, thankyou
Despite how much I dislike Varg as a person, I can't help but love his music and his music was really important to me during a period of my life. Death of the artist is only something I can't do if there's some truly extreme circumstances or aspects being rubbed in my face while listening to the music, but in most cases if the music is great then i can enjoy it for what it is.
He’s tricky. He’s an asshole, to be sure, and I would undoubtedly dislike him if I were to meet him but as an entertainer, He’s very good at his job and I can’t help but respect him.
Euronymous became the sacrifice, which he spoke into existence when talking about and detailing killing varg as a snuff film, to propel black metal to it's next state.
Nice video! Burzum is where it all started for me and will always love the music (both ambient and bm). I really loved the instrumental he uploaded as a goodbye to his "metal sound" called "Back to the Shadows'. Varg had the ability to make monotonous riffs sound like pure magic
Very well thought out,researched and carefully worded ( lol ) review of Varg and Burzum. Thoroughly enjoyed how you put forth two concurrent aspects of Varg. That being the musical entity and the human entity. While stressing bullet points on both fronts you didnt fall into the judgemental trap. Thank you
I don't understand how people get so emotionally invested in hating controversial characters... there's assholes all around us, all the time. In our work place, families, friends circle. And most people will hide behind the statu quo in order to avoid confrontation and disruption within these circles, but when an artist or musician does bad stuff or hold controversial views, they're all over the place and openly vocal about their feelings towards that person. It's actually ok to enjoy someone's body of work even though you don't agree with that person's views. And it's even ok to dislike that person without getting so emotionally invested into aggressively hating that person.
You make a VERY good point. People tolerate the worst behaviour and views if it's from their family and friends. But they want to cancel people from the face of the earth they never spoke to. They are afraid, lazy, hypocritical and deep inside they are ashamed.
Great video as always, long but worth the watch! Controversy aside, this is the band that got me into black metal, and especially those early albums will always be legendary to me. Btw what is the band on the shirt?
In Norse mythology, the Hliðskjálf (literally meaning the high seat with an expansive view) allowed Odin to see into all realms as well as listen to them.
Hlið means something like a gap and skjalf is a noun related to the verb skjalfa which means to quake or tremor. So together it's gap-tremor. I've seen websites define it as you have, as "high seat with an expansive view" but I have no clue where this comes from since the literal word means gap-tremor. No body really knows what hliðskjalf is supposed to refer to exactly but it definitely doesn't mean "high seat with an expansive view". Be very careful about what you read on Norse mythology and old Norse online. There's loads of bull crap out there. I'm not dogging you. I just so happened to know a bit about this so figured I'd share.
I think it says a lot about you as a youtuber that despite knowing all about burzum already, I was still interested to click on this and I paid attention through the entire thing. Another great video man, cheers!
Is it correct to say that, given the obvious differences, Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa is the Burzum of baroque music and Ezra Pound is the Burzum of poetry?
@@THICCTHICCTHICCThat's why I've said "given the obvious differences". I just founded this tag "the Burzum of X" fun, as Burzum is quite possibly the most iconic/popular example of "good art bad artist". My sentence is just a humorous association of ideas.
The background album in this video is Haxan Cloak Excavation. Great video by the way. P.S. Really wish he released another album instead of all these film scores.
My favourite band/project ever. Found them as a young teen like everyone else getting into black metal, but with age I’ve found more enjoyment in the ambient albums. Especially Thulean Mysteries. Like you mention he has a way through repetition and unconventional song structures to create soundscapes that are entrancing and almost like a real world magic.
Minor nitpick but Euronymous actually didn’t use dead’s suicide photo for Dawn of the black hearts it was another random person from Brazil I think who made the compilation
That is true ! What I was trying and should of said was even though Euronymous didn’t physically print the bootlegs is that he’s still the reason the photo exists and basically planted the seeds for the bootleg existing
I know you and I had a bit of a disagreement about Varg's beliefs the other day in a certain video's comment section (that's ok; it happens!), but I can push that all aside and say this about Burzum: I really think the simplicity of a lot of Burzum albums is honestly its greatest appeal. Varg knew how to write some catchy keyboard hooks that could get stuck in your head for days (see: Dunkelheit). And the "Burzumic" influence in black metal continues on to the present day with projects like Hemodr and Faidra really taking musical influence from Filosofem and the album preceding it.
I don't think Emperor tends to be overlooked, they're a pretty legendary band. I wish we had more than one album in the style of their first In The Nightside Eclipse. That album was their best imo.
I really enjoyed this video of yours, as always. This may seem a bit nitpicky by me, but "Rundgang Um Die Transzendentale Säule Der Singularität" is German and your translation isn't wrong, but you could also interprete it as "Touring/going around the transcendental pillar of singularity".
Wikipedia gives the translation: Circumambulation of the Transcendental Columns of Singularity I've never heard "Circumambulation" before, but it sounds cool as fuck ;D
Something I find interesting about Fantoft is it's now the most profitable stave church in Norway. I went last year and got engaged there! We paid to go into the church. It’s a beautiful building, and honestly, I think Varg did them a favour.
I used to be one of those guys that hated Burzum despite never even listening to a single song because of what Varg did. But once I decided to give Filosofem a listen just to hear what the fuss was about I immediately shut my mouth because I was just so taken in with how engaging and hypnotic it was, and after checking out his other albums Burzum immediately became one of my favorites.
I adore all 13 Burzum albums. The debut is what got me into Black Metal as a whole, blew my mind and made me a fan for life. Then Hvis Lyset Tar Os cemented my love for the genre so much deeper. All of his ambient/folk albums opened my mind in other ways, to appreciating the beauty in subtle and simplistic music. His heavier stuff and his ambient stuff together for me makes such a beautiful, sorrowful atmosphere that takes me away to a different world every time I listen to them. Still to this day when I have free time I get the urge to just listen to all 13 Burzum albums back to back (though in varying order) while I just let my mind wonder. Usually play a simple game like Minecraft or some RPG just to have something to do with my hands/eyes while I listen and get lost in the world of Burzum. Varg may not be a "good" guy and I may not agree with a lot of what he says, but I respect his art and respect that he has views he's passionate about and mean something to him, which reflects in his music.
Im brazillian, i like burzum. Before i hated varg, varg hated me and all people i know, and i can seperate art from the artist BUT i will never support IN ANY WAY him. When he said on twitter that all brazillians are UNDERMENCH or whatever, a bunch of brazillian metalheads started sending him a pic of a black guy named vampeta naked ( aka vampetaço) and he got mad and closed his account. I know that for most of you guys this is just bullshit chud shit, but here in brazil even a mayhem concert was cancelled due to all the allegations of racism and shit, and i dont like to be like "oh u see thats not actual racism or whatever is just edgy" if that posture goes against my fucking existance, even tho i like mayhem. Anyway, great video as allways, i really fucking love ur channel. SALVE BRAZILEIRADA Q TA LENDO
lol funny thing is that Brazil, along with Mexico, India and the Philippines have some of the highest levels of white supremacy and natsoc posting haha
The Ambient style of music he was essentially making, especially in prison, was pure Dungeon Synth. There's a whole genre with that kind of style, medieval folky stuff.
it bothers you cause you are used to seeing them as real life. in reality no one can say you what to say, you can go out and talk about it and listen the musc publicly etc. the stupid platforms of some rich programmers arent reality. remember when people didnt even put their names in there. relax, its a good thing if social media become crap, then maybe a few ppl will step outside at last xd
@@therecalcitrantseditionist3613 imagine a CD can turns you into someone else, crazy uh ! We all have a connexion to internet and therefore can google the name. We can make our mind for ourselves, and choose to buy it or not.
I quite liked the Self-titled album with My Journey to the Stars also being my favorite song. You also had a very similar take as me on his self-defense situation. I do kind of believe him in saying it was self-defense but the situation was strange. He did seem pro-active in his self defense rather than reactive which is why he got into trouble. But yea people always fail to mention how hated Euronomous was and I still partially blame him for what happened with dead, then the pictures and skull fragments really make me dislike him. I actually like the ambient and folk albums as well. I think his music has great atmosphere being calming and simplistic while also being simple. Just like his black metal albums as well. And I also really like Fallen and Umskiptar a lot as well. For the end I’m not sure that his influence can ever diminish because of how prominent and well written his music is. His music is legendary and it’s like trying to talk about heavy metal without Black Sabbath or pop without Michael Jackson. His music has influenced a ton of bands and I’ve seen DSBM bands point to Key to the Gate as the first DSBM song ever made. I think regardless of how you see his views, he has to be at least viewed as a great black metal artist in how influential he is. Im unsure but in the end his music will live on even after he’s gone in my opinion.
I think Varg once said that War is a tribute for Bathory, because Bathory was one of his favorite bands and one of the biggest inspiration at the time.
Hah, few months ago when I was editing a documentary video concerning Yugoslav Wars in my hometown I used Rundtgåing av den transcendentale egenhetens støtte as a background track and it fit it perfectly.
There's another track you can find on youtube that Varg uploaded to his old channel entitled "Back to the Shadows". He described it as the "last black metal track" he would do. It went up around 2013 after Umskiptar, and other channels have uploaded it since then. Worth a listen.
Wyatt has been making great vids for years now, keep it up! Also, every day you look more like Brandon Herrera the AK Guy hahahah, im going to message him to encourage a crossover vid :)
He also became more popular because Gucci mane sampled a burzum song. So I’m down here in Miami and a kid with a Gucci mane or lil Wayne shirt will be chilling with a edge teen that has a burzum or dark throne shirt. Lol 😅 they probably don’t know a single song but it’s funny to see it.
I always considered Burzum as the most important Black Metal act along with Mayhem and Thorns, these 3 bands invented what Black Metal today is musically. Ideologically, to me, it doesn't really matter, but Bathory has contributed just to that and the overall sound/production side of things. Blackthorn and Euronymous however developed a distinct style which Varg reworked into a whole different thing, with songs like My Journey To The Stars, Key To The Gate, the vocals lay ground to Depressive side of Black Metal, and later he even pioneered Atmospheric Black Metal. I think, despite everything(history, ideologies...), Varg is THE most important musician for Black Metal. The credit always goes to wrong people for some reason.
I'm Norwegian. Yes, I enjoyed your attempts at Norwegian. And yes, I respect you for attempting it :P Especially Dauði Baldrs. Thank you for an amazing video, done exceptionally well in all aspects, really.