Band: Burzum
Title: Fallen
Label: Byelobog
Distribution: Plastic Head Distribution / Bertus
Release date: March 7th 2011
Review: CD

One of the mostly contested persons within the Black Metal scene must be Kristian ‘Varg’ Vikernes aka Count Greifi Grishnackh – some of his ‘highlights’: an era of fascist ideologies, being member of cult-band Old Funeral (other members later joined or formed, for example, Hades (Almighty), Borknagar or Immortal!), burning down some ancient and pitoresque churches or, last but not least, the (ritual) assassination of his friend and colleague Euronymous of Mayhem-fame. There are hundreds of articles available in relation to these subjects, so I won’t expose.
At that time, I was in touch with those guys. It was a turbulent period in Scandinavia (and further), with murders, pyromania, the promotion of hard drugs and more stuff that couldn’t be accepted by the rest of the world. Musically seen, both the Swedish and Norwegian scene were extremely influential and inspirational, yet at the same time the scene’s inner circles weren’t that sweet. And one day Janto (back then in Scavenger, later in the mighty Hades) informed me about the murder on Euronymous, I knew it would be disastrous for Black Metal in general. Censorship, intolerability, ‘parental advisory’ when it came to lyrics, intense control on live performances and releases and so on and so on. Narrow-mindedness meeting stupidity. No further comment…

The story of Burzum is undeniably chained to higher mentioned things. The one-man band started as Underground Black-project (with several orgiastically satisfying recordings during the first part of the nineties), during imprisonment (as from the second part of the nineties) Burzum’s style changed into a kind of Ambient (reason: the Count couldn’t record electronically), and now the blackish roots have come back.
There was an enormous difference between all former releases, even though extremely characteristically and specifically Burzum-ish. Personally I do like ALL material before the jail sentence – Filosofem is, without any doubt, one of my all-time preferred recordings ever!
Last year, Burzum sort of returned with Belus, which introduced a return to the roots. There were enormously huge differences with the early years, yet again Count Grishnackh creates such a specific material – it were another Burzum (again), but it were Burzum for sure.

The new album Fallen continues the direction started with Belus. Maybe there’s some more variation and more progression within the song structures, yet Belus opened a gate Fallen is passing through right now. The comparison has to do as well with a certain back-to-the-roots mentality. I mean that I cannot ignore the influences from Det Som Engang Var or the Aske-EP (which was re-released afterwards as bonus on the self-called debut’s re-issue in 1995). And on top of it, the album is more diverse than Belus.
This variation goes for both vocals and instruments. Count Grishnackh had a specific, characterising blackened throat in the beginning, yet throughout the years it evolved, I mean that he used / uses other vocal timbres as well. This goes for different blackened timbres, yet for the melodic voices as well. In the past, ‘clean’ vocals were pretty unusual for Burzum, but Belus contained more melodic vocals than on all former recordings together, I guess. And in Fallen’s case this exploration goes on.
Many older fans aren’t that pleased with this new vocal variation, and I do need to admit I’m not that happy with this evolution either. Sometimes it fits, sometimes it stinks. Nevertheless this is a personal opinion.
The pretty lengthy compositions are, as mentioned before, comparable to the earliest years and the new approach. After a short intro (Fra Verdenstreet), Jeg Faller brings a true nineties-epic, fast and mesmerizing, that typical style Burzum once created, and which gets copied all the time by bands all over the world, yet never as successful as Burzum. This track, however, consists of different parts (like almost all songs, by the way), among which the experiments from Belus. Slightly progressive or atmospheric intermezzos, with spoken and clean voices, it’s a struggle. Valen is comparable, but this song sounds more epic and melancholic than Jeg Faller. It comes with those typical monotonous burzumesque riffing – oh so beautiful – hypnotic, bleak and grim. Next track, Vanvidd, is a fast demon’s spell, maybe the most Burzum (debut)-oriented song (dissect and enjoy!), at least when it comes to the guitar and bass riffs, yet again with many of those ‘softer’, somewhat harping voice. Some of the heaviest parts of the album are within this specific song as well, and those pieces are jummie! Enhver Til Sitt is the most funereal track, and the nihilistic and doomish approach gives this song a mostly uncomfortable feeling. Budstikken unfortunately is a boring mistake. Fallen ends with an outro, Til Hel Og Tilbake Igjen, a ritualistic and shamanistic piece, eventually closing in silence.

I’m not sure what to think about this new album. At the one hand, it does contain those elements that made Burzum and Det Som Engang Var cult-recordings. Yet at the other hand, there are three difficulties: 1) the songs sound too simple from time to time, 2) those clean vocals, and 3) the few semi-renewing intermezzos. The pros are legio: the Grieghallen-sound (wonderful), the back-to-the-roots-spirit, tracks like Enhver …, Jeg Faller or Vanvidd, even the artwork is great…

75/100

Ivan Tibos.