Burzum - Belus

[Arctic Sun]

That's what I was getting at.  There's no "narrative" to dissect. 

Zeroing in on a feeling and representing a movement that does the same is more apt.  His albums have all been to that end, and some (including this one) have been a bit further off the mark for comfort.  But I'd also say those keyboard albums were exponentially worse than this, at least when the over-saturation of the scene - which he's largely responsible for, by the way - is taken into account.

All in all I don't think it was marketed as anything special, and it's not.  Maybe there should have been more emphasis on the release acting as a collection of unreleased tracks, which it is.  At the very least there would most likely be less sensationalism and "the sky is falling" type commentary, although the thought that people have to be fed that information in order to keep from acting retarded is...not good.

[Stars Down To Earth]

I find the album to be somewhat of an anachronism, where it would of made much more sense 15 years ago.

You mean when the material was written?

I have a hard time stomaching complaints about the album sounding like a rip-off.  Of what?  Himself?  And then there's the line about messing up some logical order of Burzum material, as if anyone would have intuitively known what came out when without prior knowledge.

No, I don't think he is ripping anyone off, but aesthetically Belus has been done by the aforementioned bands, where as Hvis/Filosofem at the time would of been unique. It is akin to Darwin publishing a book on Natural Selection years after Wallace but still expecting to be praised for his originality.

[Arctic Sun]

Show me any example of Belus being advertised as anything but compilation material.  I could be wrong, but I think you're all over reacting.

At any rate I don't know where all this rage is coming from, or who thought it'd be a great idea to add distortion to those keyboard albums and then probably fill toilet bowls over that.  I just think people are bored, and if that's the case it's obvious.

[Stars Down To Earth]

How is recycling old riffs compilation material?

[nous]

Show me any example of Belus being advertised as anything but compilation material.  I could be wrong, but I think you're all over reacting.

"My ambition with "Belus" is to create something I - and hopefully others too - can listen to for years and years to come without ever growing tired of it, and at the same time to share with my audience the experience of getting to know Belus, as he might have been perceived by the ancient Europeans.
"If I can make you dream when listening to this album, I believe I have done a good job".

[Umbrage]

I only like a few songs from the album. I don't like Belus as much as Burzum's older works but I'm not disappointed either. I already thought Filosofem was only half a good album, I think the Rundgang track is boring and usually skip the second half of the album. I thought it was disappointing when Varg stopped using the high shreeks, I can appreciate the songs on Filosofem but the vocals sound like Ministry. On the other hand I'm not sure how tracks like Daughters of Firmament would have sounded with traditional Varg shreeks but anyway that's just some background info why Belus doesn't disappoint me that much.

On Belus I dislike Glemselens Elv because it's just a boring sugary track. It feels like he tried to translate the same atmosphere as the softers songs on Hlidskjalf into a metal song but it completely fails imo. It's too soft and just boring, like mentioned elsewhere it's just flowery wallpaper. Sverddans is another offender, it sounds like a joke track. This is what I miss most in Belus: a sense of earnestness. Kaimadalthas' Nedstigning is amusing, it's cool hearing Varg sing in a clear voice in this song but it offers nothing of what makes the older works so great. The only tracks that save the album for me are the last two tracks (or one track and one outro, I prefer to see them both as one track) Those, for me at least, at last capture that feeling that I expect from Burzum (having felt that in all his other albums including the ambient ones) A feeling of seriousness. With Belus it feels like the epic has been replaced with pretentiousness, the fact that Varg took some older songs of lesser quality and then present Belus as a great album because of it's subject matter says enough for me. The drama with the title change said too much already.

What I'm really curious about by now is: who wants more? It should be no secret that this album is indeed just a test, a new debut if you will. If this album proves to be (or sell?) successful chances are that mister Vikernes will create more albums. Perhaps he will put more effort in those and not all is lost, or perhaps it will turn into what Darkthrone is now. Time will tell. At the moment I'm reluctant to write off Burzum completely. I just hope he quits trying to make concept albums like he did on the ambient works, it worked then but it fails on Belus and that's sad because he really seemed to want to send out a positive message with this album.

[nous]

On Belus I dislike Glemselens Elv because it's just a boring sugary track. It feels like he tried to translate the same atmosphere as the softers songs on Hlidskjalf into a metal song but it completely fails imo. It's too soft and just boring, like mentioned elsewhere it's just flowery wallpaper.

Sure it is a "soft" track, I agree with you there. But I don't see the soft=sugary connection, and how is it flowery? Really, maybe you forgot that since 1996, nobody in black metal has come up with a comparable riff? (And yes, I'm serious.)

[druidakoda]

I think it's good. It helps being a newcomer and having been waiting for this for one month, not 15 years. Lets just say It's obvious he didn't spend his time inside reading music theory or trying to print his soul into sound.

The introduction is a nice touch I thought, expressing the boredom and monotony of prison. I'm not quite sure how to take Kaimadalthas' Nedstigning and Sverddans though, it sounds like Red Harvest. The rest are pretty much to be expected; a decent extension of the Burzum sound.

[Cargést]

I like Kaimadalthas' Nedstigning.  I don't know why others don't.

[deadjew]

Hey, I just figured out that Den Hvite Guden is the second best Burzum EP, right after Aske.
It all makes sense once you realize that it's a perfectly good reject compilation with Drudkh tracks inserted by the label, in order to convince the kids that if Varg had not been incarcerated, he would have recorded more albums in the vein of the timeless classics, like Abyssic Hate and Wolves in the Throne Room.
So, to break it down, the Den Hvite Guden EP probably looks like this:
1. Belus' Død
2. Keliohesten
3. Sverddans
4. Glemselens Elv
...though frankly, the last one was obviously stolen from a Summoning Oath Bound-era bootleg and re-recorded in a half-assed manner.

[Arctic Sun]

Show me any example of Belus being advertised as anything but compilation material.  I could be wrong, but I think you're all over reacting.

"My ambition with "Belus" is to create something I - and hopefully others too - can listen to for years and years to come without ever growing tired of it, and at the same time to share with my audience the experience of getting to know Belus, as he might have been perceived by the ancient Europeans.
"If I can make you dream when listening to this album, I believe I have done a good job".

Haha, I stand corrected!  But I seem to remember an emphasis that was placed on all the material being from the past, and everything being pieced together from the cutting room floor or whatever.  Maybe I read too much into it.  

Anyway, the album is listenable, but it never had that age old "this must be the heaviest shit we've ever done" treatment, so I don't feel cheated or anything.  At the very worst I'd analyze the event as people hoping for something - especially considering those terrible ambient albums - and then Varg releasing older material because it was on hand.  The premise seemed noble, but what else can you say unless you're bored and angry or whatever?

[Sammaellofi]

Yeah at least no one hyped it as "This is Det Som Engang Var meets the ambient albums and a  complete return to form" like it would have been with anyone else at the helm.


So far the reviews make it look like Burzum's version of Panzerfaust.

[Arctic Sun]

Well I mean there's no sense in giving the album a nod, like as if it's acceptable for bad albums coming in print.  But on the other hand it was never advertised to be anything besides demo material - and I don't recall there being any advertisements anyhow - so it's difficult to read all kinds of hard-hitting reviews of something that apparently was never intended to be monumental in the first place.

Just consider perspective while you're listening, is all I'm saying.  No free passes, but no whining for no reason either.  Something to chew on if you've got time.

[scourge]

As with many things, we can have more or we can have better. It doesn't seem to be the case with metal that both happen together. When abundance is on the rise, quality dies out. Perhaps for metal at this stage it is better if no albums are recorded than if only okay albums are released.

[Nimbostratus]

On Belus I dislike Glemselens Elv because it's just a boring sugary track. It feels like he tried to translate the same atmosphere as the softers songs on Hlidskjalf into a metal song but it completely fails imo. [,,,]

 Kaimadalthas' Nedstigning is amusing, it's cool hearing Varg sing in a clear voice in this song but it offers nothing of what makes the older works so great.

Glemselens Elv has unity and development, it doesn't matter if it is too soft.

Kaimadalthas Nedstingning has non-cliché riffing actually, I won't say that it is "amusing" but shining in a sense that it is not afraid of showing a brighter face of black-metal.

I like Keliohesten because the melody is very solemn, and the variations on it reminds me to Hvis Lysset Tar Oss, the song, altough obviously not that good.