Burzum (Uruk-Hai)
Blast From The Ancient Past

And here we are at the Ark of the Covenant of black metal (or if someone prefers, the Spear of Longinus).

The debut work of Kristian Vikernes (who soon changed his legal name to "Varg", "Wolf", considering the first too Christian), a figure sadly famous for his alleged far-right sympathies, for having burned several stavkirker with the apparent goal of dechristianizing the once pagan land, and especially for the controversial issue of the murder of Euronymous, frontman of Mayhem.

To set the record straight, and for those who don't know, "Uruk-Hai" recalls the name of a race of orcs in the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, and Vikernes, who had not yet founded the Burzum project (Darkness, in the same language), and who at that time loved to act under the pseudonym "Count Grishnackh", realized his first solo project with this monicker.

A little opera in six acts, of pure raw black, unadorned, extremely rough, contaminated in some parts by that dark-ambient that would become its driving force in the future; six tracks almost indistinguishable from each other, that leave no moment's respite, without titles, as if they had them, they could be "Ea, Lord of the Depths" or "Feeble Screams from Forest Unknown", indicating the first, unsettling resemblance to the landmark tracks of subsequent, ruthless releases under the name "Aske" or "Burzum": animalistic and painfully intense screaming, almost echoing over the unsophisticated guitar line, drum machine and guitar creating a tight and hellish rhythm, rich in pounding and disharmonic repetitiveness, bordering on hypnosis.

The entry of track 01 stands out, with its screeching and almost frightening organ (?), 03, with its opening that recalls "Rundgang um die transzendentale Säule der Singularität" of "Filosofem", 05, with its heavy and dense progress (undoubtedly the best realization of the album), 06, an excellent synthesis of 03 and 05, only to then lead to an absurd synth solo at which one cannot help but smile.

Worth noting, beyond the absolutely terrible audio quality, is the absence of any lengthy black prolixity, no "The Frost Frozen Moon Shines Above the Pale Mighty Trees of Dark Norwegian Northern Forests at Millennium Midnight" lasting fourteen and a half minutes.

Without a doubt not a fundamental chapter in the Burzum saga, but interesting to listen to in the (not futile) attempt to identify the germs and grains of sand that would become the gigantic pearl Vikernes has represented for music up to today.

Album rating: 3.5.