Burzum
Hvis Lyset Tar Oss

LA RECENSIONE

[So: the author of the album reviewed here has expressed and continues to express political positions and has committed (and incites others to commit) actions that DeBaser finds repugnant. However, in the end, we are talking about music: so we still publish the review.
We also clearly state that we have nothing to do with the author of it and that the nickname chosen by him, with the explicit reference to a character responsible for unspeakable crimes against humanity (Adolf Hitler), embarrasses us (but above all disgusts us). /DeBaser]

In this album, released by Misanthropy Records in 1994, Vikernes' musical project reaches great heights, combining poetry and chilling sounds in a practically perfect way, which seem to echo from a distant and archaic past of ancient legends, where the icy wind of modern society has not yet managed to suffocate the ancient heart of a wisdom that has silently accompanied the civilizations of Northern Europe through the troubled centuries of Western history.

The icy, tense, creeping, obsessive, and sick atmosphere evokes dreamlike visions of damned souls, restless specters, witches, dragons, fairies, goblins, lost deities that leave the unreal limbo of their ethereal and fairy-tale existence to burst powerfully into the world of the living, staging among woods and paths, illuminated by distant and faint stars, terrible and fatal processions.

The album opens with "Det Som En Gang Var" (What Once Was), a masterpiece of over 14 minutes that harmonically combines dreamy sounds with the chilling, inhuman, and angry voice of the Count. It is followed by the title track, "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss" (If the Light Takes Us), increasingly obsessive, interspersed with tearing screams that penetrate deep into the soul, and with a riffing that develops throughout its duration.
Then comes "Inn I Slottet Fra Droemmen" (In the Castle of the Dream), another excellent track with a truly obsessive riff that seems to envelop the listener in the icy atmospheres evoked by the texts of Count Grishnack. And finally "Tomhet" (Void), a beautiful instrumental closing track that is distinguished by its relentless melancholic tint and the purity of sound.
Keyboards are important, appearing abundantly throughout the album until reaching their peak in the last song, which is indeed composed entirely from them.

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