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.
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
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.
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 RUclips 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 RUclips channel was the final straw and I
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 👍
@@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
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).
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 .
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.
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.
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!!!🤘
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
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 😊
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.
“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.
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.
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
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.
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!
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
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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 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 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 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.
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.
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
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.
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 :)
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.
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.
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
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.
Varg was an interesting guy. Interviews from Abbath and Atilla kind of point in the direction that he actually was a very good guy prior to the 90s. Abbath mentioned how he would wear death t shirts which opposed his takes on death metal later on, and Atilla also mentioned how him and Euronymous used to live together briefly. Weird dude. Good music.
I believe that him and Fenriz being really good buddies fed their ideologies. They had the exact same view on a lot of things and they created music to fit it. FUCK TRENDS. they all like death metal, liars haha
I was wondering if the general backlash against the burning of the Fantoft Stave Church is also due to the fact that that church was an old monument (I think it was built around the XII century), therefore something meaningful for the cultural history of Norway.
This is possibly one of your best videos so far imo. It's like you read my mind when talking about Varg. people who feel the need to make a big deal constantly calling out a racist old man who wants to be left alone aren't solving any problems, just pointing fingers and making accusations for no real reason but to boost their own ego I think your takes on Euronymous were pretty accurate too, because a lot of people who idolize his legacy often downplay his misdeeds by saying "he was just a young man, we all did crazy things at that age" ...which is an argument silly enough that it'd be futile to point out the absurdity of. I think they're both very comparable figures at the end of the day: bad people who made good music
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 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.
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 find Varg fascinating and that goes for the music, mostly ambient releases, and his personality. Although i dont agree with most of his actions in real life and his visions of the world, its still interesting point of his life. I dont like black metal at all, but Burzum is so strange entity, that got me to listen to such music, even if only as an experiement. And thanks for very informative vid!
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.
Just want to be a bit nerd here. The Mayhem's Sarpborg gig was recorded in 1990 but the bootleg came out in 1995. Yes, Euro was going to use the pictures but obvious reasons he couldn't. He did send a foto to his penpal who made the first press of bootleg. I myself had three different re-pressings of the bootleg and when I sold them it was a bit work to find out what were the versions.
This is again a great vid. nothing left out. good details.... Yet id like to point out that just a day ago you were commenting in the latest metal meltdown vid that just talking about him and crediting him towards the far right gives him unnessecary exposue... and yet here we are giving him exposure right afterwards. I love both of yall nonetheless but ehm... yea i dont know what my point is but im sure yall know what i mean. At least you acknowledge that yourself in the end.
Yeah I get what you’re saying and as I stated towards the end of the video I am a bit of a hypocrite. While you can call me guilty for giving the project attention I still want to express how I think people who hate Burzum make him relevant even when Varg doesn’t do any sort of marketing for the project. I was planning for weeks to do this video so it just so happened his stuff got recommended on my feed. Personally I think he just needs to discuss Burzum differently is all. Consistently making a video about Burzum multiple times and calling Varg a neo Nazis every sentence isn’t helping what he’s trying to accomplish. Again I get why he hates Varg and he has every right to but it’s kinda a little sad to see someone do the same thing and expect different results.
@@wyattxhim Agreed. I prefer your approach too. And its definitly the case that those who hate him do his marketing for him just as much as those who like his art. Its a loose loose situation kinda and it will always be like that. Even Vargs eventual death will probably just propell him even further. Nothing can/ will change that. Hes a phenomenon, good and horrible.
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.
Varg didn't want to tag his music “Black Metal” because he claimed that Burzum had nothing to do with the “traitors” of the Norwegian scene and he didn't wanted to fall in the same place as them, but it will never change the fact that he is one of the pioneers for that genre. The murd4r of Euronymous made him the objective of all the hatred in the Black Metal scene as a whole for obvious reasons. Plus, he even claimed that Burzum has never been a Metal project and that his music is just “Scaldic music” (whatever that means). He has stated many different things contradicting himself a million times, so, what he says doesn't really matter at all tbh.
from what I understand, "scaldic music" had something to do with "keeping it aryan". don't quote me on that though, I'm not sure of this. i read it off encyclopedia metallum
Just a little remark: The song titles of the Filosofem album are actually in german, not norwegian. But otherwise I really enjoyed your video, because it was quite in depth and I did learn a lot. Thanks!
Uruk-Hai was formerly named Kalashnikov, which also featured the drummer who went to join Ulver. Between Old Funeral and the founding of Burzum, he had a project with Abbath called Satanel, though nothing was recorded. It's wrong to say he recorded nothing with Old Funeral. He played guitar on the 'Devoured Carcass' EP from '91
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
Lets find out
Loooool
Exactly he says that in the beginning lol
😂😂😂hell yeah 💯 I miss ol varg lol
He's still on the internet, hard to find
A lot of galaxy brains in here
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.
Midnight Odyssey close 2nd for me.
After reading this, please try listening to a German black metal musician called Grausamkiet
@@canadiansoviet ah yes
What Burzum would sound like if Varg was on heroin.
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.
@@PalaceMidasMusictoo damn good. Dude was ahead of his time. He hates himself for being that damn good. 🤣
Not going to lie the fact that he said he would rather go to prison than hang out with metalheads is so damn funny 🤣
can you blame him? lmao
I understand him
Yet his market he makes a living off is what?? Metal. You idiots.
Most of them are losers and flag lovers
cant blame him, the typical common metalhead nowadays are stupid insufferable morons.
Burzum claiming it’s just heavy metal is like lemmy always claiming Motörhead is just a rock n roll band.
Sounds about right.
Well I mean except for like maybe the first album, Burzum isn't even real black metal.
Burzum literally has ambient drones through all his shit
A "punk band with a metal sound"
Motorhead is a rock n roll band.
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.
Stalinists are edgelords anyway
@@eliasmg9144real edgelord.😊
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
"Hvis lyset tar oss" translates to "If the light takes us". "Until the light takes us" is the name of a documentary about Black Metal.
Damn google translate lied to me a lot with these translations
We know
Thanks for clarifying that Euranymous wasn't a saint for these die hard euranymous stans
He was a flag minus the L
He was a very sad little man if you piece together the things he said and did.
Sociopath wouldn't be a stretch.
When a psychopath and a sociopath-narcissist collide its never pretty
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.
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 RUclips 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 RUclips channel was the final straw and I
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 👍
I think "Det som engang var" is his best album but they are all great in their own way
Key to gate was the first burzum song I heard had no idea it was burzum was pretty sik on first listen and still is
@@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
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).
I should venture out more on dungeon synth. It's great
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 .
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.
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.
Well said.
ditto
I like him both musically and as a person
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.
@@pickledpeckers7789it's ok to be a poser
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!!!🤘
🥔
the entire album is a masterpiece, what do you mean? Haha.
"If history disgusts you, then history is correct." Nice one man. You have a way of cracking through in random places that is very Zen.
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
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 😊
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.
“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.
My fav album of all time from Burzum . It's funny how many people never really cite this album as a fav or gets over looked.
@Bolion23 Maybe. But listen to Burzum's Uruk-Hai demo from 1989 and you can see where he was headed.
Det Som En Gang Var is by far my favorite black metal song of all time. Absolutely haunting!
Very diplomatic and thoughtful approach. Well done, Wyatt.
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.
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
Thulêan Mysteries is one of my favorite Burzum albums. There’s something about that ambient album that stands out from all the others.
Agreed, I think it’s incredible.
Maturity, something that BM nostalgia ‘’fans’’ can’t get.
All genius but true
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.
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!
great mini-doc bro! thanks for posting and putting together.
I love Filosofem so much. First time hearing an extreme metal song in my own native language. I fell in love with the song Jesu Død
Great video!
Always loved burzum listening to his stuff puts me in a spiritual place 🤘💥great vid 👍
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
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.
Great video! Would add that he wrote some lyrics for Darkthrone when he was in prison.
Also, Belus is amazing!
Cheers from Bergen, Norway
There were 665 comments on this video. I have nothing of value to say but I just wanted to make comment number 666.
🤘
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?
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.
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.
Exactly. Varg played the most f'd up joke in all of metal. I bet he still chuckles about it
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.
There is nothing controversial about Varg's views. Perhaps you live in another reality.
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.
They want to show they're good boys and girls. They can act virtuous without having to take any risks socially.
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.
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
You forgot to mention The Depths of Darkness. Maybe understandably, but still. I love your channel, man. Thank you for this video.
Great video, as always! Nice reference on the "Let's find out" lol
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 love the cover art on Fallen, beautiful.
Great job!
Can you do a video on grausamkeit or any other projects of andreas bettinger? That would be amazing.
That would be great indeed!
Yeessss
thiss
Agreed
The Titles on Filosofem are actually all in german
Great video as always :-)
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 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.
My favorite band ever. What a prodigy. I can’t believe a teenager composed all aspects and recorded those tracks himself. Truly genius.
Totally agree
Subscribed. Great video, was just looking up burzum discography
Great video, thanks very much, gonna have a Burzum weekend now.
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.
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.
burzum's ambient stuff is just so good
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
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.
Thank you for nice video. Enjoyed it.
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 :)
This video is an early Christmas present, thank you!
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.
A wave goodbye to Black Metal
Will never forget the first time I heard the debut. Immediately enthralled!
Nice Aspid record btw.
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.
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
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?
No
There's basically no similarities between Ezra Pound and Burzum aside from racism lol
@@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.
I did a charcoal reproduction of the first album cover for a high school art project. It remained displayed for years.
Varg was an interesting guy. Interviews from Abbath and Atilla kind of point in the direction that he actually was a very good guy prior to the 90s. Abbath mentioned how he would wear death t shirts which opposed his takes on death metal later on, and Atilla also mentioned how him and Euronymous used to live together briefly.
Weird dude. Good music.
I always found it hilarious that his real name is Kristian.
I believe that him and Fenriz being really good buddies fed their ideologies. They had the exact same view on a lot of things and they created music to fit it. FUCK TRENDS. they all like death metal, liars haha
@@m.infernal fenriz was probably a lot less extreme than varg. Varg probably wasn’t even til prison, he wore Von shirts all the time
An "explaining Darkthrone" would be cool
I was wondering if the general backlash against the burning of the Fantoft Stave Church is also due to the fact that that church was an old monument (I think it was built around the XII century), therefore something meaningful for the cultural history of Norway.
Your best pronunciations was for the albums "Fallen" and "Ways of Yore", those two were spot on
Det som engang var is also my favorite and was my first album I bought from Burzum.
This is possibly one of your best videos so far imo. It's like you read my mind when talking about Varg. people who feel the need to make a big deal constantly calling out a racist old man who wants to be left alone aren't solving any problems, just pointing fingers and making accusations for no real reason but to boost their own ego
I think your takes on Euronymous were pretty accurate too, because a lot of people who idolize his legacy often downplay his misdeeds by saying "he was just a young man, we all did crazy things at that age" ...which is an argument silly enough that it'd be futile to point out the absurdity of. I think they're both very comparable figures at the end of the day: bad people who made good music
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.
Can’t forget the almighty Darkthrone in importance to the scene I think
@@nw666tubeA Blaze In The Northern Sky is the first Black Metal full-length album, obviously.
Great video as always. You should do an Emperor video as well. A band with a dark past that it tends to be overlooked
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.
@@xenos_n. Their dark past is overlooked, not their music. They are the most successful symphoblack band
@@johnbad1000I love emperor, what’s their dark past? I have literally no idea 🤷♂️
Still can't believe you can get banned from social media just for typing his name or his band name.
Insane uh?
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
@@nikhtzatzi Sorry I’m gay
Also funny that sites like ebay and etsy ban anything with the band name on it. But Amazon doesnt give a shit. Always found that to be funny
@@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.
Fantastic video Wyatt and I agree with you on everything you said at the end
Baldrs legit sounds like runescape music
Off topic but have you considered doing a video sorta along the lines of “Explaining Funeral Doom” or “Explaining Death Doom”?
Varg influences a lot of your one-man black metal bands, which is great!
Old Funeral: the band where the two funny men of black metal once played in
"Det som engang var" is the greatest black metal track, it always project you somewhere else. HLTO is also the Best of Bests.
I often say the antithesis of love is not hate but apathy.
I find Varg fascinating and that goes for the music, mostly ambient releases, and his personality. Although i dont agree with most of his actions in real life and his visions of the world, its still interesting point of his life. I dont like black metal at all, but Burzum is so strange entity, that got me to listen to such music, even if only as an experiement.
And thanks for very informative vid!
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.
Hlidskjalf refers to the throne of Wodan/Odin I think. P.S. I really like this album a lot more than the Daudi Baldrs.
This is correct, and I agree. Although something very primitive in the approach to Daudi Balders I also enjoy.
Yeah you are right ✅️
What's the ambient track playing in the background? Especially when talking about Det Som.
That is the most charming thumbnail I have ever seen
that АСПИД vinyl in the background is a gem!!!
Great video!! 👍. Well said! 👍
Wyatt got that Aspid LP there on the shelf, absolutely based
Just want to be a bit nerd here. The Mayhem's Sarpborg gig was recorded in 1990 but the bootleg came out in 1995. Yes, Euro was going to use the pictures but obvious reasons he couldn't. He did send a foto to his penpal who made the first press of bootleg. I myself had three different re-pressings of the bootleg and when I sold them it was a bit work to find out what were the versions.
This is again a great vid. nothing left out. good details.... Yet id like to point out that just a day ago you were commenting in the latest metal meltdown vid that just talking about him and crediting him towards the far right gives him unnessecary exposue... and yet here we are giving him exposure right afterwards. I love both of yall nonetheless but ehm... yea i dont know what my point is but im sure yall know what i mean. At least you acknowledge that yourself in the end.
Yeah I get what you’re saying and as I stated towards the end of the video I am a bit of a hypocrite. While you can call me guilty for giving the project attention I still want to express how I think people who hate Burzum make him relevant even when Varg doesn’t do any sort of marketing for the project.
I was planning for weeks to do this video so it just so happened his stuff got recommended on my feed. Personally I think he just needs to discuss Burzum differently is all. Consistently making a video about Burzum multiple times and calling Varg a neo Nazis every sentence isn’t helping what he’s trying to accomplish. Again I get why he hates Varg and he has every right to but it’s kinda a little sad to see someone do the same thing and expect different results.
@@wyattxhim Agreed. I prefer your approach too. And its definitly the case that those who hate him do his marketing for him just as much as those who like his art. Its a loose loose situation kinda and it will always be like that. Even Vargs eventual death will probably just propell him even further. Nothing can/ will change that. Hes a phenomenon, good and horrible.
To me...Varg iis not only a Black Metal Singer...but a musician and artist.
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.
Varg didn't want to tag his music “Black Metal” because he claimed that Burzum had nothing to do with the “traitors” of the Norwegian scene and he didn't wanted to fall in the same place as them, but it will never change the fact that he is one of the pioneers for that genre.
The murd4r of Euronymous made him the objective of all the hatred in the Black Metal scene as a whole for obvious reasons.
Plus, he even claimed that Burzum has never been a Metal project and that his music is just “Scaldic music” (whatever that means). He has stated many different things contradicting himself a million times, so, what he says doesn't really matter at all tbh.
Lol so true
But apparently a lot of those guys hated euronymous as well
from what I understand, "scaldic music" had something to do with "keeping it aryan". don't quote me on that though, I'm not sure of this. i read it off encyclopedia metallum
@@tmp1k Necrobutcher wanted to k!ll him too. But it seems it was important for Euronymous to be hated and feared (he only achieved the first tho).
@@conde_bathory easier to be hated than feared. But being feared is key.
Lots of new details in here for me. I love finding out new stuff about the Norwegian bm history.
Just a little remark: The song titles of the Filosofem album are actually in german, not norwegian. But otherwise I really enjoyed your video, because it was quite in depth and I did learn a lot. Thanks!
Man, this Varg guy is such a wacky little fellow ain't he?
Uruk-Hai was formerly named Kalashnikov, which also featured the drummer who went to join Ulver. Between Old Funeral and the founding of Burzum, he had a project with Abbath called Satanel, though nothing was recorded. It's wrong to say he recorded nothing with Old Funeral. He played guitar on the 'Devoured Carcass' EP from '91
Sometimes I feel like I’m going crazy because Belus is one of my favorite albums in the Burzum discography
Please do a explaining video on Sabbat or Bathory. Either band has a worthy discography to talk about and they rarely get much attention on RUclips.
I really like the Baldr album. The ambience just swallows me.
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
Euronymous was in contact with Bull Metal that did it. He was from Colombia and shared some influential (for 2nd wave BM) ultra metal records.