Belus (album)

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Belus
Studio album from Burzum

Publication
(s)

March 8, 2010

Label (s) Byelobog Productions, Back on Black

Format (s)

CD, double LP

Genre (s)

Metal

Title (number)

8th

occupation
chronology
Hliðskjálf
(1999) 		Belus Fall
(2011)

Belus is the seventh album from the Norwegian music project Burzum . It is thematically from the Germanic myth about the death of the god Balder , who here bears the name Belus.

History of origin

After the album Hliðskjálf , Varg Vikernes was no longer active with Burzum. After he had distanced himself from Black Metal in the 1990s and called it “ nigger music ”, he announced in 2005 that if he were to record further albums after his release, these would stylistically resemble the old releases, since he was not in the He said that he was able to make music that didn't sound “Burzumisch”. However, he again distinguished himself from today's black metal scene, which in his eyes had nothing to do with Burzum or the early Norwegian scene, and stated that he saw no reason to categorize the album as black metal; for him it was metal, and if he had to classify it he would label it heavy metal or maybe thrash metal ; the song of Sverddans can be assigned to Thrash Metal anyway.

On May 24, 2009, Vikernes was released on parole. Previously he announced that he would continue to create music; The nine titles should include two unpublished pieces from Burzum's early days. The new album should initially be called Den hvite guden ("The White God"); After he was accused of glorifying racist ideologies with the title , he renamed the album Belus , which is said to be the Indo-European name for Balder , who is known as "the white god" because he is a solar deity and was pale because of his stay in the realm of the dead . In addition to Balder, Vikernes also identified Apollon , Belenus , Belus , Bragi , Byelobog , Jarilo and other pagan gods of light with the “white god” . Vikernes, however, is still committed to racism. At the same time, he announced that in addition to the nine Metal tracks already mentioned, there would be an ambient intro and out on the album ; the lyrics should be in Norwegian , with French and Russian translations possibly appearing on the website before the album is released. The release was announced for March 2010 via Byelobog Productions. Although the name of the label is the same as the original title of the album, ironically there was no discussion about it.

Regarding the music style, Vikernes wrote that he would not try to copy and reproduce the style of the old albums in order to satisfy others, but that the music should still be comparable to the old Burzum albums, especially with Hvis lyset tar oss and the atmosphere of Filosofem , whose ambient parts he'll leave out. Originally an ambient piece was planned, but it didn't work as he wanted, which is why he left it. As on all albums except Hvis lyset tar oss , it will feature old, unpublished Burzum titles; on the album the original Uruk Hai title from 1988/89 will be found, the title and text of which he will adapt to the concept, however, as well as the metal version of Dauði Baldrs from 1993. Dauði Baldrs was also a concept album for the light god Balder ; while this only refers to the myth up to and including Ragnarök , Belus thematizes the entire myth.

As inspiration, Vikernes gives fairy tales and myths, classical and traditional music, memories of the past and nature. His musical roots were not in rock 'n' roll or metal, but mainly in classical music, balalaika - and underground - House -music. He likes it when music is hypnotizing, almost ritual, for which one needs repetitions and alternating themes.

Like its predecessors, the album was recorded in Eirik "Pytten" Hundvin's Grieghallen Lydstudio. In contrast to the debut Burzum , it is a digital recording. The album was produced by Pytten and Varg Vikernes and mixed by Davide Pertolini and Vikernes. The mastering was done by Tim Turan in Studio Turan Audio.

When asked about his debt to the Norwegian government for multiple church arson, Vikernes replied that not a penny of the proceeds would be used to settle these debts. Byelobog Productions announced that the proceeds will be used to support the victims of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti .

The album was released on March 8, 2010 as a CD version by Byelobog Productions and as a double LP on white vinyl by Back on Black.

Track list

Music and lyrics by Varg Vikernes.

  1. Leukes renkespill (introduksjon) (Eng . The intrigues of Leuke (introduction) ) - 0:33
  2. Belus' død (Eng. The Death of Belus ) - 6:23
  3. Glemselens elv ( Eng . The river of forgetfulness ) - 11:54
  4. Kaimadalthas' nedstigning ( Eng . The return of Kaimadalthas ) - 6:43
  5. Sverddans (German sword dance ) - 2:27
  6. Keliohesten ( Eng . Kelio's horse ) - 5:45
  7. Morgenrøde (German awakening ) - 8:54
  8. Belus' tilbakekomst (konklusjon) (Eng . The Return of Belus (The End) ) - 9:37

Music style and lyrics

Musically, Belus ties in with the style of old Burzum albums, just like all other releases, repetitions can be found as a style element. The album retains the raw sound, but has a better production and a more modern sound than the old releases and has influences from the ambience of the two electronic predecessors. Vikernes had announced a musical style similar to that of the albums Hvis lyset tar oss and Filosofem . According to his announcement that they will leave out their ambient parts, Vikernes does not use a keyboard, but “concentrates entirely on the typical ingredients of Norwegian Black Metal”. The style, instrumentation, production and composition are also referred to in reviews as a direct continuation of these albums. According to Vikernes' old age of some of the compositions, the music is more chaotic according to Travis of Diabolical Conquest and reminds him of the first two albums Burzum and Det som engang var , but is closer to the influences from the 1980s than others Burzum publications.

Vikernes' vocals are no longer as shrill as the desperate high-pitched screeches of earlier albums and are contrasted by muted hum. He also uses clear vocals and spoken passages. Vikernes uses little bass and limits the drums to simple structures.

The texts are all in Norwegian and, with the exception of the Kehrreim recited in pair rhymes in Sverddans, all have a cross rhyme structure, on the official Burzum page you can find German , French, Italian and Russian translations; Upon request, Spanish , Greek , Lithuanian , Dutch , Serbian and English followed on March 18, 2010 . Portuguese and Catalan translations followed on April 28th . According to a report on the website metal.de , the German translation of the texts reads "surprisingly terrible, but you can only find a political message in them with a lot of imagination and even more malicious intent."

The album deals with the story of the death of the god of light Belus, his journey through the realm of the dead and his return to the world. According to Varg Vikernes, Belus is neither a religious nor an anti-religious nor a political album; the songs are supposed to be an entertaining story about Belus. In his opinion, this story made a great contribution to the development of Europe and represents one of the oldest roots of the cultural heritage of Europeans. According to Varg Vikernes, the meaning of the texts should only follow the interpretation of the listeners :

"You know, I really think it is best if each and every one of those who read the texts are allowed to make up an opinion of their own, or if they don't want to have an opinion, be allowed to enjoy it without feeling that I try to force some "true" meaning of the lyrics down their throats. Art should be perceived as subjectively as possible, and if anyone wants to see something in "Belus" that I had not planned that is fine. "

"You know, I really think it's best if everyone who reads the lyrics is allowed to form their own opinion, or if they don't want to, can enjoy the album without feeling that I am giving them any ' wants to instill the true meaning of the texts. Art should be perceived as subjectively as possible and if someone finds something in 'Belus' that was not planned, then that's fine. "

- Varg Vikernes : Interview with Metal-Rules.com

The introduction Leukes renkespill (Introduksjon) is reminiscent of Dauði Baldrs and Decrepitude II . The title is instrumental, but Vikernes gave the four verses “Et tordønn ​​kaster ned staven, / slår ormen i hodet med stein, / reiser med lyn ned i haven; / han finner i eiken en tein. ” ( “ A clap of thunder hits the walking stick, / hits the head of the worm with a stone, / hits the garden like lightning; / he finds the branch of an oak. ” ). Leuke refers to Loki, whom Vikernes also identified with the Greek Hephaestus and the Roman Vulcanus , the respective gods of fire and the blacksmith or handicraft. The title refers to Loki's ruse, through which Balder is shot by his blind brother Höðr with a mistletoe. The sound of this introduction, which consists of the blows of a hammer on an anvil, is carried over into the first real song Belus' død and even continues into the third. Belus' død and Glemselens elv are slow pieces with a typical Burzum guitar sound.

Belus' død is a slow track with doomy black metal riffs and reminded several reviewers of Jesu død from the album Filosofem , for V.ic V.icious from A-Blaze magazine it is "basically the metallic version of" Dauði Baldrs "on the ambient album of the same name". The text is about a magician who cuts a tree "in peaceful autumn" and removes its heart. The leaves of the oak fall to the ground, the magician calls on the spirits and sings his spells.

Glemselens elv is typical of Burzum with its length, slowness and monotony and creates a typical melancholy atmosphere. Vikernes repeats an identical riff over sluggish bass and drum runs with occasional guitar solos and an "evocative voice", whereby Vikernes croak and "humming" clear vocals often start at the same time. The river of forgetfulness is Gjöll , the river on the edge of the underworld. The text describes Balder's burial at sea, "[w] while the sun and the moon die" and "[the] summer light disappears, [...] winter and autumn win again" (an allusion to the solstices with which Balder's death is personified the sun). Balder is referred to as the oak spirit who is put in a boat and sent to the underworld. Balder announces that he will return “[if the winter spirits are weak”) .

In the much more aggressive Kaimadalthas' nedstigning , which is reminiscent of Inn i slottet fra drømmen , Vikernes picks up on more traditional Black Metal riffing and also uses clear, almost spoken vocals and spoken passages that overlap. The guitars are used in varied ways to create different moods. With Kaimadalthas Heimdall is meant. The text describes the underworld. Between the gutturally performed stanzas, Vikernes repeats the spoken sentence over and over again: “Jeg reiser til mørkets dyp der alt er dødt.” ( “I travel to the darkest depths, where everything is dead” ), which is later sung with the clearly sung Verse “Jeg reiser til Kelio.” ( “I'm going to Kelio.” , Which means Hel) superimposed.

The primitive, aggressive piece by Sverddans is strongly reminiscent of early Black Metal with Death and Thrash Metal roots and sounds to the reviewers of metal.de “like the thrashy counterpart” to the “rather punky ” song War from the debut album with which it was "Is fighting for the title of the worst BURZUM composition ever". The growling- oriented vocals are also unusual . In this song the winter spirit is announced that he will die and should bleed to death in the snow; summer announces its return.

Keliohesten and Morgenrøde carry on the traditional black metal sound, but slowly drift towards the dark ambient sound at the beginning of the album. After the victory of the summer spirit over winter, the oak spirit Balder is freed and returns; its return corresponds to the winter solstice. “On the first Sunday morning in spring […] the mourning ends. […] On the highest mountain in the east / you can see the red sun. [...] The power of the sun has returned / the oak spirit has been reborn. "

layout

The cover was uploaded to the official website before the album was released. It shows a photograph of a forest in which rays of sunshine can be seen passing through the fog. She was recorded near Vikernes' home in Bø . Since all deities were originally tree spirits, the tree that blocks the view also goes well with the concept. The capital , broken character set of the other publications (with the exception of the second demo from 1991) is no longer used for the project name . Vikernes justifies this decision with the fact that Burzum shouldn't have a logo like other black metal bands and that Belus is a new beginning for Burzum. However, decisions such as not using a logo or the project name Burzum are not set in stone and he will move away from them if he should. Vikernes and Adrian Wear were responsible for the design of the album.

reception

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Belus
  NO 23 10/2010 (3 weeks)

Since Vikernes' imprisonment, during which he could only compose with a keyboard, made it difficult for him to develop further in music, Belus was expected by the fans with “euphoria on the one hand” and “skepticism on the other”. V.ic V.icious from A-Blaze magazine called it "the best BURZUM album to date"; on Hvis lyset tar oss and Filosofem there was "no holistic perfection due to the ambient pieces"; this was "achieved with" Belus "." The album could "maybe really be a turning point in a scene that is otherwise oversaturated." Chris McDonald of MetalReview.com gave the album 7.5 out of 10 points; It's not great, but it's a pretty good album, and Vikernes has replicated the atmosphere of the albums Hvis lyset tar oss and Filosofem very well after a long time and even in 2010 created an album that was unmistakable. Travis from Diabolical Conquest described Belus as a good comeback album:

Belus is exactly what a 'comeback' album should be in black metal: not a shallow (but basically very good) rock album like Gorgoroth's Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt and not achingly banal and redundant like Beherit's Engram , but feral, pure in vision, desolate, hauntingly familiar, yet new.

“ Belus is exactly what a“ comeback ”album in Black Metal should be: not a superficial (but basically very good) rock album like Gorgoroth's Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt and not painfully banal and redundant like Beherits Engram , but wild , pure in his vision, desperate, painfully familiar, yet new. "

- Travis :

MetalGeorge of Imhotep magazine, however, wrote that the album was anything but a triumphant return. The trance sound of Filosofem is missing, and Vikernes seems to use his old songs as inspiration and to give them a new sound so that younger listeners do not notice the difference. The production doesn't do him any favors either, the drums sound lifeless and the guitars ineffective. Given Vikernes' clairvoyant talent for what Black Metal should sound like, he expected more from Belus and from Vikernes himself.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Josh: Interview with Josh of Abruptum zine (Feb. 1998). (No longer available online.) In: Abruptum Zine. 1998, archived from the original on August 10, 2009 ; accessed on January 8, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.burzum.com
  2. ↑ Chris Mitchell: Interview with Varg Vikernes. May 10, 2005, accessed January 24, 2010 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Varg Vikernes: A Burzum Story: Part X - The White God. November 14, 2009, accessed November 19, 2009 .
  4. ↑ a b c Chris Dick: Varg Vikernes (Burzum) interviewed. April 13, 2010, accessed May 27, 2010 .
  5. ↑ a b Varg Vikernes Says He Has Written Nine Songs For New Burzum Album. (No longer available online.) In: blabbermouth.net. July 6, 2009, archived from the original on July 9, 2009 ; accessed on January 24, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.roadrunnerrecords.com
  6. ↑ a b c Varg Vikernes: A Burzum Story: Part XII - Belus. December 2, 2009, accessed December 3, 2009 .
  7. ↑ Varg Vikernes: A Burzum Story: Part XI - Birds Of A Feather Flock Together. November 19, 2009, accessed November 26, 2009 .
  8. ↑ a b c d Erik. Critically, constructively and creatively supported by: Beta, Falk, Christoph, Neur0, Jens, Alboin: Burzum. March 6, 2010, accessed March 11, 2010 .
  9. ↑ a b c d e f Burzum - Discography - Official Releases - "Belus" 2010. Accessed on February 4, 2010 (English).
  10. ↑ a b c d e f Interview with Varg Vikernes (February 2010). 2010, accessed February 12, 2010 .
  11. ↑ Burzum “Belus” proceeds to Haiti earthquake victims. (No longer available online.) Byelobog Productions, March 1, 2010, archived from the original on March 10, 2010 ; accessed on March 11, 2010 (English).
  12. ↑ a b c d Neithan: Burzum - Belus | Review. Lords Of Metal metal E-zine, accessed March 11, 2010 .
  13. ↑ a b c d Chris McDonald: MetalReview.com - Review of Burzum - Belus. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 13, 2010 ; accessed on March 11, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.metalreview.com
  14. ↑ a b c d e Wren: Burzum Belus Review (Byelobog Productions). Retrieved March 11, 2010 (English).
  15. ↑ a b c d e f g h V.ic V.icious: BURZUM "Belus". (No longer available online.) A-Blaze , February 23, 2010, formerly in the original ; Retrieved April 20, 2010 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / ablaze-magazin.de  
  16. ^ Ambros: Burzum - Belus. (No longer available online.) Schlachtenruf.de, March 4, 2010, archived from the original on March 10, 2010 ; Retrieved March 11, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / schlachtenruf.de
  17. ↑ a b c Travis: BURZUM - Belus. (No longer available online.) February 28, 2010, archived from the original on July 10, 2011 ; accessed on March 11, 2010 (English).
  18. Jump up ↑ EvilG, Lord of the Wasteland, Luxi, Arto: Interview with Varg Vikernes (23.02.2010), by EvilG, Lord of the Wasteland, Luxi, and Arto. Metal-Rules.com, February 23, 2010, accessed October 12, 2010 .
  19. ↑ a b c d e V.AvE: Burzum "Belus" 2010 - German: list of songs. Retrieved March 17, 2011 .
  20. ↑ a b c d Brandon Stosuy: Interview with Varg Vikernes (March 10, 2010), by Brandon Stosuy. Stereogum, March 10, 2010, accessed March 17, 2011 .
  21. ^ Tyler Crooks: Burzum: Album Review. Retrieved March 11, 2010 (English).
  22. ↑ Pete Pardo: Review: "Burzum: Belus" - Sea of ​​Tranquility - The Web Destination for Progressive Music! March 9, 2010, accessed March 11, 2010 .
  23. ↑ a b Varg Vikernes: A Burzum Story: Part XIII - Logos. In: A Burzum Story. 2009, accessed February 4, 2010 .
  24. ↑ Burzum in the Norwegian album charts, accessed on November 3, 2010
  25. ↑ Metal George: Imhotep - Home - Burzum - "Belus". March 2, 2010, accessed March 11, 2010 .