Det som engang var

Det som engang var
Studio album from Burzum
Publication (s)	1993
Label (s)	Cymophane Productions
Format (s)	CD, LP
Genre (s)	Black metal
Title (number)	8th
running time	40 min 1 s
occupation	all instruments: Count Grishnackh (Varg Vikernes) Gong at Den onde kysten : Euronymous (Øystein Aarseth)
production	Eirik "Pytten" Hundvin and Count Grishnackh
Studio (s)	Grieghallen Lydstudio
chronology Aske (EP, 1993) Det som engang var Hvis lyset tar oss (1994)

Det som engang var (Norwegian for "That was once") is the second album of the black metal solo project Burzum by Varg Vikernes . The album was released in 1993 on his label Cymophane Productions and reissued in 1994 by Misanthropy Records on CD and foldable LP.

History of origin

After Vikernes had released his debut Burzum on Øystein Aarseth's label Deathlike Silence Productions (DSP), there was a conflict between the two; The Aske EP was also published via DSP, but Vikernes noted that he had only left this publication to Aarseth because the police had, among other things, confiscated his address lists when he was arrested on suspicion of arson; actually he wanted to start his own label, which he had planned at the end of 1992. Since the label Voices of Wonder (VoW) took over the exclusive distribution of the albums from DSP, he got the idea to set up a similar contract with VoW.

The second album was recorded in the same studio as this one in April 1992, the month after the debut was released; Vikernes wrote the titles for his second album at the same time as his debut. According to Vikernes, it took 26 hours for recording and mastering ; He justifies the longer recording time compared to the previous album with the fact that he did not receive help with the transport of the instruments. Again Vikernes played all the instruments himself, only the noises for Den onde kysten he had made when recording the debut together with Aarseth by beating a gong with their fists . All tracks on the album were recorded again in the first take.

Originally the album was supposed to be called På svarte troner , but appeared in August 1993 under the title Det som engang var on Vikernes' new label Cymophane Productions, which was originally called Burznazg Productions, on CD with a print run of 950 copies. A few days after the album was released, Vikernes was arrested for having murdered Aarseth shortly before. VoW sold a few hundred copies of the album before the distributor refused to continue to cooperate with Vikernes because he openly committed to National Socialism. He got the rest of the CDs, most of which he says he sold and some gave away to friends. In 1993 the album was released as a cassette on Necropolis Records in the USA; after the murder of Aarseth, label owner Paul "Typhon" Thind turned against Vikernes.

The cover artwork of the album is based, like that of the debut, on an RPG book from the AD&D series called The Temple of Elemental Evil .

The re-publication shows a drawing of Wotan on the inside and a quote underneath: “As noble as the old Germanic man, so noble was his art. She realizes the mourning in this world ”. This is taken from the SS brochure Der Untermensch , whereby the original term Aryan has been replaced by Old Germanic .

Track list

1. Den onde kysten - 2:20
2. Key to the Gate - 5:14 am
3. En ring til å herske - 7:10
4. Lost Wisdom - 4:38
5. Han som traveled - 4:51
6. Når Himmelen Klarner - 3:50
7. Snu microcosm tegn - 9:36
8. Svarte troner - 2:16

Music style and lyrics

Vikernes himself sees the album as a little better produced compared to the debut and the vocals as much better, but otherwise very similar to it; also because he wrote the titles of both albums at the same time, it was in a way the second part of the debut for him. In the Sounds of Death he is quoted as saying that Det som engang var , which was relevant at the time, was the heaviest and strangest of his albums.

Björn Springorum from METALGLORY Magazine, however, is of the opinion that “Varg has raised his Burzum project from the gruff debut 'Burzum' to the similarly mangy 'Aske' snack to a far more spherical and transcendent level, which is why 'Det Som Engang Var' too meant the transition from relatively pristine Black Metal to meditative, rampant rhythms and the evocation of desperate atmospheres ”. Vikernes succeeded in “building a bridge between these two styles” with the intro “in connection with the unexpectedly quick and raw introduction to the first real song”, Key to the Gate . Shortly thereafter, the music changes into the "monotonously sluggish bars typical of the album, which, underlaid by melancholic and two-part guitars, defined monotony for all eternity", with which Vikernes creates a melancholy mood. For Charles from Metal Reviews , this title is the one with the best compositional ideas and probably the best realized on the album. The self of the title describes his personal damnation and announces that one day the gates to hell will be opened ( Vikernes later denied the satanic references of his early works):

"Why did I come to this world
of sorrow why is this true
Where is my dagger of sacrifice
I will open the gates to Hell one
Day ..."

- Burzum : Key to the Gate

Although Vikernes showed a strong interest in JRR Tolkien , on Det som engang var he only makes a direct reference to his works with the third song En ring til å herske . The title is based on the inscription in Sauron's ring. However, Vikernes later stated that the song was about the Germanic peoples and Odin's ring Draupnir . He also often referred to elements of Norse mythology in Tolkien's works, for example in the article The One Ring on his website. Springorum describes the song as “a masterpiece of remote art, a manifesto of pure despair set to music. Listen, lay in the woods, die. This song opens wounds, leaves scars, closes the wounds, heals them, only to tear them open again. "

In Lost Wisdom , Vikernes refers to levels of reality beyond the tangible level. However, those levels were denied by the “blind church”, since it was not about the words of God, that God who burned the knowledge about them.

The next track is the keyboard instrumental piece Han som traveled ; while Charles of Metal Reviews describes it as "ambient nonsense" , Springorum sees it as "a song of praise to Odin, vetont [sic!] through synthetic surfaces [sic!] and just beautiful". Vikernes himself put this song in connection with Odin's self-sacrifice. This is followed by an instrumental piece played on the electric guitar with Når Himmelen klarner .

In the song Snu mikrokosmos tegn the ego laments the state of its environment, the forest, in which no danger lurks and neither bears nor wolves nor trolls can be found and nothing breathes. It announces that it will wander one night until it goes to hell. For Charles, this is an example of music that seems to define an archetype , even though it may have been surpassed by its own imitators. The album ends with the instrumental piece Svarte troner .

Meaning and reception

Since black metal and especially Vikernes and Burzum were boycotted when the album was released, the album was not reviewed by numerous publications, but achieved cult status in black metal circles; According to the website anus.com , the album is to black metal in a way what Blessed Are the Sick of Morbid Angel was to death metal , as both albums overwhelmingly explained the respective cultures and the essence they conveyed. Springorum describes Det som engang var as a "true milestone in black metal art", Charles sees an attempt to perfect the innovative element of black metal:

“And then we have this, which is perhaps the first work to perfect black metal's most staple, and most important innovation: the ability to imbue rough and ready rock music with a sense […]. Thus, the importance of Det Som Engange [sic!] Var: neither the tongue-in-cheek rock and roll of Venom, or the grandeur of Bathory. This is a new attitude to black metal. "

“And then we have what is perhaps the first work to perfect the most fundamental and most important innovation: the ability to saturate uncouth rock music with meaning […]. Hence the meaning of Det som engang var: neither the rock 'n' roll with ironic undertones of Venom nor the grandeur of Bathory . This is a new attitude towards Black Metal. "

- Charles :

However, he also criticizes weak moments that threaten to undermine the album as a whole, such as the instrumental piece Han som traveled and the undeveloped drumming among other things in Key to the Gate and partly Lost Wisdom .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Burzum - Discography - Official Releases - "Det Som Engang Var" 1993 .
2. ↑ ^{a b} Chris Mitchell: Varg Vikernes Interview .
3. ↑ ^{a b} Varg "Волк" Vikernes: A Burzum Story: Part VI - The Music .
4. ↑ Typhon speaks. Archived from the original on July 13, 1997 ; accessed on January 22, 2010 (English). 
5. ↑ Varg Vikernes: A Burzum Story: Part I - The Origin And Meaning .
6. ^ Reichsführer SS , SS main office (ed.): Der Untermensch , Nordland-Verlag, Berlin 1942, p. 37.
7. ↑ Karl Milton Hartveit: Sounds of Death # 4 1994 ( Memento of the original from August 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) 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. . 
8. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Björn Springorum: Reviews - Burzum Det Som Engang Var CD .
9. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Charles: Burzum - Det Som Engang Var .
10. ↑ ^{a b c} Michael Moynihan , Didrik Søderlind: Lords of Chaos , First Edition, Feral House 1998, ISBN 0-922915-48-2 , p. 152.
11. ↑ Varg Vikernes: Paganism: Part III - The One Ring .
12. ↑ Burzum - Ambient Black Metal ( Memento of the original from July 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .