Fall (Burzum album)

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Falling
Studio album from Burzum

Publication
(s)

2011

Label (s) Byelobog Productions, Back on Black

Format (s)

CD, LP

Genre (s)

Metal

Title (number)

7th

running time

47:41

occupation All instruments: Varg Vikernes

Studio (s)

Grieghallen

chronology
Belus
(2010) 		Falling Umskiptar
(2012)

Fallen is the eighth album by the Norwegian project Burzum .

History of origin

The songs were written between November 2009 and December 2010. In January 2011, Burzum's distributor Plastic Head Distribution announced that Varg Vikernes had recorded a new album called Fallen , which should be released on March 7, 2011. Stylistically it should be a mixture of the predecessor Belus and the second album Det som engang var , which are more dynamic and harder than Belus with a "bigger" sound, but still convey the typical melodies that made Burzum so iconic and unique.

Vikernes himself compared the album to a cross between the previous album and something new, more inspired by the debut album Burzum and Det som engang var than by Hvis lyset tar oss or Filosofem . The sound was more dynamic, the album was mastered like classical music , and it was more experimental in every way than with Belus . According to Vikernes, this means that the sound is more dynamic and unsuitable for radio broadcasts, and the dynamic sound with Burzum is as much a part of the music as the melodies themselves. Lyrically, it is similar to the debut album in that it is more personal and focused on existential issues that the mythical undertone of Belus is still there. With the short intro and a longer outro, he also integrated some ambient tracks.

Track list

  1. Fra Verdenstreet (Introduksjon) (Eng. From the World Tree ) - 1:03
  2. Jeg faller ( Eng . I fall ) - 7:50
  3. Valen (German favor ) - 9:21
  4. Vanvidd (German madness ) - 7:05
  5. Enhver til sitt (dt. Each his own ) - 6:16
  6. Budstikken ( Eng . The Embassy ) - 10:09
  7. Til Hel og tilbake igjen (Konklusjon) (Ger . To Hel and back again ) - 5:57

Music style and lyrics

Vikernes continues the stylistic development of its predecessor Belus on traps . The album is now a long way removed from Black Metal , which was “lastingly shaped and influenced by Burzum's albums in the 1990s”. According to V.ic V.icious from A-Blaze , Vikernes is “about to leave his creation behind”. The music is more melodic and less monotonous, the vocals more varied than on the previous albums.

According to Cosmo Lee of Invisible Oranges , the lyrics are heavily related to death; his question to Vikernes whether mortality was currently an important issue for him was answered in the negative by him; Vikernes added that the death that Lee saw in Fallen was also a rebirth, an eternal circle. There is no definite beginning and no end in the “European worldview”, as in “Judaeo-Christianity” for example with the Garden of Eden and the Last Judgment , and there is also no taboo on death.

Vikingsgaard from Bleeding for Metal thinks that anyone who thinks “that at least the Norwegian lyrics have a politically incorrect style” is “huge”; Vikernes sings “fervently of transcendental fantasies about Nordic mythology ”, as they would also be conceivable with Amon Amarth . Anyone who associates “any political ambitions” with the album is “an idiot and should think and research very well before commenting on this topic”. However, Enhver til sitt stands for everyone their own , which was also at the gate of the Buchenwald concentration camp , this in the meaning of everyone what he deserves , and is explained in the same sense by Vikernes. In addition, the text on Budstikken plays with the verses “ Hirden Heil . Fremmad for vårt blod and all vår jord. / Fylking fremmad! Fylking marsj! " On the blood-and-soil ideology and with the designation " ørkenguden " on the representation of the Jews - and Christianity as" alien "" desert religions ". When Lee asked about the enemy to whom the song was referring, Vikernes replied, "The parasitical low-lives leeching on mankind and turning our species into slaves and sub-human scum." This is a reference to conspiracy theory, according to which " World Jewry " wanted to enslave the " Aryans ". He told MetalSucks that he censored himself so as not to be overly politically incorrect, as there is nowhere true freedom of speech. While Budstikken was a battle cry, the remaining songs were about more personal subjects. Lyrically, the album is a more personal and self-focused version of the Belus concept.

The album begins with the ambient title Fra Verdenstreet (Introduksjon) , which, however, cannot be compared with earlier instrumental pieces such as Tomhet or Rundtgåing av den transcendentale egenhetens støtte .

The first “real” song, Jeg faller , “initially has a very black metal character: a fast, driving rhythm; distorted singing voice; the frosty clinking guitar. ”The structure is typical for Burzum. However, spoken text passages and background vocals are used in the song. The text is about the narrator's fall from the world tree to the ground and “through time; down into the bottomless, emptiness and timeless. "

Typical of Burzum are the following songs: Valen , in which the narrator longs for death as the “answer to all riddles”, with a length of almost 10 minutes and recurring riffs , and Vanvidd , which is reminiscent of Jesu død .

Guitar and vocals at Enhver til sitt are atypical for Burzum, as are the rock , thrash and folk-metal- heavy riffs and the sometimes harsh, sometimes clear vocals at Budstikken . The production emphasizes guitar playing while bass and drums take a back seat.

layout

Élégie by William Adolphe Bouguereau

The cover is an excerpt from the painting Élégie by the French painter William Adolphe Bouguereau , which can also be seen on one of the labels of the LP version. The Fraktur lettering of its predecessor Belus has been replaced by a simple Times New Roman font. Vikernes wanted to emphasize his own statement that Burzum has no logo. Mythical illustrations can be found between the texts.

reception

V.ic V.icious from A-Blaze emphasized Burzum's departure from Black Metal and described Fallen as "a very personal album, as Varg also said". You can listen to the album “surely only for the sake of the music. But that would be just as short-sighted behavior as with the viewer of a painting who only looks at the color pigments on the canvas. BURZUM is an aspect of Varg Vikernes' personality. His books are another aspect. His biography, and his worldview, anyway. You won't be able to have one without the other, that's for sure. ”Gypsy boy from Schwarze-News, on the other hand, located Burzum with his comment that he“ doesn't know any other band today (especially not from Norway) who played Black Metal in the 1990s today still plays and lives like this man ”, still in Black Metal; he described Vikernes as "[one] n last remaining primary rock far from today's standards". Vikernes has "forgotten nothing and knows how to make the listener addicted to his music"; Fall is his best work since Filosofem . For Thomas L. from Nonpop , the change between clear and guttural vocals, which “[not] a few reviewers” ​​criticized on the predecessor, “makes up a large part of the mood; VIKERNES scores tremendously with the fact that he uses his voice in a way that few expect: gentle and fragile ”. For him, Fallen is “one of the best BURZUM albums ever”, but will not please the listeners who could not win anything from the predecessor Belus .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Grim Kim: EXCLUSIVE METALSUCKS INTERVIEW: BURZUM'S VARG VIKERNES .
  2. ↑ BURZUM "Fallen": New album out in March! (No longer available online.) A-Blaze , January 12, 2011, formerly in the original ; Retrieved February 23, 2011 .  ( 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  
  3. ↑ a b Varg Vikernes : Burzum - Discography - Official Releases - "Fallen" 2011. burzum.org, accessed on February 23, 2011 (English).
  4. ↑ a b c d Cosmo Lee: Interview: Burzum. Invisible Oranges, March 8, 2011, accessed March 11, 2011 .
  5. ↑ a b Gypsy boy: Burzum - Fallen (review and criticism) .
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g V.ic V.icious: BURZUM "Fallen" 2011 (review). (No longer available online.) A-Blaze, January 17, 2011, formerly in the original ; Retrieved February 23, 2011 .  ( 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  
  7. ↑ Vikingsgaard: Burzum - Fallen .
  8. ↑ Burzum "Fallen" 2011 - English (not American): Tracklist .
  9. ↑ a b Tenkerer: Burzum "Fallen" 2011 - German: song list .
  10. ↑ Thomas L .: BURZUM: Fall. Nonpop, accessed June 11, 2011 .