Burzum "Hvis Lysset Tar Oss" (Cymophane Records 1994)

Hvis lyset tar oss (Norwegian for If the Light Takes Us) is the third studio album by Norwegian black metal solo project Burzum. It was recorded in September 1992, but was not released until April 1994, whereupon it was released through Misanthropy Records and Vikernes' own record label, Cymophane Productions.[1] The album is considered a classic in the black metal scene.[5]

All tracks written by Count Grishnackh.

No. Title Length

1. "Det som en gang var" ("What Once Was") 14:21

2. "Hvis lyset tar oss" ("If the Light Takes Us") 8:04

3. "Inn i slottet fra droemmen" ("Into the Castle from the Dream") 7:51

4. "Tomhet" ("Emptiness") 14:11

Total length: 44:27

Production: 

Count Grishnackh (Varg Vikernes) – vocals, guitar, keyboard, synthesizer, drums, bass, production

Pytten – production

Varg Vikernes recorded the first four Burzum albums between January 1992 and March 1993 at the Grieg Hall in Bergen. However, the releases were spread out, with many months between the recording and the release of each album. During this time, Vikernes became a part of the early Norwegian black metal scene and befriended Mayhem guitarist Euronymous. The two developed a feud that culminated in Vikernes stabbing Euronymous to death in his apartment building in Oslo in August 1993. He was arrested a few days later and, in May 1994, was sentenced to 21 years (the maximum sentence in Norway) in prison for murder and several church arsons.

The album cover features a drawing by 19th century artist Theodor Kittelsen named Fattigmannen (The Pauper). Vikernes dedicated the album to Fenriz of fellow Norwegian black metal band Darkthrone and "Demonas",[6] possibly referring to Demonaz from Norwegian black metal band Immortal. Promotional copies sent to fanzines included the song "Et hvitt lys over skogen" (Norwegian for "A White Light Over the Forest") instead of "Tomhet". "Et hvitt lys over skogen" later appeared on the 1998 compilation album Presumed Guilty.

According to Vikernes, Hvis lyset tar oss is a concept album, about:

"[...] what once was, before the light took us and we rode into the castle of the dream. Into emptiness. It's something like: beware the Christian light, it will take you away into degeneracy and nothingness. What others call light I call darkness. Seek the darkness and hell and you will find nothing but evolution."

It’s actually surprising to me how one of the most praised and popularly acclaimed releases by the thoughtless masses supposedly or allegedly belonging to the black metal genre is actually one of the worst albums in the genre, and doesn’t actually represent the genre whatsoever or make a valid presentation of its musical attributes in any way at all, but rather takes everything bad and of the lowest quality possible about it and condenses it in an almost parodic sea of thoughtless deviation and pointless randomization of looped passages of weak instrumentation and atrocious vocal sections of straight-up bad delivery. Can’t forget about the worthless ambient passages that sound like a knock-off of more well thought-out, more styled-up, more elaborate, and all around higher quality ambient works. 

If there’s one single positive thing I can say about this release is the fact that it’ll definitely make a lot of people who initially might have thought of black metal as an extreme genre stay the fuck away from it after listening to “Hvis lyset tar oss” for fifteen minutes and beginning to fall asleep on the spot. At the same time though, quite ironically, this is actually one of the full-lengths that has brought black metal to the attention of the most random of idiots who actually don’t know a single thing about black metal, yet feel like they’re some kind of experts on the genre after having listened to this dishonest, frail piece of work that deconstructs everything of any quality that the originators of the genre built in favor of pointless faux-image, atmospheric drivel, and a frail, sad-sounding frontman that no one would want to listen to for too long unless being under the peril of contracting his apparent deadly disease that renders his emotions vain and his expression void of any kind of strength or attitude were an attractive thought to them. So perhaps driving away those wanting or looking for extremity in the genre isn't even a good thing.

The music on this whole album is completely forgettable and nothing to write home about. The riffs are paper thin, there’s no real consistency to the melodies at hand, and the risk of them ever getting stuck in your head is minimal, as much as they’re repeated time and time again needlessly throughout the endless minutes of duration of the only four tracks that make the grand total of 44 minutes and 28 seconds of running time. Both the first and the last track are over 14 minutes long for no reason at all. The musical ideas presented through each one of the tracks aren’t necessarily all that bad per se, but they become absolutely unbearable when they’re repeated and capitalized on time after time, after time, after time, after time, etc, ad infinitum. The endless droning is obviously supposed to be intended as an extra added atmospheric quality to the music, but this is not atmospheric black metal really, since it doesn’t even properly reach that level, but instead it stays in a weird interval between the more solid tonalities or sounds and the weaker or more distorted tones of a proper atmospheric release, never daring or never risking too much, probably due to the lack of solid ideas or of confidence of the songwriter in his own skills.