After last week’s hark back to the days of proto-metal, courtesy of Fenriz’s majestic Trapped Under Vice, Vol.II compilation, we have another trip back in time, this time (yep, you guessed it) to 1994.

I will be the first to admit that by ‘94 I had grown a bit tired of metal. Hey, I was a 14-year-old growing up in the middle of nowhere in Ireland; there was no scope for anything really outside of the mainstream. Metal had become unpopular anyways because of the whole grunge thing. However, had I had access to Norway’s offerings of this year, things might have been different. The reality was Slayer no longer appealed to me, nor did Megadeth (who both had releases that year and to this day I still haven’t heard) or any of the thrash bands I grew up listening to really. Also, the year before, my sister had sent me the Judgment Night OST, knowing I was into metal but had a soft spot for rap/hip-hop. That album kinda changed things a bit for me (no, I was never into rap-metal or nu-metal). Also, I’d just started secondary school and had hooked up with some new buddies from a town (wow) who had all kinds of shit I’d never heard – mainly Ice-T, Ice Cube, N.W.A., Gravediggaz, Gang Starr, that kind of stuff. Apart from this, the whole “rave culture” thing had started blowing up in a big way (rural Ireland is a bit “late to dinner”). So basically, what I am saying is I didn’t really buy much metal THEN; I was too busy smoking hash/banana skins and listening to The Prodigy or Same As It Ever Was, etc. NOW, I know there are several totally CLASSIC releases from this year. So let’s focus on just those over the next few weeks.

First up, something from Burzum’s Hvis Lyset Tar Oss. The release of this album coincided with The Count’s appearance in court for arson and murder, which he would go on to serve 15 years for (as you all know and is a somewhat tired story now). Much has been said about Mr. Vikernes over the years, however, I find very little focus is on the actual music.

This, his forth release and third LP since the self-titled debut in ‘92, like the previous releases, was in fact recorded in 1992. The album kicks off with what should have been the title track of the album before (1993’s Det Som Engang Var, his best work in my opinion), but instead it features here, albeit spelled slight differently. This, for me, is one of Burzum’s finest moments. From the repetitive hypnotic riffs and synth to the Bathory-esque outro, it is perfect black metal and shows the bridge between the brutality of the earlier releases to the almost shoegaziness found on the next release, Filosofem. It is not maybe as typical a black metal record as you’ll find, although Burzum never was. I have always liked to think of Burzum as kind of being a completely unique musical genre. If you compare it to 1994’s other classic black metal releases, Transilvaninan Hunger and De Mysteiis Dom Sathanas (which he infamously played bass on), you will notice it is not as heavy musically. Or as fast. And it has an ambient track. It is way more melodic and emotionally evocative, however, the vocals are as searing/screeching/unsettling as on the earlier releases. These vocals were unique to him then (you can really feel his anger and hatred), and have easily been the most copied black metal vocal style. To me, this is black metal – the whole atmosphere and attitude, down to Theodor Kittelsen’s artwork. Everything is perfect.

Listen: Burzum, “Det Som En Gang Var”

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Actually, there was one track that was omitted from this album in favour of the album’s atmospheric finale, “Tomhet”. This track is actually the only guitar-based track not found on any of Burzum’s official releases; everything else was released.

Listen: Burzum, “Et Hvitt Lys Over Skogen”

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†ROCKWELL†