I have mixed feelings about this one. As someone who has take pro active anti racism stances in my time I don’t tend to give this guy that much time. But at the same time he’s music is important to the history of Heavy Metal in general, so i think it does deserve a mention. Past aside I feel like people shouldn’t be held to dumb things they might have said in magazines 20-30 years ago (and I’ve seen a couple of pearlers from this guy).
Aske is the first real release from Burzum. When I say Burzum I mean Varg Vikerness or Count Grishnacht as he’s known. Varg performs all the instruments and vocals on this release himself. He’s basically a one man band. He’s also well known for being the bass player in Mayhem for a while and ended up killing founder Euronymous and ended up serving a lengthy prison sentence not long after this record came out.
OK, back history aside this is actually a pretty cool release and whilst not as angry as Mayhem, it is a fair bit more advanced in terms of song writing and composition. Varg creates some great atmospheres on this release and you can literally feel the desolation come at you through the speakers. This is only a 3 track record and goes for around 20 or so mins but for that time you get taken to another world. The compositions are definitely in the black metal vein but have a little more breathing room than some of the other stuff reviewed here so far. Not sure what the songs are actually about, but the long “A Lost Forgotten Sad Spirit” is probably my fave of the release. The counts vocals are higher pitched than the standard black metal thing and the slower paced drums really give this a haunting atmosphere. The vocals really give this a “tormented” feel.
Over all I quite like this despite the shitstorm of bad media that surrounds this guy. I guess this is one instance where it was worth seperating the music from the musician and letting the tunes do the talking.
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