Artist: Burzum
Title: From the Depths of Darkness
Type: Rerecorded Compilation
Label: Byelobog Productions

What is the point of this? I mean really? Here we have notorious murderer and racist Varg Vikernes presenting us with re-recordings of his favourite songs from the first two Burzum albums which, regardless of what you may think of the man, are indisputably classics of the black metal genre and highly important records in their own right. Now I’m suspicious at the best of times when bands/artists come out with the whole ‘we’ve re-recorded this as we intended it’ line because, quite frankly, it sounds deeply disingenuous. It’s bad enough when Manowar do it. Revisiting old material (with one or two notable exceptions) smacks of either creative bankruptcy or a desperate attempt to claw in some cash – given that the man has been pumping out albums since leaving prison last year, I rather suspect that this is something to do with the latter (those arson fines aren’t paying themselves after all). The truly mystifying aspect of this scenario is that so much of the magic of those original records is conjured up by the lo-fi, foggy production values specified at the time by Vikernes – not only does this reinforce the ‘I call bullshit’ feeling surrounding the whole ‘how they were originally intended’ soundbites but stripped of the alien, disturbing ambience of the original sound, vast swathes of the atmosphere that truly elevated this material is lost.

So. It kicks off, the sound very much of the ‘post-prison’ Burzum ilk. If you’re a fan of last year’s ‘Belus’ and this year’s ‘Fallen’ albums, you’ll immediately be at home here – the guitars are much thicker, lacking the corrosive hiss of yore but given more weight by the modern production. The drums are more defined, the bass more penetrating the whole sound more articulate. It’s fine, completely listenable and executed with competence. Vocally is where people will be truly divided – Vikerne’s voice is a hoarser roar these days which, whilst certainly effective and preferred by some, to these ears barely comes close to replicating the unsettling nature of the desperate shrieks that overlaid the originals.

What it does reinforce without a doubt is the overall excellence of the material. With maybe one or two slight exceptions, these are undeniably great songs - colossi of the genre in fact – but this re-recording exercise adds nothing. It’s played completely straight, no re-workings or re-interpretations being bought into the mix and bereft of the otherworldly obscurity bestowed by the (very deliberate) sound of the originals, is utterly superfluous to requirements. I have to confess to being rather baffled by this release - far from being an updated ‘reimagining’ of early albums which were hampered by poor production, it instead seems to reek of someone content to plunder a legacy built upon unique-sounding, powerfully atmospheric and deeply idiosyncratic art. Strip away the goodwill engendered by those formative works and we’re left with a bit of a plonker who espouses unpleasant views churning out competent modern-sounding hypnotic black metal. A disappointing trajectory.

www.burzum.org

Frank Allain

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