Customer Reviews

Hvis Lyset Tar Oss

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the best black metal albums made in the early days of the Norwegian scene: when black metal was new, when the rules hadn't been fully codified, when it was more of a folk music or art form rather than commercial consideration, when few guys in the country played it. This music is dark, elegiac and hypnotic: odd harmonics and melodies are buried deep within the music either created by slowly shifting guitar or electronics. Its dense, minimal, cold, angry and sad, sometimes all at once.

Hvis Lyset Tar Oss sounds raw and unpolished, and is some of the most atmospheric and emotional black metal ever made. The first song "Det Som Engang Var" (What Once Was) starts out with fuzzed out distorted guitar and synth and sets a tone of bleakness unlike any I've ever heard. Its just frozen cold. The last song Tomhet (Emptyness) is a slow and repetitive electronic intrumental, but despite its 14 minute length it doesn't get boring. Rather it takes you away because of its icy emotive, visual nature. Its actually beautiful (and grim) The other two songs are excellent as well. Vargs voice throughout the album sounds as though the words are being ripped out under torture, which some people might not like. I however find his "singing" expressive and an integral part of the music.

Varg Vikernes is a psychopath, murderer, an extreme person and now a racist political philosopher with a feeble grasp on reality, but one should pay attention to the music rather than the man. The music of Burzum reflects his emotional intensity and commitment to his art. That Varg plays all the instruments is incredible. In my opinion Burzum is one of the best and certainly the most original band of early period of Norwegian black metal and "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss" (If the Light Takes Us) is one of Burzum's best albums.

Because black metal has in recent years been somewhat stagnant, listening to old classics is a great consolation for the fact that most of what is new out there is relatively terrible. Although this album is more than a decade old, neither its effect nor its relevance are lost. Make no mistake about it: this is powerful music in a tradition that is of woefully negligible prominence in "The Scene" today. Of course, maybe that's not such a bad thing: endless emulation is what tends to hamstring all movements of any significance, be they artistic, musical, political, or philosophical. This album -- and Burzum's music in general -- was a revolution in all four realms in terms of what it did for black metal.

The shortest song on this album is slightly less than 8 minutes, so there's plenty of time for one to absorb and ruminate on each of the four tracks. Vikernes has discarded the traditional verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure, if indeed he ever subscribed to it in the first place. The music itself is violent, brutal, and generally not for the faint of heart. But this is calculated chaos; the album has an internal logic all its own and it tends to betray large outpourings of emotionality that are not typical of black metal. Citing influences as divergent as Bathory and Dead Can Dance, it's not difficult to see where these come into play. The music is of course guitar-based, but the riffs are backed up by subtle keyboard passages that enhance the effect without being overbearing (see some of Emperor's later works and everything by Dimmu Borgir for this problem).

First-time black metal listeners are encouraged to listen to this album alongside Darkthrone's "Transilvanian Hunger" and the legendary Emperor/Enslaved split "Emperor + Hordanes Land." This Unholy Trinity is the best introduction to Norwegian black metal that one is likely to find and it is a grand starting point for the curious. The logical progression from there includes Graveland and Beherit, and although all the other bands and albums referenced are excellent, "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss" is the best there ever was and it seems as if it's the best there ever will be. This is truly symphonic black metal: each part is a section of a coherent whole that functions like a real symphony rather than a few tracks with absurdly intricate keyboard parts woven into it, which is what you'll often find under the tag "symphonic black metal." For sheer importance devoid of posturing and false airs of depth, this is THE album to have.

This album surpasses all metal and has not been matched since. Four lengthy songs in a symphonic ambient black metal style takes metal to its highest point in evolution and beyond.

This one-man band orchestrates with a thematic narrative that puts the listener into a dreamlike state. Simple riffs are layered to create epic structures and are ambient in tone resulting in a range of moods while maintaining a trancelike effect. Shifting harmonies throughout these themes creates a journey of intense emotion and heavy realizations. Each track varies in speed and style but are all strongly connected like a classical movement. Ideological impact is the key to this albums power as songs drive forth with outstanding passion and sincerity. The subtlety is so deep that each listen will evoke feelings of wonder and majesty no matter how many times visited. It is an epic poetic story that is mystical yet symbolic to reality - it literally awakens your soul with a vision of eternal order through chaos. The album ends with an ambient keyboard track that is minimal and allows heavy reflection and resolution after the severe intensity and whirlwind of emotion from the first three tracks.

The result is an experience like no other album of modern times. Its power is immense and makes us contemplate the deepest questions of our very existence. In the age of our moribund civilisation this album is the ultimate warcry against the stupidity of the modern world.

"Hvis Lyset Tar Oss" is the absolutely greatest Ambient Black-Metal album ever! When you listen to it, you will be in Norway before the christianity took over our pride. Varg's vocals express total pain and sorrow, and he sounds like an unholy ghost - brilliant! The guitar-riffs and drumming are brilliant to, especially the keyboards("Tomhet"), it makes me seriously sad. It is only four tracks here, but it would be wrong to increase the amount. All the tracks here are amazing in their own way, but my personal favorite track is "Inn I Slottet Fra Droemmen" - Maybe one of the greatest tracks in the history. You have to understand norwegian if you want to know what he sings about. But forget it, it is the music that counts, not the lyrics. Well, if you are curious about Black Metal, or if you love it: Buy this album or die!

Bvrzvm is perhaps the trvest kvlt band ever.

Varg set the standards for all fvtvre kvlt bands to follow. And since he was incarcerated in the early 90's, black metal has degenerated into a sad state of pitifvl self parody. This day and age people think grim and cold is Dimmu Borgir. This is not what Varg fought for... Varg fought for trve black metal... Grim fvzz distorted gvitars and indecipherable vocals. Nowadays black metal bands want to prodvce their records, but they forget that a trve record is prodvced on a fovr track from the eighties in a cold, grim basement room.

Varg knew what made black metal trve and he set the standards.

No, seriously, this is one of the best black metal records ever... if not the best... Absolutely essential.