BURZUM - Sol austan, Mani vestan

It’s dark in the forest, outside it’s quiet, but inside the commotion has started. On the other side of the town there are still light fights and you can hear fragments of conversation about burnt churches, knives stuck in Euronymous, black metal or boredom.

Varg Vikernes had announced his separation from the world of metal and that he would release an album to confirm this. It was about time, because since 2010, when Belus came out, the link to a very demanding niche that dreams itself maleficent, was provided by short musical passages and an accursed guitar sound. Varg had long departed from the metal world, but perhaps he had to admit this before a mirror first.

So it is so that in 2013 we have a new Burzum album of unexpected flavour, its title translating from old Norse as East of the Sun, West of the Moon. This is a completely instrumental material. It can be seen as a continuation of Dauði Baldrs of 1997, except that the medieval music part is much less present. There is still some medieval tone there, but it certainly comes from a very dark corner. It is a very good time for Varg to abandon words.

Varg’s skills are employed in just one way on this album: in order to have this huge force or energy that would create a complete atmosphere, from the sound to a visual or tangible visual part. Sôl austan, Mâni vestan contains almost one hour of music, divided into eleven tracks that are obviously conceived as one whole entity. it is pretty minimalistic, with repetitive moments aiming to increase intensity, acting like Chinese water torture, only the effect is different. 

The new Burzum is designed around electronic layers meeting acoustic lines in some parts. Vikernes created sanctified expression using just synthesizers and strings, and the result is perfect for contemplation or meditation. There are of course good portions of nostalgia in the atmosphere, since Varg cannot work without it.

The inspiration for Sôl austan, Mâni vestan came as they were working on ForeBears, made by Varg’s wife, Marie Cachet. This is a film in which the actors are Varg, Marie and their blond children, cast as themselves. Some of the songs from his new album were included on this film’s soundtrack where Varg, immersed in Egyptian philosophy and mythology, suggests that the god is born from man’s power. Both the new material and ForeBears were conceived as an underground journey ending above ground, where the Sun sheds the most light.

This time, the painter chosen by Varg for the album’s artwork is the Spaniard Ulpiano Checa from the 19th century, and his best known works are historical representations.

Gina S. Nota: 9