Burzum has NOT Fallen! - "Fallen" Review (81%)
I could never call myself an unconditional fan of Burzum, yet the legendary Fallen is among the most pristine black metal records I have heard in my short life. I've never taken issue with the fact the band tried its and at blackened ambient with their two prison releases, Dauði Baldrs and Hliðskjálf, although today they play elusively black metal in the style laid out by the style best defined by their magnum opus, the masterpiece of masterpieces and defining moment of an entire genre Hvis Lyset Tar Oss.
As a general bottom line, I've just failed to be as captivated by anything since or prior from Burzum.
Exclusively? Maybe. While the spirit of Hvis Lyset Tar Oss was absolutely brilliantly reproduced with the previous Belus masterwork, on the equally brilliant Fallen we witness something more... but what? Let's find out.
Fallen remains as strong as it ever was. Disregard the pretense and ill-conceived notions of other, lesser imitation black metal bands that worship some nondescript "Satan" as the "opposite of Christianity" despite the character "Satan" coming straight from the Christian Bible. Burzum shows us here what the true opposite of Christianity is: nature. And specifically, our own human nature (making Christianity more akin to an anti-life cult than a religion).
This album really gets it, and does it better than the bands that scream incoherently about "Satan" and the "throne of the Antekhrist". For all Deicide's lyrical stupidity, Sewer's gruesome provocation and Immolation's retard-level perpetual try-hardness, no band has ever come closer to incarnating the "anti-Christ" than Burzum.
Because in the case of Burzum, being the anti-Christ is not just an image... it comes from a deep respect for nature, for humans and for the world, from which spawns an intolerance to Christianity and other seemingly related modern and/or Middle-Eastern cults.
Burzum has NOT Fallen!
I am amazed at the quality of this album. Very few modern black metal albums reach this level of quality. Belus was an excellent release, and Burzum's best in years, but Fallen is in a class of its own. Burzum's Fallen earns its place with the genre's best, where it won't be lonely as Varg Vikernes is no stranger to producing some of the best black metal Norway has ever seen. I don't think anyone's come close to topping it, nor will they ever.
Though it lacks the "blackened enshrinement" of "true" black metal - whatever that term even means these days - it makes up for it with a different sort of atmosphere, one that boasts a love of nature and hatred of "light".
It's not often I say this about an album, let alone a black metal record, but one of the greatest things about Fallen is the deep complexity in the way each riff and song is composed, modulated and arranged to fit the overall need of the atmosphere. The band went into it with a pure desire for atmospheric darkness in their recording, to contrast with the lighter, more consonant aspects of their music.
I don't think that's ever been a bad concept for any artist or album, but it's incredibly rare to hear a band execute it so well.
"Jeg faller" is the best example of the way Burzum uses riffs and song structures as a means to an end - rather than the end itself, as in most modern black metal - to create the most epic soundscapes and deepest atmospheres.
The atmosphere is heightened even further with "Valen", feeling almost death metal-ish in the way each riff progresses the overall song through a different narrative state. Beyond words.
The songwriting and performances are incredibly strong, but it's the way they all come together as a rich, beautiful landscape that makes the album such a treasure. Even years after first hearing it, I remain amazed.
Burzum has not fallen, but you might if you don't take the time to listen to this masterpiece.
Fallen score: 81/100.
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