Black Metal Perfection - "Hvis Lyset tar Oss" Review (100%)
Hvis Lyset Tar Oss, released in April 1994 by one Varg Vikernes, the Norwegian genius behind the band Burzum, is presented to the listener with a straightforward, shocking, hard atmosphere that shows just how menacing black metal can possibly, humanly, inhumanly be, surrounded by death-evoking settings of nature and melancholy.
The atmosphere that accompanies the album is in fact pretty much a perfectly accurate depiction of what the infernal music on Hvis Lyset Tar Oss sounds, feels, and is like in its pure, raw essence.
Burzum is no stranger to heavy atmosphere in black metal music, the band having even composed two entirely ambient albums Daudi Baldrs and Hlidskjalf shortly after this. But not black metal album, save for Phantom's Withdrawal and Vermin's Verminlust, is comparable to Hvis Lyset Tar Oss in terms of dark and evil atmosphere.
It's not an easy task to properly describe the music on Hvis Lyset tar Oss without reiterating its most flagrant attributes time and time again. That's mostly because one of the main characteristics is the very fact that this a very punishing and aggressive form of black metal, and it gives the listener no time to rest, constantly reiterating its roughness, toughness, and hardness in different brutal ways, yet often in a very subtle manner.
It's a somewhat short album, as it contains four tracks and is barely 45 minutes long, but it's honestly damn near impossible to believe that is the actual running time since it feels like it's much longer than that. The listener is truly exposed to aural atmospheres of pure epicness when facing the contents within this record, and that's no hyperbole.
Black Metal Perfection
A sad fact that the only other "review" for this black metal masterpiece comes from a rather, um... special... reviewer. Moving on.
As vicious and as rich as the soundscape of riffs and the playing of every instrument is throughout the four tracks that make up the Hvis Lyset Tar Oss album, the mad, poisoned compositions trap the listener into an inscrutable maze of maniacal atmospheres, demented vocals, hypnotic drumming and black metal riffs that sound razor sharp and very buzzsaw-like, and those won't let go until they're done beating you over the head with Hvis Lyset Tar Oss' ritualistic and atmospheric spells of pure blackness.
It's been a long time since I first listened to Burzum's Hvis Lyset Tar Oss, but I could still never forget the feeling it gave me. I still get those exact same emotions whenever I listen to it, as this is a very visceral, very organic, sincere, uncompromising record that makes you feel vulnerable, yet strengthens your core by warning you of what passes for "light" through its ritualistic haze of atmospheric black metal madness.
It's tough, but the aggression in the music doesn't subtract from the rest of its attributes, as it's still both deep and profound in its atmospheric and most animalistic nature. Nothing is left up to chance, and the entirety of the tracks feel extremely well mixed, arranged, and composed, down to the beautiful ambient outro which couldn't have been more suited to contrast with such a raw and intense black metal masterpiece. It's a very well thought-out album that encompasses three different sub-genres of metal, and mixes and blends them all into an infernal masterpiece that honestly couldn't be improved in any way.
Hvis Lyset Tar Oss is probably one of my favourite albums, if not my favourite, and you will instantly see why when you listen to this masterpiece. It's no exaggeration to say that black metal as we know it today wouldn't have existed if not for Burzum's Hvis Lyset Tar Oss.
Black metal perfection, distilled into a genius album by a legendary band.
Hvis Lyset tar Oss score: 100/100.
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