Burzum – Fallen

Varg Vikernes has nothing to prove. After 15 long years of imprisonment for the murder of Euronymous, he could have retired and let the past buried by time and dust. He could have easily isolated himself in a house in the Norwegian woods, and lived off by the sales of his previous works (records and books). But that is not Varg. This man is a fighter, and a fighter must battle! Last year, with “Belus”, he gave a hard blow to what he calls the parody of “black metal anno 1991”. Today with his new offering, hopefully he will wipe it off the face of this planet!

Consider this; Varg is right! 90% of black metal nowadays is a parody. Eerie guitars, blast beats, growls, shitty production, are all these that make this music what it is? Not at all! I admit it, in the past, some great albums have been made with this recipe, but a huge load of crappy ones as well. The latter lack the special ingredients called FEELING and TALENT, which made the early works of Darkthrone, Mayhem, Emperor, etc. into masterpieces of black metal, although due to lack of money or good equipment they sounded very primitive and raw.

Black metal is all about atmosphere, mysticism, power against insurmountable odds. And “Fallen” is BLACK METAL! (Yes, in capitals! Even the dark ambient track which concludes this album is more black metal than most of the crap out there self-titled as such…) Majestic monotonous riffs without beginning or end merge with a bass guitar that really gives life to the overall musical brilliance that is “Fallen”. Some will argue that is the “same old song and dance” but I don’t agree. “Belus” was excellent, but it had its flaws; its production was too dull, it lacked in dynamics and Varg’s howling screams (which I love) were missing. “Fallen” delivers in both aspects. It has a very fitting production that is very powerful and clear (Varg states that he produced “Fallen” as he would do for classical music!). And he is more relaxed and confident with his voice in this album than he was in “Belus”. Whispers, spoken words, hymning vocals are all here, even his screams return for a few instances.

Once again, Burzum lies at the top, but Varg doesn’t even care! He is on a lonely crusade, aiming to make what he knows best, that is sincere, passionate and meaningful music, and he is triumphant. Most of the losers who claim that they play black metal can now crawl back to their caves and stitch their mouths with fishing lines!