Search - Burzum :: Balder's Dod

Sometimes moving, oftimes cheesy

Chet Fakir | DC | 12/16/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I will preface this review by saying that I love all the previous Burzum albums and that Varg, psychotic behavior notwithstanding, is a powerfully expressive musician. And I happen to like his electronic works quite a bit. For example the 14 plus minute long electronic/ambient composition Tomhet on the Hvis Lyset Tar Oss album is among my favorite Burzum pieces. So I was looking forward to this all electronic keyboard release, but unfortunately Daudi Baldrs is not a success. There's a haunting, deep sadness to Vargs best ambient work that simply isn't present for much of Daudi Baldrs. Perhaps its the choice of synth timbres. A digital imitation of a sax or violin simply sounds cheesy when compared to the real thing and the synth drums and piano are obnoxiously false sounding. We're talking cheap Casio here. A lot of Daudi Baldrs sounds badly dated. But its also true that many of these compositions lack the hypnotic atmosphere that Burzums previous, repetitious, ambient compositions engendered. Much of this album sounds amateurish, pretentious and ill concieved. There are exceptions such as the beautiful Moti Ragnargkum and the second composition Hermodr A Helferd, possibly the best work on the album despite its 3 minute length. But most of this album is weak, the atmospheric and emotional subtlties of his best work are missing. Perhaps Varg was unfamiliar with or limited by the tools he was using, perhaps he was just due for a dud. I imagine composing in prison isn't the easiest task either and to be fair this is the first release where he attempted an entirely electronic/digital approach. In any case I find this release to be more of a curiosity than genuinely enjoyable. Its not original and previous Burzum releases are vastly superior. I'd avoid this and get Burzum's earlier works or the last album Hlldskjalf which is also electronic but much much better."

Ragnarok and beyond

Andreas Faust | Tasmanian Autonomous Zone | 12/01/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It is quite incredible how Varg uses the most minimalistic music to create such a deep metaphysical resonance (for those who are attuned). Half of this album takes place in the inner world of the soul, the other half in the 'material world'. Weaving a thread between outer and inner is Varg, using as his medium the great myth of Balder's death.



I recommend 'I Heimr Heljar' to be listened to while gazing at the sunwheel in the centre of Nacht's painting. This is a tune of power, hidden, but still revalatory. Then we surface, only to find everything lost. The sad lifeless tones of the piano seem to descend endlessly, into the realm of no hope.



The pale sun shines in a thin, watery sky...rime frost gleams dully out into an endless, white horizon. And yet ('Moti Ragnarokum'), on the smouldering skyline, out from the rim of the empty world, hovers the sun...it set once, but will surely rise again just as everything dies and is reborn, even the universe itself.



Our task is to make it rise!"