VARIOUS ARTISTS
A Tribute to BURZUM
Genre: Black metal, ambient
Released by Antichrist Magazine
Promotion by Grand Sounds PR
Available for streaming at Youtube and previewed at No Clean Singing
Release date: November 21, 2018
Whatever you think of Count Grishnackh, the impressions he made on black metal in Norway and the world are still felt to this day. The music he wrote for his project Burzum was memorably haunting, with an idiosyncracy that cannot be completely emulated. Some come close to getting a handle on his chops and progressions, and a music fan and zine editor has compiled the efforts of bands from different locations from the U.S. to Estonia. This close to two hour Burzum tribute was arranged and released by Ukraine’s Antichrist Magazine, which was founded as a print zine by Oleksandr Maksymov in 2003 and became an online publication in 2014. Of course this is not the first of its kind as Burzum tributes have been in circulation since the 2000s. Only most of those are label released while this one is among the few backed by a zine editor without the benefits of a label (at least to my knowledge). Most of the bands Antichrist editor Oleksandr Maksymov sought for this compilation are bands I haven’t previously heard of. Many of them however add their touch to their covers, subtle and otherwise, which is something I find appreciable. This kept me anticipating what I would hear next, knowing not everything would be reproduced exactly like the original compositions. As many of the bands have also been covered by Antichrist Magazine you’ll likely be familiar with them if you’re a consistent reader. The overall sound is definitely early to late 90s, and the folkish guitars Grishnackh formulates his material with, the dissonant melodiousness, intense sequestration and archaic predilection of his work are all represented well, particularly by Yaotzin, Aetranok, Myrkur Skógur, Mournful Winter, Unholy Baptism, Thy Unmasked, Eclipse Of The Sun and Katarina Gubanova. Personal favorites are Colotyphus’s rendition of ‘Han Som Reiste’ which elaborates on the keyboards of the original and unexpectedly incorporates guitars, bass and drums and Bestia’s cover of ‘Beholding the Daughters of the Firmament’, which is fully reworked with a full ensemble of guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, a raw sound and time changes. If you’re a diehard Burzum fan or even if you have a passing interest, you’ll want to stream this compilation. As much for the effort that went into compiling it as for the vision of the featured bands. -Dave Wolff
Track list:
1. Yaotzin (Netherlands): Hvis lyset tar oss
2. Kâhld (Germany): Jesus’ Tod
3. Atra Mors (Ukraine): Belus’ død
4. Aetranok (USA): A Lost Forgotten Sad Spirit
5. Myrkur Skógur (Netherlands): Feeble Screams from Forests Unknown
6. Wan (Sweden): Stemmen fra taarnet
7. Dynasty of Darkness (Germany / Norway): Dunkelheit
8. Mournful Winter (Germany): My Journey to the Stars
9. Colotyphus (Ukraine): Han som reiste
10. Unholy Baptism (USA): Glemselens elv
11. Bestia (Estonia): Beholding the Daughters of the Firmament
12. Chaoscraft (Greece): War
13. Thy Unmasked (Colombia): Vanvidd
14. Uruk-Hai (Austria): Hermoðr á Helferð
15. Eclipse of The Sun (Hungary): Valgaldr (Song of the Fallen)
16. Imšar (Belarus): En ring til å herske
17. Katarina Gubanova (Germany): Ea, Lord of the Depths (bonus track)
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