«Hvis Lyset Tar Oss» is the third album of Burzum, Varg Vikernes’ solo project. It was recorded in September 1992 at Grieg Hall in Bergen, but came out much later, in April 1994, on Misanthropy and Cymophane, his own label.
“`Country: Norway
Style: Black Metal
For fans of: Mayhem, Darkthrone, Emperor
The album holds only four tracks across 44 minutes: «Det Som En Gang Var», «Hvis Lyset Tar Oss», «Inn I Slottet Fra Droemmen» and the closing «Tomhet». The album’s title means «If the light takes us».
The sound is sparse and hypnotic: a few riffs repeated over and over, a dirty production and vocals buried back in the mix. On that base it builds a sense of isolation that became a trademark of the second generation of Norwegian black metal.
The album is the work of one man: Vikernes played every instrument and sang, producing it himself together with Pytten. The first four Burzum albums were all recorded at Grieg Hall within a few months, but came out scattered, with long gaps between them.
The opening «Det Som En Gang Var», which builds slowly for fourteen minutes, and «Tomhet», which is almost entirely dark ambient and points the way to «Filosofem» later, stand out.
The cover is a work by the Norwegian painter Theodor Kittelsen, who gave black metal some of its most recognisable images.
The album was recorded at a time when Vikernes was closely tied to the Bergen scene and to Mayhem, and its sound steps away from the usual of the genre, because beside the black metal tracks there is room for atmospheric, slow passages.
It is the last album before «Filosofem» in 1996 and many consider it the peak of Burzum’s first period, because it balances between driving black metal and a calm, dark atmosphere.
See also: Burzum – Filosofem: The Album That Slowed Black Metal Down and Satyricon – Nemesis Divina | Metal Territory.
