History Music / Burzum

Burzum was a one-man studio project by Norwegian black metal musician Varg Vikernes, notorious within music history for burning churches, stabbing Music/{{Mayhem}}'s guitarist Euronymous to death, and being a white supremacist. Burzum is also the {{Trope Maker|s}} for ambient black metal.

'''Studio albums:'''

* BilingualBonus: While he has a few English lyrics, most of his songs are in his native Norwegian, and ''Umskiptar'' has lyrics in Old Norse (taken from a poem entitled ''Völuspá''). Also, the most commonly used versions of the song titles on ''Filosofem'' are all in German, although the lyrics themselves are in English ("Dunkelheit", "Erblicket die Töchter des Firmaments", "Gebrichlichkeit I") and Norwegian ("Jesus' Tod"). There are German translations of the song lyrics in the liner notes, though. Also lets you know that Varg Vikernes is an AwesomeMcCoolname. Varg means wolf in most Scandinavian languages. It's like an English speaker named Wolf Wilson.

* BilingualBonus: While he has a few English lyrics, most of his songs are in his native Norwegian, and ''Umskiptar'' has lyrics in Old Norse (taken from a poem entitled ''Völuspá''). Also, the most commonly used versions of the song titles on ''Filosofem'' are all in German, although the lyrics themselves are in English ("Dunkelheit", "Erblicket die Töchter des Firmaments", "Gebrichlichkeit I") and Norwegian ("Jesus' Tod"). There are German translations of the song lyrics in the liner notes, though.

* RefugeInAudacity: Varg claimed to have stabbed Euronymous in self defense at his murder trial. Euronymous had ''23'' wounds on his corpse.
** Although he claims that many of Euronymous' "stab wounds" were actually inflicted by broken glass he threw him down upon (not ''entirely'' implausible, considering several of these wounds were on the soles of his feet).

* RockMeAsmodeus: Vikernes has criticised the prevalence of this trope in BlackMetal, claiming ([[JerkassHasAPoint mostly correctly]]) that there were no genuine historical examples of Satan worship; all recorded historical examples before around the 20th century prove to have been pagan practices that were literally demonised. However, he played this straight early in his career with songs such as "Dominus Sathanas" and "As Flittermice as Satans Spys" (a Music/{{Darkthrone}} song for which he wrote lyrics). He claims that these songs were using Satanic imagery as a metaphor for Odin.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: This is particularly evident at his trial. The faces he makes in the file photos don't look like he's taking it very seriously.

Vikernes was released in 2009 on parole, and started recording the album ''Belus'', his first metal album since his arrest. Burzum came to an end in 2018 as part of a decision by Vikernes himself who wished to not extend the project more than it already has.

''Dauði Baldrs'', ''Hliðskjálf'', ''Sôl austan, Mâni vestan'', and ''The Ways of Yore'' are ambient albums; the remainder are primarily metal (though they typically have at least one ambient song).

* StraightEdgeEvil: In the present day, Varg espouses and practices a healthy lifestyle, free of drugs, porn, deviant sexual acts, [[FamilyValuesVillain and a focus on the family]]. This is the same Varg who burned down up to 4 churches and stabbed his bandmate to death.

Burzum was a one-man studio project by Norwegian black metal musician Varg Vikernes, notorious within music history for church burnings, the killing of Music/{{Mayhem}}'s guitarist Euronymous, and being a white nationalist. Burzum is also the {{Trope Maker|s}} for ambient black metal.

** There are two odd cases where a song does not appear on an album of the same title. Somewhat confusingly, ''Det som engang var'' does not feature the track "Det som en gang var" (note the slight spelling difference): that song didn't make an appearance until his next album, ''Hvis lyset tar oss''.
** There is also a song entitled "Burzum" that does not appear on his SelfTitledAlbum; it appears on ''Filosofem'', although it is more commonly known by its GratuitousGerman title, "Dunkelheit" (however, "Burzum" is the official title). Even though it was the first song he wrote for the project, Varg was dissatisfied with his original recording of it and did not release it. Recognising it to be one of his finest songs, he withheld its release until he recorded a version he found satisfactory.

* TitleTrack: Somewhat confusingly, ''Det som engang var'' does not feature the track "Det som en gang var" (note the slight spelling difference): that song didn't make an appearance until his next album, ''Hvis lyset tar oss''. Played straight on ''Hvis lyset tar oss'', ''Dauði Baldrs'', and ''The Ways of Yore'', and PlayedWith on ''Sôl austan, Mâni vestan'' (which has two songs featuring each half of the title). The others avert it completely. (Note that he also had a ''song'' originally named "Burzum", which does not appear on his SelfTitledAlbum; it was retitled "Dunkelheit" and appears on ''Filosofem'').

* IndecipherableLyrics: As a rule when the lyrics are screamed, although Norwegian speakers might face less difficulty. The few songs with English lyrics (mostly "Burzum", "Beholding the Daughters of the Firmament", and "Decrepitude I") are actually surprisingly easy to understand, at least by BlackMetal standards.

* IndecipherableLyrics: As a rule when the lyrics are screamed (although a Norwegian speaker might face less difficulty).

%%'''NOTE:''' Varg Vikernes is a pretty polarising fellow, so please keep a neutral perspective and remember the RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement.

Burzum is a one-man studio project by Norwegian black metal musician Varg Vikernes, notorious within music history for church burnings, the killing of Music/{{Mayhem}}'s guitarist Euronymous, and being a white nationalist. Burzum is also the {{Trope Maker|s}} for ambient black metal.

Vikernes was released in 2009 on parole, and started recording the album ''Belus'', his first metal album since his arrest.

''Dauði Baldrs'', ''Hliðskjálf'', ''Sôl austan, Mâni vestan'', and ''The Ways of Yore'' are ambient albums; the remainder are primarily metal (though they typically have at least one song).

* ''Burzum'', 1992
* ''Det som engang var'', 1993
* ''Aske'', 1993
* ''Hvis lyset tar oss'', 1994
* ''Filosofem'', 1996
* ''Dauði Baldrs'', 1997
* ''Hliðskjálf'', 1999
* ''Belus'', 2010

* ''Umskiptar'', 2012
* ''Sôl austan, Mâni vestan'', 2013

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Some of the official song titles don't match the most commonly used Norwegian spellings, likely because the font Varg used didn't have the å and ø characters. Examples include "En ring til aa herske" (would typically be spelt "En ring til å herske"), "Naar himmelen klarner" (typically spelt "Når himmelen klarner"), "Belus' doed" (typically spelt "Belus' død"), "Morgenroede" (typically spelt "Morgenrøde"), and so on. (Note that there are several different dialects of Norwegian, and spellings aren't always standardised between them. The most commonly ''written'' is Bokmål by far, with Nynorsk being a distant second; however, most speakers don't actually ''speak'' either Bokmål or Nynorsk as written, but rather a regional dialect that identifies their origins.)

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Some of the official song titles don't match the most commonly used Norwegian spellings, likely because the font Varg used didn't have the å and ø characters. Examples include "En ring til aa herske" (would typically be spelt "En ring til å herske"), "Naar himmelen klarner" (typically spelt "Når himmelen klarner"), "Belus' doed" (typically spelt "Belus' død"), "Morgenroede" (typically spelt "Morgenrøde"), and so on. (Note that there are several different dialects of Norwegian and spellings aren't always standardised between them, though the most commonly spoken by far are Bokmål and Nynorsk.)

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Some of the official song titles don't match the most commonly used Norwegian spellings, likely because the font Varg used didn't have the å and ø characters. Examples include "En ring til aa herske" (would typically be spelt "En ring til å herske"), "Naar himmelen klarner" (typically spelt "Når himmelen klarner"), "Belus' doed" (typically spelt "Belus' død"), "Morgenroede" (typically spelt "Morgenrøde"), and so on.

* EpicRocking: About half of the songs he's recorded. ''Hvis lyset tar oss'', for example, is comprised of four tracks, the shortest of which is nearly eight minutes long.

* EitherOrTitle: Sort of. There are two sets of titles for the songs on ''Filosofem''. One generally (with the exception of "Burzum", which is in the BlackSpeech of Mordor) matches the language of the lyrics (if there are any), meaning they're either in English or Norwegian (the first instrumental has a Norwegian title, while the second has an English one). The other set is in German. As mentioned above, the German titles are more commonly used, though Vikernes considers the Black Speech/English/Norwegian titles to be more accurate. The lyrics also feature German translations.

* {{Instrumentals}}: Up to half of his work, really.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: His GenreShift to dark ambient came about because for the duration of his sentence the prison guards refused to allow him record with guitars and basses, only allowing him a keyboard. Yes, prisons in Norway ''do'' allow inmates to record dark ambient albums that because in most of Europe detention is meant to be rehabilitative rather than punishing/torturous.

* SopranoAndGravel: While most of his vocals are the typical HarshVocals of black metal, there are occasional sung or spoken parts thrown in for variety and effect.

* BilingualBonus: While he has a few English lyrics, most of his songs are in his native Norwegian. Also, the most commonly used versions of the song titles on ''Filosofem'' are all in German, although the lyrics themselves are in English ("Dunkelheit", "Erblicket die Töchter des Firmaments") and Norwegian ("Jesus' Tod", "Gebrichlichkeit I"). There are German translations of the song lyrics in the liner notes, though.

[[caption-width-right:350:Such a nice young man, that Varg...]]

-->-- '''Varg Vikernes,'''

Burzum is a one-man studio project by Norwegian black metal musician Varg Vikernes, notorious within music history for church burnings, the killing of Music/{{Mayhem}}'s guitarist Euronymous, and being a white nationalist. Burzum is also the TropeMaker for ambient black metal.

!!Varg Vikernes and his music provide the following trope examples:

* BrownNote: The music is intended as a real life example of this trope - Vikernes envisions each Burzum album as a kind of "spell" to be listened to while the listener is lying in bed, such that by the end of the album they will be sent to sleep. YMMV as to whether he succeeded in this goal.
* CloudCuckooLander: This is particularly evident at his trial. The faces he makes in the file photos don't look like he's taking it very seriously.

** Although he claims that many of Euronymous's "stab wounds" were actually inflicted by broken glass he threw him down upon (not ''entirely'' implausible, considering several of these wounds were on the soles of his feet).

%%'''NOTE:''' Varg Vikernes is a [[BaseBreaker pretty polarising fellow]], so please keep a neutral perspective and remember the RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement.

Burzum is a one-man studio project by Norwegian black metal musician Varg Vikernes, notorious within music history for church burnings, the killing of {{Mayhem}}'s guitarist Euronymous, and being a white nationalist. Burzum is also the TropeMaker for ambient black metal.

* BilingualBonus: While he has a few English lyrics, most of his songs are in his native Norwegian. Also, the most commonly used versions of the song titles on ''Filosofem'' are all in German, although the lyrics themselves are in English ("Dunkelheit", "Erblicket die Töchter des Firmaments") and Norwegian ("Jesus' Dod", "Gebrichlichkeit I"). There are German translations of the song lyrics in the liner notes, though.