I think most sane
people would agree that Kristian Vikernes, a.k.a Varg Vikernes, a.k.a. Count
Grishnackh has done some foolish things in his comparitively short life span. In
terms of ideologies, the man has clearly expressed a right-wing affiliation that
I personally do not agree with, and in that sense, I've sometimes been sorry
that I liked at least a couple of the albums he did, 'Daudi Baldrs' most notably.
Politics, killings and whatnot set aside, let's focus on the newly released
re-recordings of some of the material from the first two albums, 'Burzum' and
'Det som engang var'.
The arise of Norwegian black metal in the beginning of the nineties had for me
little positive connotations. OK, I'll put it plainly: I thought it sounded like
shit. It did so for some time. It was only when Emperor, Bathory, Dimmu Borgir and Cradle
of Filth began changing the recipe slightly that I could find some sense in it.
Pure Norwegian black wasn't and still isn't my kettle of fish.
As a natural consequence hereof, 'From he Depths of Darkness' doesn't slide
untested down my alley. But, BUT, where I'd plainly loathe the two original
recordings now in part re-made by the Count, I'm thinking it's not as bad as I'd
feared. I can
actually see a point in the madness, and now that there's actually some sort of production, the
Bathory and Venom influences are so much more apparent. Not that the latter was
any a favourite of mine - the former certainly was, though.
Vikernes knows something about music, and he knows how to create an atmosphere.
Yes, it is very possibly an atmosphere of coldness and antagonistic
hate-mongering, but, let's face it, he does that brilliantly.
