Filosofem

Filosofem

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Both evolving to simplicity and devolving to pop music, Burzum produces a troublingly obscure and romantic work. Some call it 'Odinpop' but Europop might more accurately reflect the roots of the new aesthetic, which resembles the culture of the self-destr

Tracks:

Dunkelheit
Jesus Dod
Erblicket Die Durhther des Firmamaents
Gebrechlichkeit 1
Rundgang Um Die Transzendentale Saule Der Singularitat
Gebrechlichkeit 2

Album Description

1996 album for the now defunct Norwegian metal act. Six tracks. Misanthropy Records. Digipak.

Customer Reviews:

Great artist, not great album.......2007-02-21

Burzum is by far, in my opinion, the greatest mastermind in music. Yet, this album does not live up to that. Burzum is known for repetivity, but this is nearly ridiculous. I am a die hard Burzum fan, which is the only reason i bought this album. If you are not a Burzum fan, but want to hear the music anyways, I suggest Det Som Engang Var, or Aske.
The best songs on this album are probably Erblicket Die Tochter Des Firmaements, and Dunkelheit.

dark, eerie, and grim........2006-06-23

This is an amazing album! listening to this masterpiece almost puts tears to my eyes because of its very emotional and atmospheric sound. varg definetely know how to make black metal sound like its supposed to. dark, sad, angry, emotional, and of coarse grim. one complaint about this album is the 25 minute song its good dont get me wrong but it does seem to drag out for an awefully long time. but hey thats what makes burzum the one of a kind black metal band they are or should i say he is.

Yikes........2006-04-03

Psychedelic black metal? Acid black metal? Whatever you call it, this is two or three cuts above the average screamy stuff. It's beautiful, fuzz-distorted, ambient black metal; the vocals are buried in the mix, and are almost indistinguishable from the riffs. Beautiful and mid-paced work, with a twenty-five minute ambient track that actually works! The ambient work on this album is like Brian Eno's "Discreet Music" or Cluster's "71," only it's framed by music from a frost-stripped northern waste.

If you like this -- and you probably will if you're already looking at it on Amazon -- then you should look at some of the other earlier Burzum albums. You should also take a gander at Judas Iscariot, Nortt, Xasthur, and Nachtmystium, as well as half a dozen good, fuzzier, ambient black metal acts from places like Russia, Poland, or Finland.

Now...buy this album. Enjoy. I know you will. Then get "Det Som Engang Var" and the others.

Undeniably epic........2005-11-14

Burzum's final black metal album came in the form of this fuzzed-out, distorted epic of all that is black and grim. However, this is much different than Varg's other black metal. Hyponotic, distorted guitar passages grab the listener's ear and keep it until the riff slowly melts into one even more grim. Varg's high-pitched screams are absent here, where he instead put heavy distortion on his voice. There are 3 pieces of straight metal, all very heavy and monsterous. 2 songs are a pair, one being a more metal-oriented song with vocals, and the other closing the album with a wave of beautiful ambience. A 25+ minute long epic lies towards the end of the album (technically about halfway through), and it is a very simple ambient piece with a lovely Norweigian story in the booklet. It's trance-inducing!

Filosfem is an excellent Burzum album, and would be 2nd only to Hvis Lyset Tar Oss in my opinion.

nothing.......2005-07-01

where do i start?this cd sounds like a continuation of hivs lyset tar oss but this time the keyboards are more up front and one the trademarks of burzum the vocals are replaced by some extremely distorted vocals that sound more in line with industrial than black metal. but song number 5 is one that a lot arent going to like it is a 25 minute ambient piece while the other are just eletronic pieces but the first three are black metal although different

Average customer rating:

...
Very Moody and Very Eerrie and... very long...
Perhaps, the most significant black metal album of all time
Not Varg's best...
....

Filosofem
Burzum
Manufacturer: Feral House
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Alternative Metal | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Death Metal | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Burzum/Aske
Det Som Engang Var

ASIN: B000000F6K
Release Date: 1997-04-23

Tracks:

Dunkelheit
Jesus Tod
Erblicket Die Tochter Des Firmaments
Gebrechlichkeit I
Rundgang Um Die Transzendentale Saule Der Singularitat
Gebrechlichkeit II

Album Description

Both evolving to simplicity and devolving to pop music, Burzum produces a troublingly obscure and romantic work. Some call it 'Odinpop' but Europop might more accurately reflect the roots of the new aesthetic, which resembles the culture of the self-destr

Customer Reviews:

..........2006-07-09

Well, what should I begin with? First of all, I've never really looked into Black Metal and I've never cared about the genre much, but I still feel a need for reviewing this album.
Filosofem a 1996 release made by a Norwegian church-burning nazi-heathen murderer and Tolkien geek called Varg Vikernes under the name of Burzum.
So what kind of album could you possibly expect from a person this overtly evil? Frankly, I expected some primitive two-chord Death-Metal-type music (not saying death metal is necessarily primitive) with laughable "epic" lyrics littered with exaggerated nationalist images and tales of brave Norse warriors and Odin and the like.
But fortunately, this album didn't meet any of my expectations. Primitive? Cerebral! Two-chord? Not a bit! Cheesy lyrics? Nope, sir!
The album starts out with a track called Dunkelheit, which kinda sets the tone for the album. Slow-moving washed layers of high-pitched guitar, minimal, gothic keyboards and equally minimal drumming. In short, sheer dark beauty. The song is about 8 minutes long and builds up a dense and dark (but not bleak) atmosphere for about 3 minutes before the vocals come in. Vikernes basically screams through a distortion device and the whole thing is very low in the mix, which means that the aforementioned atmosphere isn't destroyed by brute force. The vocals really weave into the layered guitars almost magically, and they're actually very sparse. What destroys it though is when Vikernes attempts a "clean" spoken-word rendition of the lyrics sometime later. In my opinion, his pidgin English should be screamed and distorted and kept in the back row. It sounds laughable when spoken.
Track two, called Jesu Tod (Jesus' Tod is gramatically incorrect)is of a similar kind, but with some fast drumbeats this time and no keyboards. It's also the only ideological song on this album, and depicts Jesus as "a shadow of the forces of evil". But it still remains rather abstract, lyrically. Which also leads me to the albums' other lyrics. Well, they're dark, and abstract yet atmospheric, and in combination with the music, gives you the feel of walking through a Norwegian forest at night, but surprisingly enough, the imagery that's set doesn't contain the least bit of overblow nationalism. Instead, it seems serious and honest to God (or rather Odin). To be honest, I had to look the lyrics up though. It's not easy to understand what Vikernes is actually singing most of the time, the vocals being so distorted and low in the mix. And the language isn't clear at times, especially in Jesu Tod.
Erblicket Die Töchter Des Firmaments uses keyboards again, although very sparsely, but has far more vocals than any other track on this album. Gebrechlichkeit I is really heavy on the keyboards though and is softer and more ambient than the tracks before it. Still, it manages to be dark and brooding.
But then follows the absolute lowpoint of this otherwise excellent album. A piece called Rundgang Um Die Transzendentale Säule Der Singularität that sounds like those little instrumental fillers Black Sabbath used to have. Except it's 25 minutes long. A three-note keyboard riff and a bit of bass, that's it. Sabbath knew why they kept theirs short, I guess.
The album closes with an instrumental rendition of Gebrechlichkeit I.
In short: The first four tracks are essential, the last two (that make up about half of the whole album) aren't. But it still more than deserves four stars, since the first half is so damn great!
Despite what kind of sick, perverted and misguided personality Varg Vikernes may be, it appears that he knows how to make good music and how to keep the sociapathic stuff out of it.

Very Moody and Very Eerrie and... very long..........2006-06-23

Perhaps, the most significant black metal album of all time.......2006-02-26

When it comes to black metal what is really relevant? There are so many bands that suck. There are so many bands imitating the old greats - Immortal, Mayhem, Emperor, and especially Darkthrone. Out of all black metal, I believe Burzum is the only trve band. I mean, that Varg actually BELIEVED in what he was doing. He was not doing it for a scene, he actually believed in the ideologies he was setting forth. And yeah, sometimes his infamous crimes overshadow his music, but then you realize just how serious this music is... It is not the joke and parody black metal seems to be nowadays. It is dead serious. This is music from a man who hates our contemporary times, who would like to see them torn asunder and replaced. For one thing, Varg calls for the complete abolishment of Christianity - a religion that had been forced upon the European people. He wants it replaced with the religion that was there before Christianity, which makes sense, but not many people care about these issues nowadays... No one REALLY cares about culture and tradition; it is just about shiny cars and money. With that in mind, it is easy to see why Varg is regarded as an enemy of society, because he really is one. He doesn't dress up in corpse paint, walk around, and wallow in self-inflicted misery like most black metallers seem to do nowadays. Now that doesn't mean I condone murder, because I firmly believe some of his potential went down the drain because of it.

This album shows that Varg had a lot of capability. Perhaps, it was inevitable for someone with this kind of extreme mindset to go to prison. However, for the time being it produced some great, aesthetically pleasing transcendental black metal. And of course, this music was incredibly innovative for its time. It had never been done before....

And it will probably never be done again with the same spirit and intentions.

Not Varg's best..........2004-09-02

...but still great!

Whenever you're feeling angry or depressed, do you ever wish you could either burn the world to the ground, or just create your own world for yourself? I know that is how I feel sometimes, and by the sound of this album, Varg possesses the same desire on occasion. After all, the world isn't exactly all fun and loving, but at the same time it isn't always as cruel or as cold as some make it out to be. In times such as this, it's not too hard to understand what draws people into viewing the world from a misanthropic perspective. Yet again, Varg captures his emotions and transmutes them into some vivid and intense music.

I would definitely say it takes a different kind of listener to appreciate this kind of music, instead of the average gr1m and n3kr0 black metal fan. The only parallel this album holds to any other works of Varg's is probably "Hlidskjalf" (in the sense that even though it`s minimalism is obvious, it still captivates); even then that is calling it close. The guitars are heavily distorted, loud and crispy in sound, which gives the over all sound kind of a passive chaotic feel to it. This isn't the kind of angry that smashes you in the face, but more or less dwells right in front of you; bubbling and waiting to explode against anyone who crosses it's path. The steady and tranquil drums only help to reinforce and escalate the feeling of bitter and unbridled dejected misanthropy.

Varg approaches with some chilly keyboard melodies, which send shivers to every corner of the body. It's so cold and passively angry that it's almost creepy. This is the soundtrack for the concept of the evil demon that dwells in us all - the one that wants to come out, but our mind blocks it out. Much like Hlidskjalf, this is pretty abstract. The vocals are still raspy and shrieking, but on this album they are distorted and electronic.

There is a twenty-five minute instrumental on this album, and as much as I like the gloomy, forbidding, and cold sound it gives off, it is way too long in length. Varg could have easily conveyed the emotion of this song in less than twenty-five minutes; this just feels like a giant filler. Yes, the music is great, but almost half an hour is excessive for a minimalist and repetitive instrumental. Ten or fifteen minutes would have been enough time to get the point across without completely lulling the listener to sleep. Oh yeah, where the Hell is the bass on this album?

Either it's just very hard to hear, or Varg removed it all together. At this point in time, this isn't like all of Varg's other work; it's much more abstract and contrived from deep thought and emotion, rather than just creating an album that would appeal to people. Also, it was around this time that Varg began to become disgusted with most metal in general, so it's no real surprise that he began to change his own music. Not a bad album, it's not my favorite, but still an excellent piece of work on behalf of the Count. If you are a person who likes their music to step into the boundaries of being theoretical, then you'll probably enjoy this.

...........2003-01-11

long and boring since songs drag through 10-20 minutes each of ambience and slow emotional passages. Recommended only for die hard burzum fans.

Average customer rating:

Excellent work...
Well thought music deserves more than 5 stars
Beyond Black Metal.
Can't go wrong with burzum.
Know what their doing.

Filosofem
Burzum
Manufacturer: Misanthropy
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000679E
Release Date: 1998-02-16

Tracks:

Dunkelheit
Jesus Tod
Erblicket Die Tochter Des Firmaments
Gebrechlichkeit I
Rundgang Um Die Transzendentale Saule Der Singularitat
Gebrechlichkeit II

Customer Reviews:

Excellent work..........2005-08-23

This album stands alone...it left black metal behind, as other people have said in their reviews. This is the last Burzum album worth paying attention to, IMO.

Well thought music deserves more than 5 stars.......2005-03-23

5 stars just isn't enough when it comes to rating burzum.

musically, he is a genius. He doesn't need to be technical and show off. Nor does he need blazing fast guitar solos.

Burzum is unique and magnificant in his own way.

This cd doesnt need a review, just listen to it for yourself.

Beyond Black Metal........2005-03-08

This album speaks for itself, Varg Vikerness's Art is So Deep so Beautiful, you cannot put words to his music, In his Music you will find True beauty in Darkness, Gebrechlichkeit I & II being the most powerful songs on the Album, espeically Gebrechlichkeit II Being one of the Most Powerful and amazing songs in his whole Display of Art. YOU MUST get a copy of this if you find the such vast ammount of appreciation in his music, You will not fail Gebrechlichkeit II, by not listening to it VERY CAREFULLY, listen to it CAREFULLY, and you will find the true meaning of Varg Vikerness and Burzum.

Can't go wrong with burzum........2004-10-14

What can it be said, about burzum ?Just an ambient and disorted sound along with a very very dark and haunting vibe.If you don't already own burzum's ""filosofem" then you dont deserve to be into blackmetal, at all. I recommend!

Know what their doing........2004-08-25

Burzum realy knows what their album and i do own all of their albums which is funny because i don't black metal at all.Anyways,something not like the crappy peers and actullie very talented musicians along with amazing production...Top notch!Realy good guitars aswell.Recommended!

Average customer rating: