What is Best in Life

As the years have passed and my taste in black metal has narrowed further and further, one album has consistently remained atop my “all time greatest black metal albums of all time” list.  That album is Burzum’s 1994 masterpiece, Hvis Lyset Tar Oss (If the Light Takes Us).  No matter how brilliant new discoveries like Paysage D’Hiver might be, I still feel like Hvis Lyset Tar Oss represents some kind of pinnacle of creativity that really pushed the boundaries of just what black metal could be.

The album only has 4 songs and yet is almost 45 minutes long.  The 14 minute opening epic, “Det Som Engang Var” (That Which Once Was), is perhaps the quintessential Burzum song, and an excellent example of the brilliance of this album.

The song begins with a long ambient intro, and when the drums and guitars finally kick in it is really a quite breathtaking moment:

The rock and roll style riff soon transitions to something far more epic as the sorrowful keyboards and absolutely shredded vocals take over:

Sole member Varg Vikernes abandons traditional verse chorus structure on this album, instead he adopts a more free form method of songwriting, letting themes come, go and morph organically into each other.

Common themes return via new guitar parts added to the mix:

Or, change all together like this clip from the dirge-like five minute outro:

The next song (the title track) at first seems an abrupt change of pace from the epic majesty of the opener as the listener is assaulted by a wall of chaotic noise with hidden discordant complexities buried in the mix:

And then the beauty of the song begins to peek through the mix, like a recording lost in the woods for decades, with only a hint of what it might have sounded like remaining:

The final “black metal” track of the album, “Inn I Slottet Fra Dommen” (To the Castle from a Dream) also starts quite brutally:

However, by the time of the completely epic finale it might just be the most awe inspiring song on an album full of such songs:

Finally, the listener is left with the 14 minute ambient keyboard piece “Tomhet” full of sections like this:

Sure, it might veer dangerously close to new age, but, honestly, I can’t say it doesn’t fit with the atmosphere of the album.  Hvis Lyset Tar Oss is an album full of images of desolate mountaintops, ruined castles and snowswept plains.  It evokes an overwhelming melancholy for that which once was, but is now gone, for all time.  What better way to finish this post, and sum up the brilliant atmosphere of the album than to simply leave you with the translated lyrics to the opening track, “Det Som Engang Var”:

That Which Once Was 

Between the bushes we peered 
At those who reminded us of another age 
And told that hope was gone
For all time… 
We heard elvensong and 
Water that trickled 
What once was is now 
Gone 
All the blood… 
All the longing and pain that 
Ruled 
Are gone… 
Forever… 
We are not dead… 
We have never lived