Bravo Varg! 10/10, Probably one of the best albums released of ALL TIME.



...then I woke up.

Written by Guest on 17.05.2012 at 22:48
...then I woke up.

From that dreadful nightmare.

Perhaps Varg will notice the negative reception the album has received, then accuse listeners of " being in on the jewish conspiracy". Before stabbing his producer in self defence 69 times.

Written by Guest on 21.05.2012 at 00:04

Perhaps Varg will notice the negative reception the album has received, then accuse listeners of " being in on the jewish conspiracy". Before stabbing his producer in self defence 69 times.

$10 MS dollars says he burns down the studio first.

10/10 have never heard an album so sadistically boring. It shows the darkness and cruelty of existence by making you hate everything about the album and switching after a handful of songs.

Wow, didn't think it would be this bad. I even enjoyed the Dark Ambient albums so much more than this.

What's with the hate?

Written by Slyfang on 21.05.2012 at 22:54

What's with the hate?

What's with the love?

Written by Boxcar Willy on 21.05.2012 at 23:35

Written by Slyfang on 21.05.2012 at 22:54

What's with the hate?

What's with the love?

I really enjoy the album, but the reaction here seems kind of hysterical

Written by Slyfang on 21.05.2012 at 23:37

Written by Boxcar Willy on 21.05.2012 at 23:35

Written by Slyfang on 21.05.2012 at 22:54

What's with the hate?

What's with the love?

I really enjoy the album, but the reaction here seems kind of hysterical

Actually I was asking you why you liked it.

I think it would be okay if he actually did some growling and changed it up a little from song to song.

I still think he derserves a little recognition due to him trying something new.

Written by Slyfang on 21.05.2012 at 22:54

What's with the hate?

I don't find anything particularly hysterical about the reaction I've seen here. The album is awful for a certain number of reasons acording to people's personal opinions and that's it. I don't see any senseless bashing coming from anyone so far.

To me this is an album that is way too long for it's own good. All the songs go nowhere and the monotonous and hypnotic riffs/melodies that once were the trademark of Burzum's sound are now just a pile of riffs which like I wrote before, go absolutely nowhere. The vocals are just awful and the production doesn't really help at all either.

Written by X-Ray Rod on 21.05.2012 at 23:54
To me this is an album that is way too long for it's own good. All the songs go nowhere and the monotonous and hypnotic riffs/melodies that once were the trademark of Burzum's sound are now just a pile of riffs which like I wrote before, go absolutely nowhere. The vocals are just awful and the production doesn't really help at all either.

I agree with everything you said.

Written by Guest on 21.05.2012 at 19:31
I even enjoyed the Dark Ambient albums so much more than this.

I was unpleasantly surprised when I realized I felt the same way.

I enjoyed the album and honestly, I don't know main reason behind the majority of those low ratings.
But we can agree on one thing and that is the controversy that surround's anything that Varg touches.

I think I enjoyed Hit Helga Tre the most.

Written by Boxcar Willy on 21.05.2012 at 23:43

Actually I was asking you why you liked it.

I think it would be okay if he actually did some growling and changed it up a little from song to song.

I still think he derserves a little recognition due to him trying something new.

I find the album's atmosphere is superb, it's immersive and intricate, which is all I really look for in Burzum's music

I think it's not bad album, I'm glad that he is trying to add something new to his music, and I really like his clean vocals, especially in Galgviðr.

Yah know, this album kinda reminds me in Lulu in a way. Both albums consist of boring, stale, repetitive riffs, with a guy mumbling over them. The difference is that the music here is even less dynamic and more repetitive.

Written by Guest on 03.06.2012 at 04:34
Yah know, this album kinda reminds me in Lulu in a way. Both albums consist of boring, stale, repetitive riffs, with a guy mumbling over them. The difference is that the music here is even less dynamic and more repetitive.

Very much agreed, although at least this album has some atmosphere. That's the only reason I personally didn't find it to be a complete viking metal version of Lulu.

Regarding ratings this is the worst Burzum album ever. I can hardly disagree...

Rather than listening to good music, or just enjoying some good old fashioned silence for once, I've decided to write a "serious review" of this album based on the incessant bitching requests for a less joke-based rant-styled review in my review thread. Here goes:
-----
With the releases of Belus and Fallen in back-to-back years, Varg Vikernes continued the yearly-release trend with his latest offering, Umskiptar. While the aforementioned albums struck a chord with long-time fans for their modernized take on the original Burzum sound, Umskiptar stands out from the rest of his discography like a sore thumb - even more so than the prison releases.

The album begins in typical build-up fashion with a minute-long intro, eventually leading into "Jóln". While the rest of the tracks aren't exactly dramatically different from one another, there isn't really any point in emphasizing any specific song titles, being that each song follows incredibly similar formulas while repeating the same riffs. This has become quite an issue with the atmospheric black metal scene in general, with hazy production values and mid-paced riffs that never venture beyond intro-styled melodies being praised for their brilliance. I'm sure Varg's ultimate defenders will hold fast to their belief in him as a musical genius, but the rest of us will look at this release as one of the genre's less engaging ones, riddled with ultimately stale riffs and weak vocals.

In addition to these problems, overlooking the blatant laugh factor of Varg's pagan chanting and hoarse shrieks, the album is mired in a puddle of mud. The riffs aren't able to wipe the sludge away, and as a result the listener is forced to listen to the same chords being struck absentmindedly over and over. While the guitar is given a dense sound thanks to a murky mixing style, this still isn't enough to provide any serious amount of weight to the music, and thus, it sounds rather hollow. This is quite a major issue on its own, but the real problem lies in the songwriting.

For whatever reason, Varg thought it best to stretch these one-dimensional ideas well beyond their means, sometimes even into 10-minute territory. So you have one or two simplistic mid-paced riffs repeated on end for the sake of illustrating some kind of atmosphere, but this simply doesn't work due to the sheer annoyance of being exposed to such overwhelming levels of nothingness. In order to create atmosphere, the music needs to engage its audience, not repel it. Unfortunately, Varg's timid approach and fear for expanding beyond one or two amateur riffs indeed repels the listener - to the point he's isolated himself from the rest of the listening world atop his throne made of Burzum fanboy spunk.

Had Varg opted to expand on Bathory's viking metal style more, incorporating the epic songwriting and challenging riffs of his boyhood idol, perhaps this release would have at least offered something for casual fans to enjoy. Instead, he gave us one of the most drawn-out one-dimensional pagan-themed atmospheric black metal releases ever. The opportunity to freshen up an overlooked and undervalued sub-genre was wildly missed with this release.

Years from now we may look back on Umskiptar as the unofficial death of viking metal.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 12.06.2012 at 20:08

Rather than listening to good music, or just enjoying some good old fashioned silence for once, I've decided to write a "serious review" of this album based on the incessant bitching requests for a less joke-based rant-styled review in my review thread.

Not objective hur hur hur!
Nah, but seriously... It's good. Both reviews work as good tbh.

Written by X-Ray Rod on 12.06.2012 at 20:25
Not objective hur hur hur!
Nah, but seriously... It's good. Both reviews work as good tbh.

That first part wasn't part of the review. Just an explanation for those wondering why I decided to post a 500-word comment in an album thread.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 12.06.2012 at 20:27

Written by X-Ray Rod on 12.06.2012 at 20:25
Not objective hur hur hur!
Nah, but seriously... It's good. Both reviews work as good tbh.

That first part wasn't part of the review. Just an explanation for those wondering why I decided to post a 500-word comment in an album thread.

Well, duh.
I just quoted that because I didn't feel like quoting the whole thing. Chances are that you'll still get shit for this review though. Can't wait to read it.

To be honest I don't think this album is quite as bad as people are making out, but at the same time I can understand why it is regarded as one of Burzum's worst albums. First of all, the vocals are just horrible. Most of the time it's Varg Vikernes reading icelandic poetry, and even when he tries to go on harsher vocals, he sounds as if he needs cough medicine. And when he sings, he sounds just....boring. Unfortunately the other instruments don't really make up for this either. The use of the guitars add some effect found on Burzum's earlier albums, but it still doesn't manage to give off the same mesmerizing atmosphere. There is barely any use of drums and bass, and when there is, it is hard to distinguish them from Vikernes' vocals. That said, I found the first half to be so much better than the latter half-in fact, if the album finished with 'Valgaldr (song of the Fallen)', I probably would have liekd this a lot more. What an utter disappointment this is though, to say the man himself believed this to be a 'return to the roots'.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 12.06.2012 at 20:08

the real problem lies in the songwriting.

I listened to two songs and I could already sense that. It's rather unfortunate that it ended up sounding like poor man's folk metal. What he needs to do is sit down, work on one album for like 5 years and focus on making really good songs instead of half-assed material every year.

I had no intention of listening to this but both reviews achieve the same outcome; avoid like the plague!

Well, Varg is definitely not talented enough to keep releasing new albums every year. He should take more time to hone his songwriting skills.
I liked both "Belus" and "Fallen" despite sounding a bit rough but this album is too repetitive. It almost sounds like one endless song in many variations. Too bad...

Written by NocturnalStalker on 17.06.2012 at 19:06
Well, Varg is definitely not talented enough to keep releasing new albums every year. He should take more time to hone his songwriting skills. I liked both "Belus" and "Fallen" despite sounding a bit rough but this album is too repetitive. It almost sounds like one endless song in many variations. Too bad...

I don't know if it's a matter of lacking talent, but inspiration, or ideas. Before the prison sentence he was almost as proficient as he is now - the only difference being that his passion for the music and the scene was rivaled by his ability to put his thoughts on paper. Perhaps his prolonged isolation from the scene has clouded his thoughts so he's left having to force himself to write in order to keep up with his "legend", only by doing so he's actually tarnishing it.

That, or he just doesn't give a shit and hopes for his dearly devoted fanboys to continue paying his rent.

What you said about the music this time around is especially true though: monotonous, repetitive, and hardly any variation.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 18.06.2012 at 02:44

I don't know if it's a matter of lacking talent, but inspiration, or ideas.

Big Mike from cell block C took all his inspiration and ideas.