Burzum - Belus review
| Band: | Burzum |
| Album: | Belus |
| Style: | Black metal |
| Release date: | March 08, 2010 |
| A review by: | Lucas |
01. Leukes Renkespill (Introduksjon)
02. Belus' Død
03. Glemselens Elv
04. Kaimadalthas' Nedstigning
05. Sverddans
06. Keliohesten
07. Morgenrøde
08. Belus' Tilbakekomst
Let's not waste too much time squabbling over Vargs crazy antics. It's already surreal enough that there's a new Burzum out, let's not overload our poor brains. Belus, or the White God, has enough of Varg's magical touch to cause controversy from the very first second it was announced, with Varg playing his favourite part as innocent Manuel "I know noooothing". Ah, good times.
After majestic albums such as Det Som Engang Var, Hvis Lyset Tar Oss and Filosofem, a return to Black metal as promised by Varg left half of the Burzum-camp excited and the other half sceptical. For all of them, there's really only one question and that is: will Varg piss on his own legacy or not? Well, for all those that hate cliffhangers (I'm one of you): yes. Ok, his legacy may not be drenched in urine, but it definitely needs a change of underwear.
Belus aims to hypnotize the listener, but it fails due to too much fluctuation in songwriting quality, a lacklustre production and a general feeling of "we've heard this all before". Unfortunately for Varg, the tidal wave of bedroom depressive Black metal bands he inspired are the reason why Belus fails to impress.
As stated before, the songs vary too much in quality. While a few songs achieve the desired drony trance ("Glemselens Elv", "Belus' Tillbakekomst (Konklusjon)"), others sound too dull and bland to deserve a place in Burzum's discography ("Belus' Død"). With his monotone and repetitive style he takes a risk with each single riff, it absolutely has to be great to deserve endless repetition, and he just swings-and-misses too often. He should've taken another five years.
"Sverddans" and "Keliohesten", tracks five and six respectively, also do the album no good with their faster pace and hateful nature. Although decent songs in their own merit, they break the hypnotic cycle (which already tends to collapse on itself due the weak building bricks a.k.a. riffs incorporated in the structure). And that the most memorable riff in "Keliohesten" is a typical De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas-riff, that is just pure ironic gold.
However, by far the most disappointing element of Belus are the vocals. Varg has lost it. His wolf-esque howls have been replaced with mediocre, wholly unimpressive run-off-the-mill shrieks. You'd figure that after so many years of prison his shrieks would have entered a new dimension of pain ("pick up the soap, Mr. Arsonist"), but they have only grown tame and lame. He seems to have noticed this too, as he utilizes them less than before, often opting for clean vocals instead. These clean vocals are nice surprise - he does them with verve - but they cannot salvage the vocal performance as a whole.
In conclusion, Belus is a disappointment. It's not incredibly bad, it has its moments, but it ultimately fails to impress. You'd expect this from a beginning, potentially decent depressive Black metal band, but from Varg? No. Unfortunately for him, his legacy and his devotees have surpassed him. If this did not have Burzum written on the cover, nobody would have given a crap.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 7 |
| Songwriting: | 6 |
| Originality: | 6 |
| Production: | 6 |
 | Written on 28.02.2010 by If you're interested in extreme, often emotional and underground music, check out my reviews. I retired from reviewing, but I really used to be into that stuff. |
Comments page 2 / 3
| K✞ulu Seeker of Truth Posts: 2573  |
Written by Sunioj on 28.02.2010 at 22:38 Any suggestions on not so cliche depressive black metal?
---- Savor what you feel and what you see Things that may not seem important now But may be tomorrow R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner Satan was a Backstreet Boy
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18374  |
Written by pazuzuovbabel on 01.03.2010 at 21:50 Pfff... Actually the clean vocals make the album a bit better, if you read carefully the review, Lucas says that it's his "regular" voice that fucks the feeling. His screams are not the same... Filosofem was brilliant because of his vocal style, here he sounds just tired and unispiring. The clean vocals were the only thing that maked me go "...that was interesting"
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Ander Posts: 45  |
There is such a blatant gap of musicianship between this and Ihsahn's last solo album. The comparison isn't ideal of course, but they're both Norwegian solo artists with major roles in the Black Metal legend, and one is clearly a million times better than the other. All the criminal drama hype around the Count doesn't change anything. I'm not saying Varg has never been a creative and unique musician, but the guy just fails at evolving and taking new directions. Like the reviewer said, nobody would give a shit if "Burzum" wasn't written on the cover.
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| pazuzuovbabel Pazuzu Posts: 303  |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 02.03.2010 at 10:03 well, yeah i didnt say that his screams are still great as before, when i said the worst part are the vocals, i meant all in all the vocals were SO WEAK,, now the clean vocals parts, some may see it as a good thing, and some not .. for me, i just look at it as weired thing to be in a Burzum record ,, BUT, i missed that VARG as all, is a WEIRED guy 
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| Deadmeat Necrobutcher Posts: 2437  |
Written by Baz Anderson on 28.02.2010 at 21:59 i really dont want to start the bitching again but 72 votes imo is not a success for a band with the ability of kreator.
---- Υou've sold your human essence to the cold world of dead and empty things... You're SOLD!
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| Baz Anderson Staff Posts: 13254  |
Written by Deadmeat on 02.03.2010 at 19:25 No it isn't. Should have released a better album then, shouldn't they. That is how the people voted...
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| Deadmeat Necrobutcher Posts: 2437 |
Written by Baz Anderson on 02.03.2010 at 19:59 no. the 10 nomines have the advantage against the others and this is obvious. also the staffers first low-rated this album. not the people.
---- Υou've sold your human essence to the cold world of dead and empty things... You're SOLD!
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| Lucas Mr. Noise Elite Posts: 13427  |
Written by Deadmeat on 02.03.2010 at 21:28 Deadmeat, I ask you very nicely: could you please keep Kreator out of this review? You seem to bring it up everywhere. Get over it.
---- SLUDGE. DOOM. DEATH. Wait, what?  "The reason I'm running for president is because I can't be Bruce Springsteen." - Barack Obama
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| Deadmeat Necrobutcher Posts: 2437 |
Written by Lucas on 02.03.2010 at 21:32 sorry for being off topic. i think i didnt say anything more after the first day of the voting for the awards but i cannot stand it when somoeone says that the people didnt vote a band cause it didnt realease something good when he first, chose it's fate by not nominating it. i saw also other people discusing this. sorry for the off topic.
---- Υou've sold your human essence to the cold world of dead and empty things... You're SOLD!
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18374 |
There's some serious case of "sand in your vagina" Make a thread about it or post it in your facebook... or something... I voted for a band in the death metal category that was nominated but didn't make it to the list, that's the power of write-in, it didn't work as I wanted, it didn't work as you wanted... But I'm not whining. Oh yeah.,... The new Burzum sucks...
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| ß Problem? Posts: 916  |
So far it seems like I'm one of the few people who actually enjoyed Belus, no surprise there really.
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| Richard Elite Posts: 4862  |
I'm perhaps one of the few people here that heard Burzum before Varg went to jail, and what I've heard from the new Burzum album so far sounds promising (the iniitial clips, and a couple of full songs). I'll probably wait until the official release to hear it properly, from beginning to end.
---- 
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| Galar Wicked Mung Posts: 598  |
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| Lord_Regnier Posts: 1469  |
Written by Baz Anderson on 28.02.2010 at 21:59 None of them will be good, most likely. Dimmu Borgir sucks. KoK seems to get worse and worse. And the last 1349 sucked too.
---- "Why would we fear death, when life is so much more frightening?"
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| Nicko's Nose Posts: 490  |
It's a fucking great album and the clean vocals are definitely a good thing. I really don't get the "it sounds too much like Drudkh or *insert other atmopheric black metal band here*" comments... Those bands were influenced by Burzum, you cannot blame Burzum for sounding like them, they are the ones that sound like Burzum.
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| Lucas Mr. Noise Elite Posts: 13427 |
Written by Galar on 03.03.2010 at 21:05 Why?
---- SLUDGE. DOOM. DEATH. Wait, what? "The reason I'm running for president is because I can't be Bruce Springsteen." - Barack Obama
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| Ellrohir Heaven Knight Posts: 8669  |
Because it only gave 6.9 
---- My rest seems now calm and deep Finally I got my dead man sleep 
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| BitterCOld The Ancient One Admin Posts: 15287  |
Galar - average album rating: 9.21 lucas - average album rating: 7.34 so a 6.9 for lucas = 9 for galar.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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| Immortal Rites7 Posts: 1 |
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
Written by Immortal Rites7 on 06.03.2010 at 08:32 He might. But even then the line quoted still stands imo. Cause even though Burzum's entire discography is dull imo, the dullest and blandest of the lot certainly is Daudi Baldrs.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| Lucas Mr. Noise Elite Posts: 13427 |
Written by Immortal Rites7 on 06.03.2010 at 08:32 Yeah, I do know that. Although I do not like the album "Dauði Baldrs", at least he chose a new direction for Burzum on that one. Not a direction I like, but still. "Belus' Død" (and the rest of the album, in varying degrees) is old Burzum rehashed and 'ripped off' - and a very lacklustre rip-off at that. So although I do not like either track, "Dauði Baldrs" was at least a daring and courageous attempt.
---- SLUDGE. DOOM. DEATH. Wait, what? "The reason I'm running for president is because I can't be Bruce Springsteen." - Barack Obama
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18374 |
Am I the only one that enjoys Dauði Baldrs?... It's good when you are playing some games. Hliðskjálf one the other hand is the unnecessary album.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Ellrohir Heaven Knight Posts: 8669 |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 06.03.2010 at 20:09 possibly not only this, but as well you are the only one who enjoys whole Burzum  (apart me of course)
---- My rest seems now calm and deep Finally I got my dead man sleep
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| Sunioj Posts: 3894  |
Written by K✞ulu on 01.03.2010 at 23:23 Off the top of my head: Krohm, Lantlos, Nyktalgia.
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| Uirapuru Liver Failure Posts: 2955  |
Perfect review! Quote: Oh man... that's was epically perfect!  I really liked ''Kaimadalthas' Nedstigning'', it has some of the old feeling, depite the clean vocals. Good album overall
----  ---- member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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| Lucas Mr. Noise Elite Posts: 13427 |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 06.03.2010 at 20:09 I think the guys over at ANUS like the Dauði Baldrs too.
---- SLUDGE. DOOM. DEATH. Wait, what? "The reason I'm running for president is because I can't be Bruce Springsteen." - Barack Obama
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18374 |
Written by Lucas on 08.03.2010 at 18:23 Thanks man, what a wonderful monday it has been.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Galar Wicked Mung Posts: 598 |
Written by Sunioj on 07.03.2010 at 22:42 Nyktalgia slays.
---- YOUR ARGUMENT IS INVALID, SUCK A DICK
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| Slayer666 Posts: 2466  |
Spot on review, Lucas. It's like you took the thoughts right out of my head, and formulated them into this neat text. Quite dissapointing, indeed. I do hope this is some kind of a warm-up album and that the next will be better. Doesn't sound that realistic, though. Come to think of it, all of the ex BM elite now suck pretty bad. Look at Satyricon, Darkthrone, this album, Mayhem (many will disagree here).... The only band that still sound as good, or nearly as good may be Immortal. I guess time caught up to them.... And, by the way, what the fuck is ANUS? I take it it's not the same thing as rectum.
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18374 |
Written by Slayer666 on 09.03.2010 at 14:59 It's a website... I'm not going to say anything more than that because it doesn't deserve to be mentioned, it's full of ermm... assholes. And yeah, I'm one of those who strongly disagree with what you said about Darkthrone and specially Mayhem
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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.. CLEAN VOCALS ,, in BURZUM record ,, 
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