Burzum - Burzum (Black Metal)

The rampantly evil and obscenely original, albeit familiar and almost universal, music of darkness that emanates Burzum, the Norwegian God of epic stylings in extreme music, is nowhere more enthralling and mesmerising than on the band's self-titled debut.

These long and gently cruising songs build melody in rapid blasts of tremolo riffing to create a lugubre atmosphere and then move it, gently at first and then insanely, through a maze of permutations to let the music build all the way to its full exploration of melody and phrase.

It isn't hard to see how this album influenced the nascent Norwegian black metal scene on one hand, as it is the first true second-wave black metal recording, and the rest of Burzum's discography, notably the legendary Hvis Lyset Tar Oss, on the other.

Perhaps the most important piece of music in black metal history, Burzum's debut went on to influence masterpieces such as the dark atmosphere of Phantom's Mindless Horror and the melodic touches of Neraines' Fenrir Prowling.