Burzum - Det Som Engang Var (Black Metal)

Det Som Engang Var is the second Burzum full-length album, and a masterpiece of hypnotic and atmospheric black metal. Expanding upon the musical lexicon of the impeccable debut, Det Som Engang Var sees Burzum incorporate more death metal technical, although the heart of the music remains staunchly black metal.

As with all Burzum releases, the stunner here is that each track stands on its own and is memorable for its own configuration, yet somehow fits into the concept of the album so snugly that it can almost seem nonsensical to listen to separated tracks. The sense of gliding over gently rolling landscapes, which would later be fully developed on the legendary Hvis Lyset Tar Oss, is present in the semi-recursive longer melodies, as is the rhythmic savagery of ambient death metal riffs that, like an atmospheric connective tissue, pull the interludes and gentler moments of each song toward a convergent and epic resolution.

These songs, like figures in a dream or memories just out of full recall, always seem both new and perennially familiar at the same time. It is in this that the music on Det Som Engang Var triumphs, through perseverance toward the divine, and through presenting a war cry for the rediscovery of black metal's inner soul.

An incredibly profound album that heavily influenced the nascent Norwegian black metal scene - and beyond, as evidenced by Neraines' Fenrir Prowling masterpiece - Det Som Engang Var is a must own for all black metal fans.