INTO THE WOODS... - ISLE OF MEN (1993) and VED BUENS ENDE - THOSE WHO CARESS THE PALE (1994)

These two brilliant demos from the early/mid 90's Norwegian Black Metal scene. A sub goal in my LP and CD collecting is to own as many Kyrck Production releases as possible especially the ones from the Norwegian scene. 

The ones I own by Arcturus, Ulver, Thorns/Stigma Diabolicum; Strid/Malfeitor, Manes etc. are all immaculate vinyl and CD releases. Just like these two of course.

Know I'm repeating myself and praising Kyrck in this one again as done in earlier posts. But Kyrck are so amazing at finding demos, hard to get, expensive releases or just brilliant albums. Especially from the Norwegian scene.

Isle Of Men (1993) by Into The Woods...

This vinyl was released in 2006 and limited to 1000 hand numbered copies, 500 black & 500 white-splatter, mine is number 594/1000 (I actually added the back sleeve from my copy over at Discogs because it was missing there).

It comes with a A3 poster of the original demo cover artwork and if you're familiar with Kyrck Productions LP's a small 12-paged booklet that many other releases also includes.

Those Who Caress The Pale (1994) by Ved Buens Ende

My copy was released in 2015 and is limited to 150 copies, they also reissued the demo on purple and orange/black vinyls also 150 copies each at the same time. All versions comes with a A3 poster and the lyrics printed on a regular A4 regular paper, mine is kind of light blue. But I do believe there's other color variants with each of those releases lyrics sheet.

Let's finally start this post by a very unique Black Metal band with Into The Woods... with the second demo called Isle Of Men released in November 1993.

The booklet states that Isle Of Men were recorded in the summer of 1992 but that's a misprint. Because it was actually recorded in June - September of 1993.

Before this demo Into The Woods... had already released the Rehearsal / Demo 02.93 as its title suggests from February of 1993.

The original release of Isle Of Men consists of 5 songs and the line-up is the same as on their epic debut album Heart Of The Ages (1995) released on Misanthropy Records. You can read my post on that one here.

This 2006 reissue has 1 bonus song the title track from the album Heart Of The Ages. It's just a 4-track recording done in 1994 so it's not as refined as the album one.

Some of the titles on Isle Of Men also ended up on the Heart Of The Ages album Wotan's Return and ...In The Woods. Both are already sounding amazing in the demo versions.

Anyone that's heard Heart Of The Ages knows it's a very unique sounding album at the time of its release in the Norwegian scene. The Isle Of Men demo is also very different from other bands but is more straight forward Black Metal than the album.

Isle Of Men could easily have been an album the quality of the songwriting, sound and production is better then many other contemporary bands debut albums. I highly recommend getting this demo on any format you can find it because it's one of my favorite demos from the 90's.

Speaking about high quality demos from those years. Kyrck Productions really did us all a big favor by reissuing another demo. That also could have been an album Those Who Caress The Pale by Ved Buens Ende.

At the time of its release Carl-Michael Eide (clean vocals/drums), Vicotnik (harsh vocals/guitar) and Skoll (bass) weren't exactly quite known in the scene yet.

Shouldn't have to namedrop their resume but I will name some of my favorite associated bands like Arcturus, Dødheimsgard, Ulver, Strid, Aura Noir, Manes and a ton more.

5 songs on this demo and it gives their debut and only album Written In Waters (1995) a tough match for being my favorite Ved Buens Ende release. Another albums that was released by Misanthropy Records that at the time released classic records with each release.

Both songs The Carrier Of Wounds and You That May Wither appears on both releases. Don't have a definitive answer to which version I prefer the most, it depends on my mood of the day. You really should invest in both releases because they are just like In The Woods... a very unique band from my favorite era of the Norwegian scene.

Actually these 2 are the only releases that Ved Buens Ende has ever released. They started as Manes in 1993-94, not to be confused with another amazing Norwegian band with the same name, changed name to Ved Buens Ende in 1994 and split-up in 1997.

They made a short return in 2006-07 and was working on new material but nothing was officially released.

Just recently they announced that Ved Buens Ende are making a comeback! Hell fucking yes am I psyched about this!

With the same line-up but due to Carl-Michael's accident in 2005 that prevents him from playing drums ever again. They have recruited Øyvind Myrvoll as their live drummer with credentials from Aura Noir, Dødheimsgard, ex. Myrkur).

I have really high faith for this reunion even if it's been 24 years since Ved Buens Ende released any new material.

Anyway that's two other releases in my Kyrck Productions collection. I got more amazing reissues to write about from this excellent company.

THE SOMBERLAIN 25th ANNIVERSARY

Tomorrow is a very important day for the Black/Death Metal scene. Because on one Friday the 3rd of December 1993 an album was released on the Swedish label No Fashion Records by a band called Dissection. That record was for me the life changing The Somberlain.

In the spring of 1994 I started buying a new and short lived Swedish magazine called Metal Zone. For a couple of issues Jon Nödtveidt (guitar/vocals) did a few of reviews, wrote in the "Extreme Zone" did interviews with Bathory and Emperor etc.

Got really impressed with his writing. Metal Zone also did a interview with Jon from Dissection. You could say I was a fan even before I had heard The Somberlain just based on all the great texts he wrote and what he said in that interview.

Should mention that the Dissection drummer Ole Öhman wrote a couple of interviews with Carcass and At The Gates. Did reviews etc.

Jon and Ole wasn't apart of Metal Zone for more then a few issues and they didn't have nice things to say about the magazine that had covers with shit bands like Bon Jovi and Clawfinger. 

The hardest music that made the cover of it was probably Metallica, Pantera and Megadeth. It also had a bunch of AOR music articles so it wasn't the perfect magazine.

But if it wasn't for Jon's writing and that interview I probably wouldn't have heard Dissection until a couple of years later. Actually when I heard the name for the first time I thought they were some Cannibal Corpse sounding band not anything wrong about that but clearly they didn't sound anything like that.

When I came over a copy of The Somberlain in the summer of 1994 it was spectacular. I do still  remember the first time listening to it in my bedroom and being completely floored by the music. It was a new formula for me yet it felt like something that summoned up every inch of extreme Metal music.

Know about the ancient debate were Dissection a Death Metal band or a Black Metal band. This is probably going to piss off some younger readers but when a 18-20 year old tells me that Dissection is a Black Metal band period, just shut the hell up about a band and scene that existed long before you were even born. I'm not out to offend someone but sometimes you just had to experienced those days.

I think on The Somberlain the band has a much more Death Metal feel to it then on the more blackened Storm Of The Light's Bane (1995). Remember in the very first Dissection interview I read that Jon said they play Death Metal. Is any of this important? Well no. But also yes because it's a topic I can discuss for a very long time preferable with someone in my age as me or older.

For me Dissection lead me into Black Metal that the album was dedicated to Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth (1968-1993) from "the cursed Mayhem" and the ties that the band had with other Black Metal bands in Scandinavia. Soon thereafter I bought Emperor, Marduk, Immortal etc. albums.


Anyway lets move on. The feeling I got when I
first got the record it was like something very personal something that "no one else" knew about of course there were thousands of people just like me.

But the feeling of knowing about how amazing Dissection was it felt like everyone should know. Soon everyone did know but for awhile I felt like a very "selected" is the best word I can describe it as.

The material on The Somberlain was written as far back as 1989 to 1992. The already mentioned Jon and Ole were joined in Dissection by the longtime bassist Peter Palmdahl (1989-97) and the amazing rythm guitarist John Zwetsloot (1991-94).

Everyone should know the Dissection history, that they had originated from the small Swedish town Strömstad (approx 6 300 people) near the Norwegian border.

Before The Somberlain the band had released the demo also as a 7" Into Infinite Obscurity (1991) on the French label Corpse Grinder Records. Also the demos The Grief Prophecy (1991); The Somberlain 4-song demo from 1992 and also the Promo '93 with Where Dead Angels Lie and my favorite cover song of all time Dissection's version of Elisabeth Bathory originally written by Tormentor.

In March of 1993 between the 1st to the 6th of that month they recorded their debut album in the Hellspawn/Unisound Studio with Dan Swanö. More about the production further down. The studio had already made a mark in the Swedish Death and Black Metal scene with bands I don't should have too mention.

The opening song Black Horizons was the newest track on the album the music was written by Nödtveidt & Zwetsloot in Oct. 92 and the lyrics was written by Nödtveidt a month before that. With its 8 min 10 sec Black Horizons is the longest song on the entire album. It starts of with a backward played phrase. Isn't until 2 min into the song that the vocals starts. The song itself sounds probably the most Black Metal like on the album, it has an acoustic guitar playing in parts of the song. Also that classic King Diamond/Heavy Metal scream done by producer Dan Swanö. A perfect opener and one of the best songs on this masterpiece. 

The title track The Somberlain was my favorite song back when I first started listening to Dissection. With that amazing opening guitar playing sure that Nödtveidt was a great songwriter but his guitar skills aren't talked about as often. In my book he's the 2nd best guitar player just behind Euronymous. Anyway The Somberlain is the second longest song on the album 7 min, it was written by Nödtveidt alone the music in June 92 and the lyrics December 91. If Dissection is to be associated with one song it's likely many will think of The Somberlain it's there anthem song one could say. Actually this song doesn't appear on the 4-song The Somberlain demo from 1992.

The instrumental Crimson Towers is "just" an acoustic guitar played by Zwetsloot alone who also wrote it. Out of the three instrumental songs I think it is the weakest.

The only song that Nödtveidt co-wrote music with bassist Peter Palmdahl was on the song A Land Forlorn. The music was written in June 92 the lyrics dates back to December 90. The band often played it live in the 90's and on The Rebirth of Dissection tour in 2004 but was dropped after that.

On some gigs in the 90's Heaven's Damnation was used as the opening song and with its fast paced start it suits for that. Even if I personally preferred the At the Fathomless Depths/Night's Blood opening. Anyway the entire Heaven's Damnation song was written in April 92 the music is another Nödtveidt & Zwetsloot co-written one.  with a great acoustic guitar which adds much to the mood of the song.

Another one they used to open gigs with was Frozen both in the 90's and also in 2005. The song was entirely written by Nödtveidt himself in December 91. It also appears first on The Somberlain demo from 1992. Definitely a fan favorite also, one of mine as well the verse when Jon sings:
"Tears in my eyes turns into fire
as where I belong
The cold within, it chills my skin,
my heart and soul
In ecstasy I shred myself
to release what's held within
In solitude I'm having my pride
I, Transylvanian son"
is just pure magic. It gets me every time I hear it and sends chills down my spine because it's so fucking brilliant.

The second instrumental song Into Infinite Obscurity is much better then the first one. This one dates back to 1991 and is on the Into Infinite Obscurity 7" that I wrote about earlier.

In the Cold Winds Of Nowhere was another music collaboration by Nödtveidt & Zwetsloot written in Oct. 91. It also appeared on The Somberlain demo from 1992. This album doesn't have any flaws I would say but in my opinion it's the 2nd weakest song on the record. But don't get me wrong! The song is something few bands only could've imagined to write in their entire career.

Only music written by both drummer Ole Öhman and Nödtveidt is on The Grief Prophecy/Shadows Over A Lost Kingdom. The song Shadows Over A Lost Kingdom dates all the way back to November 1989 the same year that Dissection started. It also appeared on Into Infinite Obscurity 7" that version is of course completely different both are great but I do believe that I prefer the 7" version a bit more. At least today on the 3rd December of 2018 but it could change. I'm very glad they included it on the compilation The Past Is Alive (The Early Mischief) (1997) that Necropolis Records put out.

Like I wrote The Somberlain is a flawless album and I would not change anything. But the weakest song of the non-instrumental ones is in my opinion Mistress of the Bleeding Sorrow. It's of course still great also I think that the version from The Somberlain demo from 1992 sounds a little better. It's more raw and harsh of course then this version, yet again very glad it's on The Past Is Alive.

The instrumental by Zwetsloot Feathers Fell ends of this masterpiece and it's the best of the 3 instrumental songs he composed. I often used this one as an ending song on many my mix cassette tapes back in the day. If it had 41 seconds left on a side it was a great way to fit another song onto them. Actually yet again I do prefer demo version with vocals and drums it's 51 seconds and was also used to end cassette tapes with. But both versions are genius so you can't go wrong with either of them.

And that's all the songs on The Somberlain like most debut records it's a lot of "old" demo songs re-recorded. The Past Is Alive does include many but not all of them, but there's been reissued versions of the album and deluxe ones that fixes that if one wants all those songs. But this post is about the 1993 version of The Somberlain the one I grew up listening to.

The production by Dan Swanö was truly amazing. The Somberlain set a new standard for MANY other bands in the scene. Also got to mention the classic amazing cover artwork done by the legendary Kristian "Necrolord" Wåhlin.

Got to do a comparison with the follow-up album Storm Of The Light's Bane that was released almost two years later on Nuclear Blast. I often say it's my favorite Dissection album and my 2nd favorite album of all time. Only beaten by De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas by Mayhem.

Well how much better is really Storm Of The Light's Bane? Extremely little in my opinion when I listen to The Somberlain all memories comes back and I almost change my mind which is the better one.

Many bands even old ones adopted the Dissection style of melodic Death Metal and a ton of newer ones like Naglfar, Vinterland, Gates Of Ishtar etc. It almost got ridiculous with how many Swedish melodic Death Metal with hints of Black Metal popped up.

The style however isn't what I really enjoy except for the records by Dissection, Unanimated and Dawn there's very few melodic Death Metal bands that I like. When done properly it's amazing but take a band like Vinterland their only record is nowadays are praised as something genius. Back then me and my friends used to hate and laugh at all "Dissection clone" bands. I still do that!

When Jon and Vlad was arrested in December of 1997 for murder I was devastated for my own selfish reasons because it meant no more Dissection. At least it felt like that Jon would be doing 16 years in prison or something like that. Being 17 years old at the time and being a huge fan I was truly gutted.

We saw the Live Legacy release in 2003 recorded at Wacken Open Air of 1997 after the murder of Josef. The recording had already circled in the scene and it was released as a bootleg called Frozen In Wacken (1999).

What about Reinkaos (2006)? No thanks... I think it was great that Jon did the Rebirth of Dissection got a new lineup for the band together and did tours. However the songs on Reinkaos sucks... The sound, production, songwriting, arrangements are all terrible.

Sure I think that Maha Kali is a great song even if it sounded quite dated like something from 1996-97 by another band. Other then that its just boring sounding songs on that album. I've tried MANY times and it never gets any better. Actually don't even own a copy of it for myself anymore.

The Somberlain will always be remembered for years to come even at its 50th anniversary it will be regarded as one of the best albums of its time.

Anyway thanks if you read the whole text for a life changing record in this 38 year old man life. 

MY TWO FAVORITE NECROPHOBIC RELEASES

will probably always be these two albums. The Nocturnal Silence (1993) here on a 2018 reissue vinyl on Hammerheart Records and the Satanic Blasphemies (2009) one is a reissue vinyl from 2011 on Floga Records.

"Det var bättre förr" is Swedish for "it used to be better" it just sounds so much better in my native tongue then in English. That's actually why I wrote this whole Necrophobic post in Swedish on Instagram @herr_perdition. Got my point got across much better that way. I believe at least?

But we'll return to the "det var bättre förr" statement later in this post.

In the mid 90's Necrophobic really didn't mean anything for me. The only release I had was a cassette-tape of The Nocturnal Silence recorded from a CD that a friend owned. Didn't hear the greatness of it back then and I didn't play it often. I just considered them as another band in an already overpopulated Swedish Death/Black Metal scene.

The only thing I really cared about was that the Dark Funeral guitarist David "Blackmoon" Parland (1970-2013) once had been original member when Necrophobic started back in 1989. He was a member with the band until 1996, so he participated on The Nocturnal Silence, all 3 demos before the album and both EP's The Call (1993) and Spawned By Evil (1996). He also made a very short return in the year 2000.

When me and my friend would discuss music of the harder kind in the mid to late 90's Necrophobic was a band I often would refer to as "why do they even bother". What I meant with that was I didn't hear any potential to them ever be something within the scene. Sure it's fun playing music, touring, record and release albums. There's nothing wrong with that at all!

They were signed to Black Mark Production and as everyone knows if you weren't Bathory on that label well then you're not Bathory. I just felt Necrophobic were in a weird spot in the scene.

Necrophobic toiled on during the 90's and released two more albums Darkside (1997) and The Third Antichrist (1999) before those also the rather boring EP Spawned By Evil with a bunch of covers of Venom, Slayer and Bathory.

Think I just listened to those two albums once at a record store in my hometown back when they were released. The production and music I thought sounded weak back then. That was also recorded in Sunlight like The Nocturnal Silence.

When they signed with the Swedish label Regain Records and released the album Hrimthursum in 2006 it was like something had happened with Necrophobic.

Had they finally sold their souls to the Devil? Either way it was a really an amazing album. Maybe they just got a lucky break? But the follow-up to that one Death To All (2009) was also really great.

Also in 2009 the compilation album Satanic Blasphemies was released with two of their excellent demos. Slow Asphyxiation (1990) and Unholy Prophecies (1991) also their brilliant EP The Call (1992). It's worth buying the compilation just for that EP alone in my opinion but to get the demos just adds so much more value to this release.

After realizing that Necrophobic were a force to be recon with I searched out and revisited both the Darkside and The Third Antichrist albums and found them to be really enjoyable. Sure they ain't as good as the others I mentioned but both are definitely worth your time and money.

But back to the "det var bättre förr" statement. How many bands within the early Swedish Death Metal scene doesn't that apply to? I mean so many of my old favorite bands in the genre like Grave, Unleashed, Entombed, Hypocrisy etc. had their best creative outlet and recorded the best albums in the beginning of their career.

While Necrophobic with their latest album Mark Of The Necrogram is a contender for my list of the best albums released in the amazing year that 2018 has been.

Even if their oldest material is my favorite period of Necrophobic. I'm really glad they kept going and that they did "bothered". All the success they have gotten now I would say that they earned it so much more then other more prominent bands that only live on former glory.

Will I do more posts in Swedish over at my Instagram? Well not in the near future but who knows if I feel it's right maybe.

This post was written a couple of months ago and it's not until now I finally decided to post this Swedish & English cross over one.

Anyway two most have albums, check out Necrophobic if you haven't already!

25th ANNIVERSARY FOR SO MANY ALBUMS THIS YEAR....

Instead of me doing a post each time an album turns 25 years I'll do the MOST significant records in one post alone. Well I might do a separate post in December for The Somberlain because of the path that album lead me to in 1994.

There's so many albums that I will just focus on my 9 favorites. I also disqualified compilations and live records which I usually do anyway for these kind of posts. So no Live In Leipzig by Mayhem that one was also recorded in 1990 and was circled around in the scene long before its official LP release in 1993. I'll save that one for a separate post.

This isn't a list of my top-9 albums in some particular order, sure some records are better then others, but to list them all would be too much of a hassle. So in NO PARTICULAR order the best Black Metal and Death Metal albums of 1993:

Dissection - The Somberlain

Okay already breaking my word but out of these 9 it's the best album that I can say for a fact. Usually I will say that I prefer Storm of the Light's Bane (1995) but whenever I hear The Somberlain all the memories of this one comes back. It's so perfect is the only word that can describe it.

I know this album inside out, can probably hear just 2 seconds of any song at any moment and know immediately what song it is. I listened to this one so much in my young teenage room and while drinking beer with friends to this day. Also remembering having it on repeat while reading all of The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien's other books.

Morbid Angel - Covenant

I love the Altars Of Madness; Blessed Are The Sick; Domination and Abominations Of Desolation records but Covenant is without any doubt my favorite Morbid Angel album. It's also my favorite Death Metal record of all time. Sure that The Somberlain had much Death Metal influences but that one I associate more with the Black Metal scene.

Anyway with Covenant I think the band made their best one all songs are amazing. The order those songs are placed on the record is also perfected from the fast opening Rapture until the end with God of Emptiness one gets onto a journey of Death Metal supreme. I could talk about every song here but I got so much more to write about.

Burzum - Det Som Engang Var

Once I fully understood this albums awesomeness it became a 10 out of 10 album. Recently did a long post about this record. This have become my go to album in the Burzum discography during the last couple of years, sure Filosofem (1996) is better, but this one is still a great genre defying record.

 Marduk - Those of the Unlight

The 2nd Marduk album is also my 2nd favorite Marduk album of all time and was the 2nd Marduk release I ever bought. It's very different from the debut Dark Endless (1992) and the followup Opus Nocturne (1994). I just think that Those of the Unlight sounds like a very unique record in their vast discography. No other album sounds like it in the entire Marduk catalog, sure every record has it own sound but this one is very special.

The first Marduk longsleeve I ever bought was actually a Those of the Unlight shirt. With "Death To Peace" and "War At Last" on the sleeves, on the back the dragon that can be seen inside the original CD booklet and the text written on the last page.

Dismember - Indecent And Obscene

Not as good as the Dismember debut album Like An Everflowing Stream (1991) but still a brilliant Death Metal album. Have probably listened to this one as much as the debut. Actually put Indecent And Obscene at number 9 of my best Death Metal albums of all time and I still think it was a right decision made months ago.

The band had really progressed since the 2 years since their debut album at the time I did actually prefer Clandestine (1991) by Entombed. That's still a great a record but a couple of months after the release of Indecent And Obscene my opinion changed and Dismember became my favorite band.

Immortal - Pure Holocaust

My favorite album by Immortal. At the time and already as early as on their 2nd album it's so very amazingly refined. The sound, the structure of the songs and the lyrics are all so brilliant. If I was to introduce anyone what Black Metal is I would probably choose this one and about 3-4 more.

Not saying that Pure Holocaust is in my top-4 Black Metal albums but if I ever made such a list it would rank high.

Darkthorne - Under A Funeral Moon

Another amazing release and a timeless classic in the genre, however not my favorite Darkthrone record. Still in my top-3 of their albums though. If I remember correctly it was the fourth album by Darkthrone I bought (maybe third) sometime in the mid 90's.

I was such a big fan of everything that Fenriz was associated with back then, I still am, but back then I wanted every record he ever appeared on it was how I discovered many great albums. But about Under A Funeral Moon it is so great that I cannot even pick out any favorite songs because they are all amazing.

Emperor - Emperor EP

I was a huge fan of Emperor in the 90's (still am) but getting a hold of the Emperor/Enslaved split CD on Candlelight Records wasn't easy in the mid 90's. Believe it was during a Stockholm trip it was bought or if I mail ordered it, not certain though. All 4 songs appears on the In The Nightside Eclipse (1994) album and I had heard those to death so this was a great find when I finally got it.

Some prefer the Emperor EP versions of the songs. Myself like the album versions better might be much thanks to the nostalgia I got for In The Nightside Eclipse which were the first album from the Norwegian Black Metal scene that I ever bought. A brilliant 20 min Black Metal EP that everyone should own.

Enslaved - Hordanes Land EP

The first Enslaved album I bought was Frost (1994) actually the Emperor/Enslaved split CD was bought much thanks to Emperor. But to get the Hordanes Land EP  was a great bonus and it was played as much as the Emperor EP. One definitely gets one's money's worth with that split release just Hordanes Land alone is almost 31 min long.

I can never figure out which one is my favorite Enslaved release sometimes it's Frost (1994) then again Vikingligr Veldi (1994) is also amazing and whenever I listen too Eld (1997) I'm reminded how awesome that one is. Maybe Hordanes Land is my favorite after all?


There are MANY honorable mentions!! However non mentioned non forgotten. Could've done a part II or my 20 favorites and I'm already breaking my promise... Both Unanimated and Carcass were almost included. But for Instagram posts the symmetry is better with 9 where I usually post all the stuff you see here. Many of the albums I didn't buy on CD back in 1993 because I was more into the Death and Thrash Metal scene at the time. 

Dismember, Morbid Angel, Slayer, Entombed, Kreator and Unleashed were probably my favorite bands at the time many of these was released. But all that changed when I found out about Dissection and the masterful The Somberlain (yeah I know Metal of Death). It was thanks too that I started getting an interest for the Scandinavian Black Metal scene.

Anyway that was my favorite 9 releases of 1993. It's most for fun I do these posts and opinions can always change, but did list about a month ago and I still stand behind the choices I made.

BURZUM - DET SOM ENGANG VAR (1993)

This legendary masterpiece of an album with the great title Det Som Engang Var is 25 years old now. Here’s my old digipack CD release from Misanthropy Records/Cymophane Productions of October 1994. This LP is a reissue from 2008 on Black On Black actually one of the first Black Metal vinyls that I ever bought. I started buying vinyl records in 2007/08 just my favorites and I had a bunch that I got from my older sister. Didn't even have a record player 10 years ago I just thought they looked cool.

Can't believe it today but I didn’t like Det Som Engang Var or Burzum whenever I heard them the first time probably in 1995. It wasn’t until I had bought and figured out the excellency of Hvis Lyset Tar Oss (1994) in late 1995 or early 96 and revisited Det Som Engang Var that I liked it, but still wasn’t blown away with it. Nowadays I rank it as the 2nd best Burzum album ever and my favorite Filosofem (1996) is just slightly better, Hvis Lyset Tar Oss is my number 3 that one was number 2 for a very long time for me.

To give you an idea of how much I like the masterpiece Det Som Engang Var is. I use Spotify at work because my job lets me listen to music (or podcasts; books; radio documentaries) all day long. Although I almost proclaim to be Herr Physical Media it's more convenient then to bring CD's. How does Spotify get into this? Well of course I sort my playlists band by band and the 3 furthest up are first Funeral Mist, followed by Marduk then Burzum (then Dissection, Emperor, Bathory & Darkthrone).

Usually don’t like to say that any band is my favorite, but Burzum is probably my top band from the Norwegian Black Metal scene. They are a go to band whenever I cannot figure out what I’m in the mood to listen to of the day (or the other mentioned bands). I never get tired of listening to Det Som Engang Var because of its variation.

The instrumental ambient opening song Den Onde Kysten sets a great dark mood immediately, then into the amazing Key To The Gate and En Ring Til Aa Herske. Then Lost Wisdom with that amazing opening guitar riff, that's how Black Metal should sound! It was composed in June 91. Pure amazing ambient magic performed on Han Som Reiste a great break it add much to the feeling of Det Som Engang Var. One of my favorite ambient Varg Vikernes composed songs and that was written in April 92.

Followed by another instrumental that was written as early as February 1989 but this time with guitar, bass and drums Naar Himmelen Klarner. Then the longest song on the album the 9.5 minute Snu Mikrokosmos Tegn it was written in March 92, and I'm repeating myself, another amazing one. The last one Svarte Troner was written in April 92 and this instrumental song kind of remind me of Sweden's Abruptum and is probably the weakest moment of the Det Som Engang Var.

Everyone knows the story about when this was released! After Euronymous death/murder (don't want to get into that discussion it was enough babbling about that in the 90's) and after Varg's arrest. It was recorded as early as April 1992 before the Aske (1993) EP but released after that. Earache was interested in releasing Burzum and yada yada yada...

Have two vinyls that I’m searching for a good deal on (well there’s probably 666+ LP’s more I want) but in the top-2 is the Det Som Engang Var first print LP released in 1994 by Misanthropy Records/Cymophane Productions. Kim my great old friend of Tyrant Wrath sell me yours!?

It’s not a crazy expensive LP but I want it complete with poster so it's about 300 Euro or more for a nice copy. Believe me or not but I haven’t actually paid more then 1000 SEK (approx €100/$110) for many vinyls in my entire collection, there's a few exceptions of course. But I got a pretty good collection at least I think that and usually wait for a deal.

Anyway Det Som Engang Var is a perfect Black Metal album and a must have one in any extreme metal collection!