Review - Burzum - Fallen

Last year, Burzum's album Belus was released. It was heralded, before its release, as Varg Vikernes's comeback. It turned out to be mediocre at best. One year later, he released Fallen. This is his true comeback. This album is what Belus should have been. Dark, black, melodic and sweeping, this album is everything that is good about a Burzum album.

Every song is a chilly blast of Norwegian black metal. The production, while not perfect, fits the feel of the album perfectly. A true black metal album doesn't need perfectly clean production. The music needs to sound rough.



Unlike other Burzum albums, you can hear every instrument. The drums drive the songs with blast beats. The riffing is fast and furious. Varg's vocals seamlessly go from black metal shrieks and growls to melodic clean singing.

Varg is a master song writer. The songs are impressively structured and sound both tight and improvised at the same time. They are unpredictable. You can also hear his ambient influences in the music.

All in all, this album is as good as Burzum's early work. It has, of course, has aged and changed as Varg has aged and changed, but this is still him showing black metal bands how it's done. Listen to this album. You won't regret it.

Grade: A



You can buy this album and others by Burzum at our MP3 store.