If listened to with the right pair of ears, Burzum's music is very rewarding.

A warning to all metalheads out there: Burzum's music shows almost no merit in the areas of musicianship, songwriting or production. The guitar riffs aren't very technical or original, the song structure is pretty basic and it sounds like it was recorded with a dixie cup and a string attached to a phonograph. Hell, the lyrics aren't even all that good...but these minute details didn't fray the listening experience I had. This is absolute brilliance in musical self-expression.

Some music is sad (Anathema, later Opeth), much is upbeat, other bands try too hard to be shocking or scary, but the one feeling i've never had listening to music is absolute _dread_, and that's exactly what feeling Varg's screams and painful dirges inflict in me. Like i said, it's not technical or very original at all, but something about the way Varg performs his music makes it very appealing to me. He has an AMAZING and authentic black metal voice. I swear when you hear this guy shrieking, it sounds like they've been delivered from the deepest bowels of hell. I think the only way i could scream with such earnest pain and terror is if i was being sodomized with a barbed soldering iron.

The riffs and lyrics aren't _terrible_, but with Varg's delivery, it definitely gets the point across. The bad production actually adds a little charm to the music, similar to punk rock. The bad recording indicates that Varg only cared about writing the songs and performing the best he could with the budget he had, and adds a dark, ethereal atmosphere to the music.

Almost all of us metalheads are pretty open-minded about music in general, but unfortunately Burzum would just not be well-received by most of the underground metal community. Listen intently to some samples, or download some mp3's before buying.

(Thimoty R. Ellis on Amazon.com)