BURZUM TIMELINE

NB: Since writing the original timeline on my old Burzum webpage, Varg has checked it and made corrections where necessary, so this one should be accurate.

Burzum has released 5 full length albums to date, and I imagine that when people listen to the albums they assume the debut album 'Burzum' to be the oldest material, and the subsequent releases of 'Det Som En Gang Var', 'Hvis lyset tar oss' and 'Filosofem' to be charting a direct musical progression to his latest works, 'Daudi Baldrs and 'Hlidskjalf'. To some extent this is true, but equally it should be considered that, especially early on, the Count did not release his songs in the order in which they were written.

Thus I have constructed a 'Timeline' to show the real order in which the Burzum songs were written, so that it is possible to see clearly how Varg's musical vision expanded with time. The songs from each album are colour coded as shown above.

The order of recording of the albums was:
                                                                 

  RECORDED FIRST RELEASED
Burzum January '92 March 1992 (D.S.P.)
Aske  (EP)           August '92 March 1993 (D.S.P.) 
Det Som En Gang Var       April '92 Aug. 1993 (Cymophane)
Hvis lyset tar oss         Sep' 92 May 1994 (Misanthropy)
Filosofem        Mar'93 January 1996 (Misanthropy)
Daudi Baldrs   late '94/early '95 September 1997 (Misanthropy)
Hlidskjalf Summer '98 May 1999
(Misanthropy)
                                                                     
                                                       
                                                                                                                                                                                               


THE TIMELINE

FEBRUARY 1989 Naar himmelen Klarner (DET SOM EN GANG VAR)

(long break)

JANUARY 1990

FEBRUARY 1990

MARCH 1990

APRIL 1990

MAY 1990   Dominus Sathanas (ASKE)

JUNE 1990

JULY 1990

AUGUST 1990

SEPTEMBER 1990

OCTOBER 1990

NOVEMBER 1990

DECEMBER 1990

JANUARY 1991

FEBRUARY 1991

MARCH 1991 The Crying Orr (BURZUM)

APRIL 1991

MAY 1991 Channeling the Power of Souls into a New God (BURZUM)

JUNE 1991 Lost Wisdom (DET SOM EN GANG VAR)

JULY 1991 Black Spell Of Destruction (BURZUM)

AUGUST 1991 Key to The Gate (DET SOM EN GANG VAR), Burzum/Dunkelheit (FILOSOFEM)

SEPTEMBER 1991 A Lost Forgotten Sad Spirit (ASKE), Feeble Screams from Forests Unknown (BURZUM)

OCTOBER 1991 War (BURZUM)

NOVEMBER 1991 Ea, Lord of The Depths (BURZUM)

DECEMBER 1991 Stemmen Fra Taarnet (ASKE)

JANUARY 1992 My Journey to The Stars (BURZUM), Dungeons of Darkness (BURZUM), Den onde kysten (DSEGV)

FEBRUARY 1992

MARCH 1992 En Ring til aa herske (DET SOM EN GANG VAR), Snu mikrokosmos tegen (DET SOM EN GANG VAR)

APRIL 1992 Han som reiste (DET SOM EN GANG VAR) , Svarte Troner (DET SOM EN GANG VAR)

MAY 1992

JUNE 1992 Det som en gang var (HVIS LYSET TAR OSS)

JULY 1992 Hvis lyset tar oss (HVIS LYSET TAR OSS)

AUGUST 1992 Inn i slottet fra droemmen (HVIS LYSET TAR OSS)

SEPTEMBER 1992 Tomhet (HVIS LYSET TAR OSS)

OCTOBER 1992

NOVEMBER 1992

DECEMBER 1992 Decrepitude/Gebrechlichkeit Parts I and II (FILOSOFEM)

JANUARY 1993 Beholding the Daughters of The Firmament (FILOSOFEM)

FEBRUARY 1993 Jesus’ Tod (FILOSOFEM)

MARCH 1993 Rundgang um die Saule der Singularitat (FILOSOFEM)

APRIL 1993

MAY 1993

JUNE 1993

JULY 1993

AUGUST 1993

SEPTEMBER 1993

OCTOBER 1993

NOVEMBER 1993

DECEMBER 1993

JANUARY 1994

FEBRUARY 1994

MARCH 1994

APRIL 1994

MAY 1994

JUNE 1994

JULY 1994

AUGUST 1994

SEPTEMBER 1994

OCTOBER 1994

NOVEMBER 1994

DECEMBER 1994 Recording of Daudi Baldrs

JANUARY 1995 Recording of Daudi Baldrs

FEBRUARY 1995 Early MIDI Recording of Hlidskjalf

MARCH 1995 Early MIDI Recording of Hlidskjalf

APRIL 1995

MAY 1995

JUNE 1995

JULY 1995

AUGUST 1995

SEPTEMBER 1995Early MIDI Recording of Hlidskjalf?

OCTOBER 1995

NOVEMBER 1995

DECEMBER 1995

JANUARY 1996

FEBRUARY 1996

MARCH 1996

APRIL 1996

MAY 1996

JUNE 1996

JULY 1996

AUGUST 1996

SEPTEMBER 1996

OCTOBER 1996

NOVEMBER 1996

DECEMBER 1996

JANUARY 1997

FEBRUARY 1997

MARCH 1997

APRIL 1997

MAY 1997

JUNE 1997

JULY 1997

AUGUST 1997

SEPTEMBER 1997

OCTOBER 1997

NOVEMBER 1997

DECEMBER 1997MIDI Recording of Hlidskjalf?

JANUARY 1998

FEBRUARY 1998

MARCH 1998

APRIL 1998

MAY 1998

JUNE 1998Re-recording of Hlidskjalf (full keybaord)

JULY 1998Re-recording of Hlidskjalf (full keyboard)

AUGUST 1998Re-ecording of Hlidskjalf (full keyboard)

SEPTEMBER 1998

OCTOBER 1998

NOVEMBER 1998

DECEMBER 1998

JANUARY 1999

FEBRUARY 1999


The timeline shows that the early material on the Burzum, Aske and Det Som En Gang Var albums was recorded and released only roughly in the order of when it was written. The later albums do follow a more chronological progression in terms of wrting and release (with the exception of the opening track of Filosofem).

Clearly Varg appears to have been most active in the period around late '91/early '92. Obviously 1992 was really 'the year' for Burzum, given that 4 out of his 6 releases were recorded in that year. Indeed, it does seem that Varg  wrote and recorded a large amount of material in a very short space of time. When asked about this in the Terrorizer interview, Varg simply replies: "I felt I wouldn't be a free man for long. I even thought that maybe I wouldn't stay alive for too long".

As to whether we will soon have to extend the timeline to encompass new albums, we can only hope...