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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:
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... |