BURZUM Hlidskjalf (1999) Digipak CD

By 1999, Varg Vikernes had abandoned metal entirely. Hlidskjalf is pure ambient, named for Odin's throne, the seat from which he surveys all the nine worlds, and the record sounds exactly like that, cold, vast, and indifferent to whether you keep up.

This is Burzum's second fully ambient album and one of the more genuinely strange entries in the Norwegian black metal canon, an album that has nothing to prove and no interest in proving it. Where Filosofem still had guitars, Hlidskjalf is all synthesiser and atmosphere, long-form pieces that reward patience and punish distraction. The digipak format suits it. Some records should feel like an object, not just a file.

Digipak CD. Full length album. Year of release: 1999. Country of origin: Norway. Genre: Ambient / Black Metal.

Fans of: Mayhem, Immortal, Blasphemy, Dark Funeral, Mortiis