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Filosofem (Norwegian for "") is the fourth studio album by Norwegian black metal solo project Burzum. It was recorded in March 1993 and was the last recording before Varg Vikernes was sentenced to prison in 1994; the album was not released until January 1996, however. It was released through Misanthropy Records and Vikernes's own record label, Cymophane Productions. "Burzum "Filosofem" 1996 Misanthropy Records / Cymophane Productions". burzum.org. Retrieved 2020-05-04. A music video was made for the song "Dunkelheit" and received airtime on both MTV and VH1.
The album is noted for its experimental sound when compared to most other second wave black metal. Vikernes considers Filosofem an "anti-trend album."
The album's opening track, "Dunkelheit", was the first song Vikernes wrote as Burzum, with the song itself initially being named "Burzum". It had been recorded in September 1992 for the Hvis lyset tar oss album, but Vikernes was unhappy with it due to how poor the recording quality was, so it went unused. Instead he re-recorded the track six months later which is the version that appears on Filosofem. According to a statement made by Vikernes on burzum.org, the master tapes for the version of "Burzum" meant for Hvis lyset tar oss were lost by the Norwegian prison system.
Filosofem was recorded under purposefully bad conditions in order to retain a raw lo-fi music sound. No guitar amplifier was used; instead Vikernes plugged his guitar into the amplifier of his brother's stereo and used old fuzz pedals. For the vocals, he asked a sound technician for the worst microphone he had, and ended up using an old helicopter headset.
"Burzum" ("Dunkelheit"), the opening track, features a prominent melody played by a synthesizer that sits atop the distorted guitars and vocals. The two "Decrepitude" tracks complement each other, with ".i." featuring vocals and keeping the guitars in the foreground; while ".ii." is instrumental and instead focuses on the sound effects and keyboard melody in the background of ".i.".
The album cover and booklet contain artwork by Theodor Kittelsen. The front cover is named Op under Fjeldet toner en Lur (Norwegian for "Up in the hills a clarion call rings out").
Music and artwork
The music of Filosofem continued Vikernes's experimentation with Minimal music, repetition, and ambient music within black metal. The first three songs are in the key of E minor, and all tracks of the album are quite long in duration (the shortest being just over seven minutes), being primarily composed around very few musical motifs. For instance, "Jesu' død", a track of over eight-and-a-half minutes, is primarily based on variations of a single riff. The epic "Rundtgåing av den transcendentale egenhetens støtte", Burzum's longest ambient song to date, repeats a simple melody for nearly the entirety of the runtime, switching from a bass ostinato to a harmony ostinato midway through the piece. The song was featured in the soundtrack album of the American experimental drama film Gummo.
Track listing
Personnel
External links
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