Draugen - Rarities

Featuring outtakes from Burzum’s esteemed early period—which lasted from 1991 until Varg Vikernes’ imprisonment in 1993—Draugen offers new glimpses of an already well-documented phase of productivity. “A Lost Forgotten Sad Spirit,” “Et Hvitt Lys Over Skogen," and “My Journey to the Stars” are definitive Burzum: songs that become transcendent and ethereal through use of sheer unrelenting noise. What’s really amazing about Draugen is the way it shows the wide range of tones Virkeners got from his instruments, even as he remained singlemindedly devoted to a specific purpose. The muddy demo of “Lost Wisdom” is tattered and warm, while “Dunkenheit” is so bristly and piercing that the guitar almost ceases to sound like one. Draugen is an unofficial release and contains a few songs that have been proven to be counterfeits. (“Seven Harmonies of the Unknown Truth” is a recording of the Norwegian black metal band Ildjarn, while “Outro” is simply a recording of Burzum’s “Den Onde Kysten” being played in an empty room.) The presence of those fakes only makes the unsettling achievement of Burzum’s early work more stunning by comparison.