Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Hope Dies

Hoffnungstod, by the German one man band, Wigrid, is easily the best bit of Burzum worship ever created. In fact, I think this album ranks right up there with Varg's best work. Originally the material on Hoffnungstod was released on a very limited demo. Fortunately the whole thing was rerecorded for this official No Colors release in 2002. Hoffnungstod is heart-wrenchingly beautiful washes of melancholic riffs, layers of buzzing white hiss, and muffled cries of absolute despair stacked one upon another. This is the audial essence of isolation and hopelessness. Incredible.

19 comments:

  1. How could anyone resist that write-up? The album cover is phenomenal. Think I'm going to like this one, thanks Aesop.

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  2. Thanks for sharing it on facebook too. Hoffnungstod is brilliant!

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  3. man i cant stop cracking up at the little guy in the corner on the album cover

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  4. Definitely in the mood for this, thanks.

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  5. I have always seen this cover but didn't know jack about this artist. Thanks- I will have to hunt this down for a real copy. Thanks for sharing and did you get my e-mail? -jabladav

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  6. I love the little guy in the bottom left.

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  7. I only got a chance to start listening to this in the morning, and was blown away by the first track. Turned off by the shitty clone bands and the de-emphasis on aggression, I never really got into the Burzum-y side of black metal. This has been a revelation. Thanks!

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  8. This definitely slays. I was disappointed by his follow-up. The riffs are there but it is super flat and bland production. I'm holding out for a shredding third album someday.

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  9. Is that the same guy from the cover of Hvis Lyset Tar Oss?

    He's like a GRIMM version of "Where's Waldo"?

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  10. hope and a change of underpantsAugust 18, 2010 at 2:51 PM

    Just like Kyuss and Discharge worship bands when done right it is good stuff.

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  11. The cover art is of course Theodore Kittelsen, who Burzum appropriated much art from. This series of drawings was called "Svartdauen" or "Black Death" in chronicles the spread of the plague in Norway in 1349. Which incidentally is where the band 1349 got their name.

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  12. Ohh its m4a i could put it on the old powermac box or use bonc and convert to mp3 thanks yous. I had some Kittelsen art on desktop as wallpaper it was the cover of one of the Burzum album without logos and all that. It was of a trail in the wood with a left curve in it, think the Burzum cover has a carcass on the trail and birds hovering around.

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  13. This is just beautiful. When I played this in the office last night it scared my employees away so I could actually get some work done. I do love the droning guitar and the massive amounts of despair in the vocals. just awesome.

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  14. Ooh, some of the riffs on this are just beautiful!

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  15. Thnaks for this. I really enjoyed the demo you posted and never got around to thanking you for that.
    It might interest to know that because of the 'hearse I was once under the impression that the 'depressive black metal' genre was a lot better than it actually turned out to be. Thnaks for the gems!

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  16. yes burzum's twin terror.there is more from this guy too,which is equally as good as this.

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  17. THANKS!
    Not just for this, but for all this incredible stuff.
    Yours is the best blog I have stumbled across in quite awhile.
    I myself am a fan of under-the-radar bizarre offerings (I have Crispin Glover, Mr. T, Timothy Leary, and Hulk Hogan's album hosted over at my blog).

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  18. This is just amazing. The bleak, swirling wash of guitar, punctured by the howls. Just stunning.

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