The most sincere music is born when a musician has already matured as a person and he does not need someone to prove something. He relies only on his attitude and transmits it through music. And then you look at this world through the eyes of others, thinking that you yourself would never have looked at it from this side. Burzum continues to bend his line and write very interesting and controversial music.
I must say right away that the Vikernes' previous work after release somehow passed me by side, not at all impressive, but out of interest I decided to still evaluate the new album. I love ambient and everyone is looking for decent releases in it. They do not come across as often as we would like, but this is a very rare case. Nihilism in the flesh is how I characterize The Ways Of Yore. Everything ingenious is simple, and Varg knows this very well, without loading our ears with something abstruse and difficult to perceive. The dimensionality and uniformity of the album can be cited as an example of how simple music should sound, while remaining mysterious, intriguing. What has no equal to Vikernes is the creation of a unique atmosphere. There are nuggets, they play music in a manner similar to this album, but still you can’t surpass such an outstanding personality. But you can learn a lot. True, since he still overdid it - he refers to the song "Heill Odinn", which is a monotonous mantra that is repeated more than a dozen times. Further is better.
With each composition, the atmosphere is gaining momentum and waiting for the climax. Fascinatingly, magically all this is listened. In some hallucinogenic dreams, this cosmic music was invented, it is clearly far from the worldly bustle and is not burdened by the routine that engulfed millions of musicians trying to invent a bicycle, but essentially playing records hackneyed by someone earlier. The measured pace changes only in detail throughout the album. In the first half, Dungeon Synth is a considerable component, but gradually it is on the decline, giving way to ambient. I don’t feel like rushing anywhere, on the contrary, thoughts of the eternal come to mind.
Varg matured, became wiser, calmer. The completeness, conceptuality in this idea of the musician is close to ideal as never before. Musically. In the texts, he, as before, tries to cover as many topics as possible, creating a reserve in diversity due to the lyrics. In the cover and title - The Paths of Antiquity - a certain sacred meaning is hidden. The old man holds a dying maiden in his arms, without worrying at all, as if knowing that this is the beginning of the path. And the final composition, "To Hel And Back Again", this only confirms. Hell seems empty and frozen. Finding nothing there, the old man returned back.
1. God From The Machine
2. The Portal
3. Heill Odinn
4. Lady In The Lake
5. The Coming Of Ettins
6. The Reckoning Of Man
7. Heil Freyja
8. The Ways Of Yore
9. Ek Fellr (I Am Falling)
10. Hall Of The Fallen
11. Autumn Leaves
12. Emptiness
13. To Hel And Back Again
