Burzum

Umskiptar (Byelobog)

Homicidal intolerant Christian “Varg” Vikernes hacks up his third black metal platter since serving a 21-year “life” sentence in his native Norway for murdering Mayhem guitarist Euronymous in 1993. Adapting Icelandic creation/destruction poem Völuspá, Umskiptar falls to the law of diminishing returns following 2010’s Belus (****) and The Fallen (***) a year later. He sounds so … reasonable in a Scandinavian spoken-word intro to “Heidr,” whose riff skins the connective tissue between all three discs, yet for all we know he’s ordering us to the showers. **

This article appears in August 10 • 2012.

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San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.