Burzum's second "prison album" Hli�skj�lf from 1999 has recently been reissued on Cd through Vikerne's new imprint Byelobog Productions and on deluxe vinyl through Back On Black, giving me a chance to go back over this mucho-maligned album from Norwegian black metal's most hated personality. Everyone knows the story behind this and the preceding album Dau�i Baldrs (1997); both were recorded during Varg Vikerne's imprisonment for the murder of Euronymous and multiple church-burnings, using only a synthesizer and tape recorder (the only equipment that he was permitted to use in prison), and went in an entirely different musical direction from his earlier black metal works, instead crafting a kind of dark medieval electronic music. When these albums were released, most fans scorned the new direction that Vikernes took with Burzum, dismissed by most as a half-baked change in style on the level of Cold Lake. Not to mention that Vikernes' scarcely concealed white power/National Socialist leanings didn't do much to endear his prison albums to folks, either. The controversial aspects of Burzum's work aside, I actually dug Hli�skj�lf much more than I thought I would when I first heard it. Of course it has nothing to do with black metal aesthetically; the only things that connect this with Burzum's early albums is the pagan/Norse subject matter that has always been a big part of Vikernes' art. Musically, this isn't the inept Casio slop that some have unfairly described it as being; although the music is pretty minimal on Hli�skj�lf, there's a bit of variety here, from the industrial-tinged synthesizer soundtrack of the opener "The Heart Of Tuisto" (which reminds me of some of the cooler horror movie scores that Full Moon was producing in the early 90s) and the booming tympani and synthetic horns on the ominous medieval dirge "The Death Of Woutan". Some Tangerine Dream influence shows up throughout the disc (especially on "The Ride Of Ansugardaz" and "Empathy"), as does stretches of layered looping dark ambience, and some elements of World Serpent-esque neo-folk. Yeah, there's some admittedly cheesy electronic neo-classical that appears on a couple of tracks, but as a whole the album is an interesting bit of Nordic neo-classical darkness that's worth a second look. Both versions of this reissue look great: the new vinyl reissue on Back On Black features a gorgeous gatefold sleeve and 180 gram colored vinyl, while the Cd edition of Byelobog comes in cool slipcase packaging.