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A Burzum Story: Part XIII - Logos
Too many of you write me about "the Burzum logo".
In 1991 having a "cool" logo was one of the most important things to the metal bands in Norway. Immortal got one, Mayhem already had one, Darkthrone had one, and so forth. They were full of inverted crosses and other "satanic" and "cool" symbols, and some of them were even rather hard to read - or rather "interpret". Initially, when I left Old Funeral and rekindled my own project, and changed name from Uruk-Hai to Burzum, I wanted a logo myself, and a female friend volunteered to draw me one. She did and everything was fine, until I realised that I am following a trend. Why would I do that, when everything I did was supposed to be a revolt against trends? So instead I decided to have no logo, and just use a nice font instead.
In late 1991 I had no easy access to fonts of any type other than the ones found on my typewriter. This was before the time of mainstream Internet. I had to purchase some type of sticker-fonts, and I could only afford a few sets, and then use them to "build" words, letter by letter. For some reason, either because I ran out of the right stickers-letters, or because I did it on purpose - I really cannot remember which it is - I wrote the Burzum name with capital letters and I used the only non-ordinary font they had in the book store; Gothic.
When I released the début album I instructed the record company, DSP, to use this font for not only the band title, but also for all other text on the album. The Burzum name was in other words not really a logo, but just the band name written in Gothic letters together with other Gothic text. After a while I stopped thinking about logos, and for some reason I didn't change the type of font used on the albums. Thus many started to think of the Burzum name in Gothic font as "the Burzum logo". It never was. The name was the point; the font was and still is irrelevant.
For "Dauði Baldrs" or "Hliðskjálf" (don't remember which one) I wanted to just use an even more common font, like Arial or something, but for some reason I didn't after all. Don't remember why I didn't. Some memories are lost forever - because they matter no whit.
For "Belus" I finally decided to use a different font, to stress the point that Burzum doesn't have a logo, but also because this is a new beginning to Burzum. I found some free fonts on the Internet and picked one I felt suited the concept of the album; Belus, the oak god (and his wife, Eduno, the meadow maiden). The one I decided to use looked kind of flowery, fantasy-like and was exactly what I was looking for.
I am sure it has been used by others before me - it's free to download for every single individual on Earth - and I don't try to be original. I'm done being original. I just want to do whatever I feel like, regardless of what the rest of the world may or may not do, and I don't want a logo. I simply use a font that fits the concept of the album. I am myself, not just the opposite of those I dislike.
If I ever feel like having a logo for Burzum I will do that as well, by the way. Nothing is carved into rock; not logos, not decisions about logos or anything else. Not even the Burzum name is...
In 1991 having a "cool" logo was one of the most important things to the metal bands in Norway. Immortal got one, Mayhem already had one, Darkthrone had one, and so forth. They were full of inverted crosses and other "satanic" and "cool" symbols, and some of them were even rather hard to read - or rather "interpret". Initially, when I left Old Funeral and rekindled my own project, and changed name from Uruk-Hai to Burzum, I wanted a logo myself, and a female friend volunteered to draw me one. She did and everything was fine, until I realised that I am following a trend. Why would I do that, when everything I did was supposed to be a revolt against trends? So instead I decided to have no logo, and just use a nice font instead.
In late 1991 I had no easy access to fonts of any type other than the ones found on my typewriter. This was before the time of mainstream Internet. I had to purchase some type of sticker-fonts, and I could only afford a few sets, and then use them to "build" words, letter by letter. For some reason, either because I ran out of the right stickers-letters, or because I did it on purpose - I really cannot remember which it is - I wrote the Burzum name with capital letters and I used the only non-ordinary font they had in the book store; Gothic.
When I released the début album I instructed the record company, DSP, to use this font for not only the band title, but also for all other text on the album. The Burzum name was in other words not really a logo, but just the band name written in Gothic letters together with other Gothic text. After a while I stopped thinking about logos, and for some reason I didn't change the type of font used on the albums. Thus many started to think of the Burzum name in Gothic font as "the Burzum logo". It never was. The name was the point; the font was and still is irrelevant.
For "Dauði Baldrs" or "Hliðskjálf" (don't remember which one) I wanted to just use an even more common font, like Arial or something, but for some reason I didn't after all. Don't remember why I didn't. Some memories are lost forever - because they matter no whit.
For "Belus" I finally decided to use a different font, to stress the point that Burzum doesn't have a logo, but also because this is a new beginning to Burzum. I found some free fonts on the Internet and picked one I felt suited the concept of the album; Belus, the oak god (and his wife, Eduno, the meadow maiden). The one I decided to use looked kind of flowery, fantasy-like and was exactly what I was looking for.
I am sure it has been used by others before me - it's free to download for every single individual on Earth - and I don't try to be original. I'm done being original. I just want to do whatever I feel like, regardless of what the rest of the world may or may not do, and I don't want a logo. I simply use a font that fits the concept of the album. I am myself, not just the opposite of those I dislike.
If I ever feel like having a logo for Burzum I will do that as well, by the way. Nothing is carved into rock; not logos, not decisions about logos or anything else. Not even the Burzum name is...
Varg Vikernes
(December 2009)
Written for www.burzum.org exclusively
In other languages: Italiano