Varg Vikerenes/Count Grishnack cast his spell of destruction upon the world with Burzum’s Aske and Burzum works (also released as Burzum/Aske), immediately creating an obscure, yet profound sound which was embraced by the few that could somehow comprehend it. After the onslaught of Burzum/Aske and Hvis Lyset Tar Oss, Varg outdid himself by crafting yet another unutterably devastating classic black metal album known as Det Som Engang Var, released in 1994. An almost conceptual piece, Det Som finds Varg traveling through the musical realms of his metal roots and a more ambient, organic feel; finally creating the "Burzum" sound that no other black metal band has been able to achieve. Throughout the 40 odd minutes of this album, Varg lets the listener dream with him, bringing forth a sonic-scope where one can safely delve. As always, Burzum’s music is uncomplicated and minimalist, but Varg manages to communicate extreme complexity through the bizarrely structured, yet simple songs. Lyrically, the Count tells tales dealing with his culture and history, extending them to epic proportions and furnishing them with mythical overtones. Perfectly produced, using a heavy, chunky guitar sound and loud, abrasive drums, Det Som Engang Var succeeds in becoming a reference-guide to black metal, in all possible manners. A calm 2 minute long intro makes for a perfect buildup to the mordant assault of Key To The Gate. The song is marvelously bizarre; Speedy drumming and a heavy 80’s thrash riff lead to piercing screams as the song soon simmers down into stunning melodic overtures. I’d like to make clear that Varg’s painful screeches that are heard here are not the vocal approach I cherish as much as the one found in Filosofem. But they end up suiting the corrosive and often desperate mood of the song and the album as a whole, and do no damage whatsoever to the music. Soon enough, Varg’s soothing tune lets us float through mind oceans, slowly drowning into his stupor. This 5 minute masterwork is complete with a skillfully composed guitar lead, which appears in the midst of trance-like musical conditions. Hymnal background singing give dimension to the brooding riff found in Enring Till Aa Herske; a haunting, nocturnal song. The minimalist nature of this allows Varg to concentrate on eerie wailing, which establishes itself terrifyingly during the second half of the song, where guitar noise fuses with simple, sometimes irrational drumming, creating nihilistic art, transcendental in nature. "Enring Till Aa Herske" is the prefect example of the surrealistic character of Burzum’s music, and proves that harmony can be shaped in the face of obvious dissonance. Lost Wisdom is not only a classic in the books of black metal, but in my opinion, also an outstanding stoner song. An instantaneous killer, downtuned riff resides over it, frequently moving into simple territories of strum work, complete with desperate yet commanding howls, hinting sadness. A song of many contrasts, this comes across as a mournful elegy, but nevertheless contains an upbeat, and in-your-face riffage. This is archetypal simple Burzum, made masterful with its bizarre, even contemplative structure. An intermission of sorts arrives with Han Som Reiste, a beautifully layered ambient piece. The Casio sound does not prevent this from being the dramatic, strikingly olden-sounding tune that it is. Naar Himmeler Klarner is a short, down-to-earth instrumental; absolutely simplistic and unearthing its own core darkness through guitar repetition and reiteration. It surges nicely into the ethereal, always maintaining the astounding murk it creates. This leads us to Snu Mikrokosmos Tegn, the epic of the album. Very destructive in a mid-paced manner, the beginning effortlessly finds progressiveness in sheer simplicity. The riff soon attains a groove with a feel not too different (though more muffled) to the one on "Lost Wisdom", but quickly arrives at a meditative, ambience induced sound. The guitar structure nicely matches the background ambience, and as the drum beats kick in once again towards the end, the resulting atmosphere assists the song in reaching higher states of external perception. A work of art that must be played repeatedly in order to fathom the brilliance within it. After "Snu Mikrokosmos Tegn", the album outro seems rather onerous, as the former would be a perfect end to a stupendous work of music. The ending of the song is conclusive enough to make a 2 minute outro sound quite unnecessary, and the existence of it is the only real blemish on the album, though the harm is quite insignificant. Though outwardly straight-forward and extremely simple, Det Som Engang Var is an album that explores various moods and ideas. It is a diverse work in its own niche and holds various musical and emotional contrasts. There is no better work than this to silence critics who unreasonably believe that every Burzum song is a replica of the last one, and the songs themselves have no changes within them whatsoever. Burzum is primarily simplistic, minimalist, contemplative and introspective music infused with feeling and passion, and yet it manages to sound varied and dissimilar. Even though, to me, Filosofem is a quarter of a notch above this work, this is still an unconditional classic in every sense. For black metal enthusiasts, ignoring Det Som Engang Var would be beyond blasphemy. (4.75/5)