Demo material, though usually interesting and sometimes entertaining, can be quite tiresome. Unfortunately, Burzum’s official disc of demos/unreleased material released in 1999, isn’t an exception. Titled Ragnarok (A New Beginning), this is a collection of 8 tracks measuring over 45 minutes, but the brilliance we observe in Varg Vikerenes’ album efforts is hardly present here. The main cause for this isn’t as much quantity/music, as it is the recording quality. I know demos are supposed to be raw, but on Ragnarok some great songs are butchered beyond recognition due to the dreadful recording quality. For some reason, Burzum’s genius sounds best using the production that is heard in his albums; anything else, rawer or more polished, would simply be ruinous. The former is the adverse case here. To make matters worse, the unreleased material in which the production isn’t lacking, isn’t particularly appealing either. An unreleased 9 minute epic called Et Hvitt Lys Over Skogen is the first song here, and the sound makes me believe that this is very early material. Luckily, though raw, the song is very listenable and clear. Simplistic and repetitive, this song offers a blueprint to the sound that Varg explored in his albums. Though there is nothing wrong with this, it has been done much better by the man himself later on. Varg’s vocals are excellent; commanding and unrelenting, but overall, through the various build ups and releases and the recognizable feel of flow, one gets the feeling that this song would have been more effective if it were much shorter. However, as I said, this is blueprint material, and certainly is interesting. The sound on the classics Lost Wisdom (from Det Som Engang Var) and Spell Of Destruction (from Burzum) is so mutilated that I cannot play them for more than a minute. "Lost Wisdom" is significantly better than the latter, but that is due to "Spell Of Destruction" being so tremendously bad. The excellent stoner riff of "Lost Wisdom" is still visible, though very distant, through what I would call an over-distorted, shaky, almost synthesized sound. It really does sound like both songs come out of a synthesizer which is low on batteries. "Spell Of Destruction" is nearly unrecognizable; the sound is so distorted that a song which was brimmed with beautiful music comes across as a noisy generator or a continuous fart. I guess there is no one to blame as this is demo material, but I for one cannot enjoy this to any extent. Thankfully, the vocals have been left out on both songs, because piercing screams recorded in this manner would just make matters shoddier. The nice ambient piece from Burzum known as Channeling The Power Of Souls Into A New God receives the same poor treatment as the last two. Being an organic piece, the distorted production doesn’t completely maul it, but neither does it not make me feel like playing the actual song instead. Some keys sound fine, but the backing sounds like a machine. Suddenly, an Outro rears its head; it should have been titled "distortion" as it is nothing but that. An unpleasant background of what sounds like a landing aircraft and an ambience that sounds almost like an untuned sitar, just turn this 2 minute outro into a nothing. Weirdly, A Lost Forgotten Sad Spirit from Burzum differs in production. I actually like the rawness spewed in this shortened epic as much as on the album itself. The production is very primitive, especially Varg’s vocals, but the sound is still roomy. The trance-like riff is clear and successful, and the vocals sound even lonelier. The better of the demo material on this release, and I can safely call this good. A short Duet With Mayhem (the Norwegian black metal band Varg played bass for, on the classic De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas) comes in as comic relief. The guys sing their hearts out using a chorus from a 50’s/60’s song, getting louder and faster (and funnier) as the little song goes on. Growls of "EVULLLL!" towards the end had me rolling on the floor. Quite a gem. "We are very happy, and we hope you are too!" – Err, right! The disc ends with the awfully overlong Havamal. This is the stunning ambient piece "Han Som Reiste" from Det Som Engang Var extended to over 12 minutes and used as background, which eliminates most of the beauty of a great piece that was meant to be short. The tune is presided over by almost Arabic-sounding singing which sounds as if coming out of an old man’s throat, though I’m quite sure it’s Varg himself singing. I don’t know what language the singing is in; must be Norwegian. All this simply tries to sound deep and philosophical, but only remains engaging for the first two minutes, after which I can’t help but turn it off. The singing gets exasperating, and the background becomes much too dull. I don’t know if this considered an unreleased gem, but it does absolutely nothing for me. All in all, what may create atmosphere for a few just sounds like static to me. I wouldn’t recommend Ragnarok to anyone, and if you’re just starting out with Burzum please don’t pick this disc up first! I will happily stick with Varg’s exceptional pre-jail albums, but if you are a serious collector go ahead and get this. And quite regrettably, this is for those collectors only. (2/5)