YMMV / Burzum

• Broken Base: His later albums after he was released from jail. Some people love Belus and Fallen, but most people seem to be split with Umskiptar. And then came the transition from black metal to ambient tracks, which further split his fanbase following the releases of Sôl austan, Mâni vestan and The Ways of Yore.
  • Even his jail albums are this, although there's a reason for that, since guitars and such weren't allowed in his prison.
  • His criticisms towards Lords of Chaos has slowly become this for many people. Some agree with his criticisms, while others feel he's only bitter and frustrated that the original planned version of the movie focusing on him became more about Euronymous.
• Ending Fatigue: "Rundgang um die transzendentale Säule der Singularität" is twenty-five minutes of mostly the same riff. Unsurprisingly, it gets this a lot. (At the same time, it can also be a massive ear worm for much the same reason.)
• Epic Riff: Like his...bandmate, Euronymous, Varg's guitar prowess is as indisputable as his character is. "Dunkelheit" and "Jesus' Tod" probably contain his most instantly recognisable riffs, but all his metal songs probably contain at least one.
• Fountain of Memes: His YouTube channel ThuleanPerspective, which Varg mostly used to post videos of him either making unscripted rants to the camera or just goofing around.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Euronymous, the infamous Mayhem guitarist, performed the guitar solo on "War" as a guest musician. Considering what would happen to him just a couple years later, him being on a Varg track is darkly ironic.
• Memetic Mutation: From the song "War":
  "This is war, huh... Wow!"
  • This often gets mondegreened to the even more nonsensical "This is, huh… Wow!" because it's borderline impossible to hear him mutter the "war" part over the guitar riff unless you listen to the isolated vocals.
  • Also, the Burzum parody project Bumzur basically exists to create Burzum memes.
  • While we're on parodies of Burzum, what do you get when you record black metal riffs with surf reverb instead of distortion? The Burzums.
  • Hell, Varg himself is a meme. Pretty much any discussion of black metal on the internet is probably going to bring up Varg and Euronymous at least once, and he's a frequent source of reaction images as well.
  • His (now deleted) Youtube channel, ThuleanPerspective, really exemplifies how "quirky" of a character he is, with his bizarre unintelligible rambling videos about his life and far-right neopagan politics being a source of unintentional comedy for years, especially the jankily edited and sometimes nonsensical countdown lists that border on Stylistic Suck. Keep in mind, this is a black metal artist.
  • The Twitter page @NoContextVarg compiles some of his more strange tweets, posts, and video clips.
• Narm: The entirety of his song "War," which deviates from his typical intense and atmospheric black metal to deliver an unusually straightforward and groovy Bathory inspired Traditional Heavy Metal number (even borrowing the main riff from Bathory's "Necromancy"). The Narm factor really comes in with how hilariously unsuited his screams are to the song's style, the fact that you can very clearly hear him cough while trying to deliver several lines, the extremely clumsy English lyrics, the instruments being uncharacteristically off-tempo, and of course, the Crowning Moment of Funny that is the intro:
  '''THIS IS, HUH… WOW!'''
  • Also applies to his style of screaming in general, which some have likened to an angry parrot. It's enough to completely ruin the dark and brooding effect for some listeners.
  • The ridiculously out-of-place and off-beat synth saxophone on "The Ruins of Dwarfmount," which completely kills any serious atmosphere by evoking the sound of a brass band composed entirely of ducks.
• Nightmare Fuel: Some consider many of his black metal melodies (especially Filosofem) to be this with their dark droning and overall distorted character. He himself as a literal convicted murderer can qualify for many people. On the other hand, some of his ambient material can almost qualify as Sweet Dreams Fuel ("Tomhet" is a good example), and although he is a bigoted murderer, he comes off as such a bumbling Cloudcuckoolander most of the time that the intimidation factor at least is wholly diffused.
  • Also, as, explained in "Narm" above, a few listeners have found his shrieking voice-crack-like style of screaming too silly sounding to take completely seriously, especially in "War."
• Overshadowed by Controversy: The fact that lead singer Varg Vikernes is a white supremacist who murdered Euronymous of Mayhem fame is what a lot of people remember the band for these days.
• Signature Song: "Burzum" (more commonly known by its alternate Gratuitous German title, "Dunkelheit," though this is not the official title). Considering it shares its name with the band itself, this may not come as a surprise.
  • Also "War," although at this point it's more popular for its Memetic Mutation than purely on its merits alone.
• So Bad, It's Good: Some black metal fans who dislike Burzum still listen to Varg's work for its perceived Narm Charm and consider it to be this, especially "War" as detailed above.
  • This reaction is more universal when it comes to his YouTube channel, even with people who agree with what he says finding his presentation and frequent dips into Insane Troll Logic awkward and unintentionally comedic.
• So Bad, It Was Better: Sort of. In 2011 Varg released From the Depths of Darkness, an album featuring re-recorded versions of his favourite tracks from the first two albums with more professional musicianship and production. Critics and fans alike reacted less then favourably - the consensus was that the raw performances and shoddy production on the original versions of the tracks in question was a large part of their charm.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: "War" pretty blatantly lifts its main riff from Bathory's "Necromancy."
• Tear Jerker: Yes, this project has one. Han som reiste seems to be one of the famous contenders from his old career, especially when used in the Until the Light Takes Us documentary.
  • Others such as Gullaldr, Decrepitude, Ek feller.

---