Discordant, hypnotic, and repetitive, Ildjarn forces the listener to inhabit his malevolent ideology. This boundless antipathy for humanity is one dimension of Ildjarn; another is reverence for the cold, dispassionate majesty of nature. This latter theme finds its most compelling expression in Ildjarn’s ambient works, the epic double CD, “Landscapes,” and the two-part “Hardangervidda” series—a collaboration with Niddhogg—that marked the culmination of his recorded output. After riding the crest of black metal’s second wave, Ildjarn abruptly ceased recording music in 1997, though he continued to answer occasional interviews and oversee the release of some of his archival recordings. He has remained silent since the release of the “Ildjarn is Dead” compilation, accompanying which was his infamous “final statement”—a 15,000-word, stream of consciousness manifesto steeped in nihilistic scorn. Ildjarn’s legacy has endured, and his hateful body of work has continued to echo in the years since his disappearance from the scene. After the dissolution of Thou Shalt Suffer, Vidar Våer recorded and released four cassette demos between 1992 and 1994. Though powerful recordings in their own right, Våer, who adopted the simple moniker “The Unknown”, was still sculpting his sound and identity. Like all of his recordings, “Ildjarn” was recorded entirely on a cassette 4-track and retains a crude, low-fi quality. The drums, though often mistakenly believed to be programmed, are reduced to a snapping pulse buried beneath necrotic guitars and snarling vocals. Ildjarn’s steady dispensation of scorn continues ceaselessly across the 27 tracks on this album, most of which never cross the 3-minute mark and are often cut unexpectedly mid-song. Assessed in isolation, these songs feel unchanging, but the complete matrix of sounds, riffs, and tempos on this album reveals Ildjarn’s visionary genius.
