detailed info: discogs.com

The standard question accompanying a new Ulver album: what are they going to do this time? Actually, for the first time since quite a few of these albums, the answer must be [...]]]> artist: Ulver
release: Wars of the Roses
format: CD, LP
year of release: 2011
label: Kscope / Jester
duration: 45:37

detailed info: discogs.com

The standard question accompanying a new Ulver album: what are they going to do this time? Actually, for the first time since quite a few of these albums, the answer must be that it’s not as different as we might have expected. Wars of the Roses sees the Norwegian shapeshifters mainly solidifying the musical style built up on Blood Inside and Shadows of the Sun, while adding only a modest spectrum of new elements. On the one hand, we have the at times frantic mix of rock and electronics, on the other, ambience and contemplation. Where the previous two albums focused mainly on one of these, this latest one aims for a fusion.

One of the more surprising tracks might be the opener, “February MMX”, which explores areas of catchy progressive rock, polished and twisted in a style that is typically Ulver. The return of drums and guitars to Ulver’s music is nothing to deplore, especially in parts like the middle of “Providence”, where the rock section beats on alongside a synthetic orchestra spurred on by the soloing clarinet of Alex J. Ward. The rest of the track is a surprisingly calm and soulful piece resting on a duet of front man Kristoffer Rygg and Siri Stranger.

I must say that the plodding mid-tempo track “September IV” forms a bit of a low point in the album, not really adding anything significant to the mix, and rehashing the mix of rock and classical/electronica we’ve heard before on “It Is Not Sound” off Blood Inside. Slightly better are “Norwegian Gothic” and “England”, both of which are modestly experimental songs, and setters of atmosphere.

However, the final two tracks hold some pleasant surprises. “Island” is a beautiful calm piece, rivalling the atmosphere of some of Shadows of the Sun‘s finer ambient moments, but somehow more bright. A gentle rhythm, synths and acoustic guitar working in unison, soft vocals, and a fine ambient ending. Simply a stunning track, and one that clears the mind for the monolithic track which follows: “Stone Angels”. This fifteen-minute piece is a reading by Daniel O’Sullivan of Keith Waldrop‘s entire poem of the same name, accompanied by a subtly flowing organ flow, and the improvised clarinet works of Stephen Thrower. Not surprisingly, the presence of Thrower’s work, as well as the set-up of the track in general, its calm expansive mood, the spiritual thematics, it all refers back Coil, who obviously have been a great inspiration to much of Ulver’s music for over a decade. Regardless, this is a track of rare beauty, something I realised first when I saw it being performed in its entirety and the end of a recent concert, along with visuals of slowly disintegrating and reintegrating blocks of stone, aligned in an array. The hypnotic cadence of the voice and music is entrancing, and the listener is guided effortlessly to the climax of the piece, after which the final words fall into silence.

Listening back to this album, it is a many-faced beast. On the one hand, a couple of older Ulver styles are integrated here, along with some small innovations, making this album perhaps the least surprising in many years of their career. Not to say that this is a bad thing per se, but in some ways, that can be disappointing if you were expecting to be overwhelmed by another whole new album style. On the other hand, the final two tracks left such a massive impression on me that I can’t help but love this album for it. And I guess this still means Ulver can surprise me, even if it is not with an album as an integrated whole, but rather a part of it.

Opinions are likely to be divided as to how this one will fit into the overall picture of Ulver’s musical development. As an album, it is definitely not the strongest, nor the most original. Nevertheless, it is worth having for its very special moments alone, which rank among the highlights in the band’s career after all. The vinyl edition in particular is worth the investment, as it contains a chapbook reprint of the “Stone Angels” poem.

Reviewed by O.S.

Tracklist:

1. February MMX (4:10)
2. Norwegian Gothic (3:37)
3. Providence (8:10)
4. September IV (4:43)

5. England (3:57)
6. Island (6:00)
7. Stone Angels (15:00)

artist: Ulver release: Blood Inside format: CD, LP year of release: 2005, 2010 label: Jester, The End, Profound Lore duration: 45:56

detailed info: discogs.com

I admit it, I was totally wrong about this one. A couple of years ago, when I wrote about Ulver‘s 2007 opus Shadows of the Sun, I claimed [...]]]>

LP cover

artist: Ulver
release: Blood Inside
format: CD, LP
year of release: 2005, 2010
label: Jester, The End, Profound Lore
duration: 45:56

detailed info: discogs.com

I admit it, I was totally wrong about this one. A couple of years ago, when I wrote about Ulver‘s 2007 opus Shadows of the Sun, I claimed I didn’t like Blood Inside much, based upon some brief impressions from back when it came out in 2005. I guess I really didn’t, at the time. But, as the wolves themselves quoted William Blake in 1998: “The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, & breeds reptiles of the mind.” So, when after a stellar show by the band in Tilburg last February I passed the merch stand and I saw a nice LP reissue of the album, I couldn’t resist giving it another try. Whatever the reasons, it did click with me this time, and for me it stands as one of the band’s finest albums from now on.

Compared to most of the band’s work since 2000, Blood Inside is perhaps a bit difficult to get into. Gone are the soothing soundscapes and jazzy urban electronica that came before, and what we hear is a partial return to a peculiar hybrid of experimental rock and electronics that is at first quite demanding of the stylistic sorting machine inside each of us. This, though, is precisely where the strength of this album is situated: the vision and daring to make uncompromisingly original music, a quality reserved for only a select number of great names in music.

“Dressed in Black” opens up the album relatively gently, with a slowly striding rhythm, emphasising bells and cymbals, single tone synth backing and the subtly edited vocals of Kristoffer Rygg. Without being intrusive, many effects and instruments are piled on top of this, slowly bringing the song to an intense climax. This segues perfectly into “For the Love of God”, just the first of many highlights on this album. It combines a swaggering rhythm with solid bass synth backing into a song that is incredibly innovative in style, but as catchy as any refined pop song would be. It’s even got a refrain and a guitar solo…  The same goes for “Christmas”, based on a poem by Fernando Pessoa, which ramps up the tempo and intensity a bit more. The end of this side of the LP is formed by “Blinded by Blood”, a calmer track of layered ambiances, presaging the style that would come to determine much of the sound of Shadows of the Sun. It gives Rygg’s voice some more chance to shine, and forms a moment of calm before we embark on the second half.

CD cover

And that one starts with “It Is Not Sound”, a track that was also used for the accompanying video on the enhanced CD release [YouTube]. The track takes a number of cues from J.S. Bach, in an original way that detracts neither from this track nor from the original compositions. Tradition and innovation are entwined as they were meant to here. The song moves from a rocking first half that contains the words to a coda consisting of a spacey toccata rendition in synth and drums. The album delves into even deeper and darker territories with “The Truth”, which features some fast freestyle drum parts and a gloomy mood.

We’re two-thirds through the tracks, and a little interlude about the lyrics might be appropriate. In contrast to the relatively simple contemplative themes on Shadows of the Sun and the folkloric and religious material of the albums from the nineties, Blood Inside is again a tough nut to crack. Colour plays a strong role: the virgin white and blood red are prominent, with both having particular significance in religion as well. The same goes for truth and sound, not to mention the places where god and grace are mentioned literally.

With this forethought, then, we enter the last trinity of tracks. “In the Red” is, first of all, a genuinely swinging track, again forming a perfect synthesis between cutting edge electronica, rock, and samples of music from yesterday. The way in which vintage string and brass samples are incorporated into this song is simply perfect. And then, the lyrics again. It seems we turn to the colours of this album in some of their most tangible senses: the red blood flows from our veins onto the earth, and we are rushed into a hospital. As time is running out, we are enveloped by the hospital’s “great white”, while the trumpets dance a final merry striptease. Our status is critical, and without sound, we try to call for help. As “Your Call” tells us, though, “no one answers the phone”. This track, in its sublime interplay between soothing calm and threatening intensity, is one of the best tracks Ulver have ever produced, if not the best. The call metaphor is expressed in the pulsating sounds of the second half of the track that pierce right to your marrow, and finally made concrete in the ringing that sounds out the track, our lifeline dangling loose in the air. Are we beyond help and is this going to be the end, or is someone going to pick up? Yes, it’s the “Operator” over in emergency. Drums, bass and wild samples thunder over us as we are thrown into the last frantic rush before the end. Guitar solos and rhythmic eruptions are all over the place, as the vocals attempt to keep things together a bit, like the surgeons fighting for our life. Do we make it through in the end? Who knows… “please be patient, hold the line”.

These last three tracks in themselves – the quality of the rest of the album notwithstanding – are perhaps the most important of them all. Not only do they form a virtuoso musical rendition of a desperate fight for survival in the hospital, if we take into account the broader themes of the album, we realise it might all refer to more lofty issues as well: our search for truth and meaning in life. Perhaps “truth is a hospital”, and as patients, we are all struggling to survive, trying to make sense of the sounds and words, the light and dark. It is a massive feat to raise such issues in an album that manages to be musically innovative as well.

To compare Blood Inside directly to Ulver‘s other albums would be a mistake. They are all so divergent in style, and many stand as classic releases in their own playing field, having sparked a whole specific style like Kveldssanger and the other albums in The Trilogie, or simply by being very good, like almost all of the others. Blood Inside, though, might be the best in terms of forming a self-contained whole that stands miles apart from practically all other music. In this sense, it reminds me of seminal releases by industrial pioneers like Foetus, Coil, Current 93, and Einstürzende Neubauten. Thankfully, roughly twenty years after the groundbreaking releases by these bands, we are still occasionally presented with albums that push the envelope like that, though not as often as we’d like. Blood Inside is definitely one of them though, a landmark in modern music.

Reviewed by O.S.

Tracklist:

1. Dressed In Black (7:06)
2. For The Love Of God (4:11)
3. Christmas (6:15)
4. Blinded By Blood (6:23)

5. It Is Not Sound (4:37)
6. The Truth (4:02)
7. In The Red (3:31)
8. Your Call (6:07)
9. Operator (3:37)

detailed info: discogs.com

Wolves Evolve. We’ve known that since 1998, when Ulver released the epic and experimental Themes from William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Since then, not one of their releases sounded quite like [...]]]> artist: Ulver
release: Shadows of the Sun
format: CD, LP
year of release: 2007
label: Jester
duration: 39:54

detailed info: discogs.com

Wolves Evolve. We’ve known that since 1998, when Ulver released the epic and experimental Themes from William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Since then, not one of their releases sounded quite like another. My appreciation of their albums has also been mixed. I loved Themes…, but Metamorphosis didn’t do much for me. I thought Perdition City was a great piece of dark urban music, but Teachings in Silence left me relatively cold. A Quick Fix of Melancholy is one of my favourite 2003 releases, but Blood Inside was never my thing. As it turns out, the system never fails; Shadows of the Sun is bound to be one of my favourite albums of the year.

Once again, these crazy Norwegians have put a twist on their musical direction. Blood Inside had a great deal of noisiness and chaos going on, but this album is streamlined, often meditative and calm, and with an overall sad en pensive atmosphere. The warm ambiances, soft vocals, and subtle theremin of “EOS” make that clear immediately. “All the Love” is more intense, introducing excellent piano melodies, soaring trumpet, and electronic beats. The dominance of sublime piano lines continues on “Like Music” and “Vigil”, easily my two favourite tracks off the album. Some sections here feature more expert shimmering ambient, courtesy of none other than Fennesz on the latter track. And let’s not forget Rygg’s excellent vocals!

These vocals shift to a more intense character in the two following tracks. The title track is quite mixed in its sound, ranging from the warm droning sunset of the intro to the distinct, ‘drum ‘n’ piano’ of the later stages, which have a certain prog feeling, even reminding me of Opeth somewhat. “Let the Children Go” is heavier material, certainly concerning the beat and vocal intensity, as well as the oriental sounding trumpet solo. Then there’s “Solitude”. Before I’d heard the album, this Black Sabbath cover was actually one of the tracks I was most looking forward to. As it turns out, while it is certainly good, the track pales somewhat in comparison to Ulver‘s own compositions. The last two tracks, finally, end the album in the same contemplative and dark way as it began.

There are only two things which bother me (albeit only slightly) about this album. First of all, I think the lyrics are a bit on the lightweight or even predictable side, especially for a group of this experimental caliber. Another thing is the production: it’s rather… slick. On the one hand, this is a good thing. The excellent and detailed tracks are polished to a nice finish, making Shadows of the Sun particularly suitable for discovery by a wide audience. All the same, I wouldn’t have minded a bit more raw edges or surprises.

Minor nitpicking though, for this is a great album, and I haven’t even mentioned the glorious cover photograph! My respect to the anonymous photographer. Shadows of the Sun is an excellent piece of experimental music, recommended to all adventurous listeners.

Reviewed by O.S.

Tracklist:

1. EOS (5:05)
2. All the Love (3:42)
3. Like Music (3:30)
4. Vigil (4:27)
5. Shadows of the Sun (4:36)
6. Let the Children Go (3:50)
7. Solitude (3:53)
8. Funebre (4:26)
9. What Happened? (6:25)