01	Capitel I - I Troldskog faren vild						07:53
	02	Capitel II - Soelen gaaer bag Aase need						06:35
	03	Capitel III - Graablick blev hun vaer						07:43
	04	Capitel IV - Een Stemme locker						04:02
	05	Capitel V - Bergtatt - ind i Fjeldkamrene						08:10
	06	Ostenfor Sol Og Vestenfor Maane						03:25
	07	Ord						00:18
	08	Hoyfjeldsbilde						02:13
	09	Nattleite						02:10
	10	Kveldssang						01:31
	11	Naturmystikk						02:55
	12	A Cappella (Sielens Sang)						01:25
	13	Hiertets Vee						03:54
	14	Kledt I Nattens Farger						02:49
	15	Halling						02:05
	16	Utreise						02:54
	17	Sofu-or Paa Allfers Lund						02:37
	18	Ulvsblakk						06:59
	19	Ulverytternes Kamp (bonus track)						05:52

Bergtatt - Et Eeventyr I 5 Capitler

Head Not Found :1994

Capitel I - I Troldskog faren vild
Capitel II - Soelen gaaer bag Aase need
Capitel III - Graablick blev hun vaer
Capitel IV - Een Stemme locker
Capitel V - Bergtatt - ind i Fjeldkamrene

Garm - Vocals
Haavard - Guitar
Aismal - Guitar
Skoll - Bass
AiwarikiaR - Drums



Kveldssanger

1995 : Head Not Found

1. Ostenfor Sol Og Vestenfor Maane
2. Ord
3. Hoyfjeldsbilde
4. Nattleite
5. Kveldssang
6. Naturmystikk
7. A Cappella (Sielens Sang)
8. Hiertets Vee
9. Kledt I Nattens Farger
10. Halling
11. Utreise
12. Sofu-or Paa Allfers Lund
13. Ulvsblakk

Garm - Vocals
Haavard - Guitar
AiwarikiaR - Drums




Bergtatt

Reviews:

mulletguy16
Jan 27, 2004
The inspiring career of Ulver begins here, with the first installment to the "black metal trilogie." Although I'm sure few people (read: no one) expected Ulver to eventually tackle experimental electronic music, it would have been obvious from the outset that this was a very special band with a promising musical journey ahead of them. This is probably the most beautiful metal album I have heard. Actually it's difficult to think of anything with a metal disposition that comes close. And it is beautiful without any tacky symphonic pretenses or lame synths.
"Chapter I" begins with a hammering drum roll, then enters the evocative, melodic riffing and Garm's haunting, multitracked voice. It feels weird calling a man's voice "beautiful" but Garm's chanted vocals, in an archaic tongue (which adds to the album's seductive mystique), here make me shiver like few others. It is immediately apparent that the production is subdued and gentle, rather than abrasive and trebly. The metal of this album possesses a accomplishes a rare feat of atmosphere, due to the complementing distant sound of the production. A brief middle section of twin interlocking acoustic guitars emerges, then it switches back to the electric-guitar-based melodious stream of riffing and indelible vocal themes. "Chapter II" opens with acoustic guitar and flutes which shifts to the first sheer black metal passage, impelled forward by driving blastbeats and a maelstrom of fierce yet melodic riffs. Also, we are introduced to the antipode of Garm's celestial chant, which is his chilling, diabolical scream. It ends with an enchanting, harmonious a capella section.

"Chapter III" is mostly stormy melodic black metal mixed with feral screams and chants. The middle of the song has the sounds of a woman running and breathing heavily with burnished piano runs in the background (probably has something to do with the story -- and I'm assuming Bergtatt IS a story given the chapters and song titles and all...) The fourth chapter has two acoustic guitar chords as well some sparse, wooden sounding percussion on every fourth beat which are repeated for the entire duration. The surrounding sounds are varied, however: deep, chanted male vocals; brief glittering acoustic guitar solos; haunting soprano vocals. The band's mindfulness of texture is amazing.

Then the finale, the fifth song, propelled at first by blastbeats, dense and soaring tremolo picking, and Garm's tormented scream. Then the metal is cut out, replaced by a rapid, plucked steel-string acoustic guitar figure with ravishing nylon-string sprinkled over it. This then vanishes as abruptly as it appeared, replaced by the epic, climactic, tense main riff and kinetic drumming that anchors the middle section. Devillish vocals again appear, snarling. The final, symphonic (without sounding cheesy or gimmicky) buildup with soaring, sustained guitar is astoundingly magnificent. The metal fades out, leaving a gorgeous, classical sounding coda on acoustic guitar which ends the disc. You realize at this point that the album is barely longer than 30 minutes, but it is so perfect and amazing you'd be a fool to care.

Of the "trilogie," Nattens Madrigal is the most definitive black metal album, and Kveldssanger is just achingly gorgeous although it technically isn't black metal (it's all Norwegian folk songs, y'know). But in the end I would have to say the mix in Bergtatt is the most compelling. Very highly recommended, even to those who normally shy away from black metal. This album proves that a good artist can make gorgeous music even in a form that is typically vile and evil. The black metal purist may not like it but it's his loss.




Kveldssanger

1995 : Head Not Found

1. Ostenfor Sol Og Vestenfor Maane
2. Ord
3. Hoyfjeldsbilde
4. Nattleite
5. Kveldssang
6. Naturmystikk
7. A Cappella (Sielens Sang)
8. Hiertets Vee
9. Kledt I Nattens Farger
10. Halling
11. Utreise
12. Sofu-or Paa Allfers Lund
13. Ulvsblakk

Garm - Vocals
Haavard - Guitar
AiwarikiaR - Drums


Ulver

CD "Kveldssanger"

Head Not Found c 1996

Disc of Ulver provoked in my consciousness several shapes, that remained utterly forgotten and at the same time not clear. To understand and realize it I had to listen to their disk about three times and after that I'd deepened into the creation of the group. It is really difficult to characterize the album simply not knowing that Ulver is not a neo-folk group and most likely black-metallists who decided to record a neo-folk album. Firstly I want to make a proviso that I'm not saying that they haven't succeeded with this idea. However there are some strange things in their creation that can be perceived. If it weren't a regularity it would be possible to ignore them. But it is difficult for people who were brought up on a music of a certain type, to tear themselves away from its sources immediately with the first (and I hope not the last) folk-album. Yes, we can say for sure that the group wanted to record the conceptual album with a new idea, and it is quite natural - Ulver always experimented and gradually they were making a progress in their creation, especially taking into account that their first CD had been made merely in a black metal mood. But you can point out the influence of metal ballads of different periods , especially in solo parts of the songs. And because of that, it sometimes seems that the album is flowing together into one doleful composition without beginning or end, and even the third time I found difficulty defining where the one song ends and other begins. But meanwhile music is made quite competently and, as they say, from all the heart and it is the most important thing.

It is interesting that the Scandinavian group decided to play neo-folk proceeding from their cultural traditions. Listening to the compositions it is sometimes possible to digress from critic analysis and to get a truly satisfaction from the tunes. And while peering at the label (under the condition that you have a definite part of imagination) you can realize the shape of the group itself. An inlay image of CD is done beautifully. Of course we can't call the music clearly national, that is because Ulver didn't reconstructed the folk, but in amazing way managed to transfer what they wanted through their compositions - the spirit their country, the shape of their thoughts. After all everybody has a right to free creation and if the creation is coming from the heart and is relieved in a professionally made shape it is worth listening for merely a general development. We may excuse Ulver a lot, due to such things that are retained and do not flow together like something amorphous . Of course, we can't call the rest of the compositions "the filling" of the space, but the album might be brighter if there would be not 13 tracks bur even 8. But we are judging about the work that had already been done and it is what it is. Yes Ulver is not Hagalaz Runedance, the group has not got that so cult and epic force, that gushes out from every song, but in whole, taking in account the other works of the group, they created a very worthy and beautiful work. After all , the foundation of any creation is an experiment, and , who knows, maybe the next work of Ulver will turn out to be brighter and unforgettable. Though it's difficult to say something about the group that exists in a constant search:

Blackwolf aka Wolffanger




ULVER LEGEND
TEXT
CONTEXT
IMAGES
PRESS
CATALOGUE
CONTACT


ULVER LEGEND

Happy birthday. Change hands. A head.
Admitted and circumcised. By friends. Thanks.
Haywire lycanthropy. Wolves evolve.

ULVER 1993-2003: 1st decade in the machines is complete. Remixes by ULVER, Alexander Rishaug, Information, Third Eye Foundation, Upland, Bogdan Raczynski, Martin Horntveth, Neotropic, Stars of the Lid, Fennesz, Pita, Jazzkammer, V/Vm, Merzbow. Some previously announced artists/mixes have been left out; there's a play time and a time to deliver. Out March.

A Quick Fix of Melancholy ep: 3 tracks over 30 min. reflecting the title. G. on vocals on VOWELS by the Canadian author Christian Bok. Out April.

Svidd Neger is slightly delayed. Premiere late May / early June.
[February 12 2003]

Lyckantropen Themes has been nominated to Spellemannsprisen 2003, the Norwegian Grammy Awards, genre Open Class. Other nominees are Mari Boine, Jaga Jazzist, Nils Petter Molv?r and Sidsel Endresen with Bugge Wesseltoft. The soundtrack will unlikely bring us the award in this company, none the less we appreciate the nomination. The show is broadcasted on Norwegian national television February 22.
[January 7 2003]

2002

The score for Svidd neger is almost done and will be released on Jester in parallel with the film premiere March 2003. The music is more elaborate than the abstract minimalism of Lyckantropen.

The string remake of Nattens Madrigal is of course delayed - no further friggin' comment. The original havoc is now re-released on vinyl by the Dutch Displeased Records; on CD by the Italian Avant Garde Records.

From the fashion wing: A merchandise deal with UK's Plastichead is in place. Perdition City and Lyckantropen T-shirts are available now.
[Source: Jester Records News December 12 2002]

New releases scheduled for 2003 to mark ULVER's ten years in metabusiness:

1. A collection of transformations from the ULVER catalogue by artists such as Christian Fennesz, Jazzkammer, Kevin Drumm, Kid 606, Martin Horntveth (Jaga Jazzist), Merzbow, Neotropic, Pita, Bogdan Raczynski, Alexander Rishaug, Stars of the Lid, Third Eye Foundation, Upland, V/Vm and others. Both classic and current ULVER material will be remade through contemporary noise, glitch and electronic frolic.

2. A new album, Utopian Enterprises, with texts and images in one grand package (the size depending on our sponsors). A return to vocals and violations with maximum manipulation and understanding of audio technology, beauty and - predicting the misunderstanding - pretence. We've killed too many darlings to please the police. When hurt, we reflect, the failure. Fuck you.
[Source: ULVER press release March 15 2002]

ULVER has been employed for the soundtrack to the upcoming Norwegian anti-Dogma outburst Svidd neger, a 1.5 million USD budgeter hitting the big screen spring 2003. The scenery is absurd Norway in splendour; the music will be all pomp and circumstance. More information at www.sviddneger.no.

Some horror film enthusiasts have also approached us for our competence as true servants of darkness and evil. However we don't sell our souls cheap these days. We'll see, it all comes down to hard cash.
[Source: ULVER press notice July 20 2002]

From the visual wing: ULVER is currently employed for a soundtrack to the Swedish film Lyckantropen, directed by Steve Ericsson (trailer download at www.lyckantropen.com). The beast in man, in different neighbourhoods, different forms, but all the same: Awakening.

From the noise wing: An ULVER remix off Merzbow's Frog album will be released through Misantrophic Agenda (www.holyterror.com/misanthropicagenda). A terrorist remix has also been done for the new album from Zyklon, old metal buddies of G., out on Candlelight Records this fall.

From the silence wing: The two post-Perdition city improv-glitch-EPs (limited and sold out) are re-released as one disc on the American indie label Black Apple Records (www.blackapplerecords.com) under the title Teachings in silence.

The ambient string remake of Nattens Madrigal is a drag. We promise to complete it within summer and release it through Jester (www.jester-records.com) this fall. If Century Media fancies our liquidation, contact the ULVER finance department at bestseller@blake.com.
[Source: ULVER press release March 15 2002]

2001

Absence and presence for the connoisseur only. [Source: Silence teaches you how to sing ep sleeve 2001]

2000-BACKWARDS

Everything falls. World history is an endless process of failure and falling, forced forward by opposed powers. In this twilight ULVER hovers, somewhere between Beast and Man, noise and silence, the golden summits and the dead centre.

Their first fall was into the satanic metal scene emerging in Norway in the beginning of the 1990's. Their songs were manifestations of rebellious romanticism, combining elements from Old Norse folk music with the primal brutality of black metal. The first three albums form a trilogy exploring the sinister aspects of Norwegian folklore. The beastliness begins with Bergtatt (1994), is balanced with the all acoustic, neo-folk album Kveldssanger (1995), before returning with even more impact on Nattens Madrigal (1996), where the pure anger and anguish is a consequence of the quintessential lycanthropic lyrics.

ULVER's uncompromising and enigmatic attitude made the band one of the most influential of the Norwegian subculture. Nonetheless they recognized that these early endeavors were stepping stones rather than conclusions - a thought that most bands of the scene did not care or dare to think. ULVER has always been in radical opposition to all forms of restriction and habit. "I think we quite early discarded all convulsive attempts at being dark and evil in any common sense of these words", states G., "When it comes to darkness, I find it much more fascinating when applied subtly."

ULVER fell further with their fourth album, Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1998, trick001). This double CD is an epic recital of the book where Blake evokes the power of imagination against the restrictions of the human ratio. Musically it explores a wide range of sound disciplines, including ambient soundscapes, industrial, cinematic jazz and rock/metal hybrids.

While some genre purists were taken aback by the violation of their boundaries, a new audience now discovered the band. ULVER started interacting with a broader range of people on the cultural fringe: modern heretical philosophers and musicians, writers on conspiracy, chaos magicians and the likes. In Norway the band has been involved in books, movies and multimedia projects, enjoying rising acclaim from a downright diverse lot. ULVER posters started appearing in everything from dumb smash box movies such as Senseless to the TV series Sopranos. The controversial director of the motion pictures Kids and Gummo, Harmony Korine, recently commented, alluding to The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: "There's a real lineage from a composer like Wagner to a band like ULVER". This confirms ULVER's outstanding status - a status that has resulted in proposals from world-class engineers for production of future albums, remix requests from other musicians, as well as invitations to multimedia projects.

Then followed the aptly titled Metamorphosis ep (1999, trick006), a dark cultivation of the electronic experiments introduced on the Blake album. The EP served as a foretaste of what awaits us now: Perdition City. ULVER's fifth full-length album shows the band retreating even further, into observations of beauty and decay and the loss of innocence. However disillusioned the band may appear today, there are still these keen visions, still these withdrawn and picturesque atmospheres. Subtitled Music to an interior film, this is indeed music to evoke images in the mind.
ULVER belongs to a rare breed of musicians who fall with strict consequence on album after album. And Perdition City is a stunning manifestation of all this within a framework of artistic perfection and mature aestheticism. It is also an album that will convince those in search for modern and sophisticated music without hearing the wings of angels and demons beating beneath.
[Source: Perdition City press release by Timo Kolling 2000]


ULVER TEXT

Through ULVER we have tried to draw a musickal picture of a different realitie: A mythickal world of phantasie that will not fade, change, or sink into oblivion. [Source: Bergtatt sleeve 1994]

The homeward Path
Hidden by spreading Snow
Listening to distant words
Spoken from somewhere Below
O'th'Heart's woe
Again the worlde was Night
Far north in the Mountain wildes
Below crest and cragge
They still play
[Source: Bergtatt synopsis 1995]

There exists no expression of sheer, black passion as pure as he who turns towards the moone, singing his passionate song. He senses and breathes instinctively in relation to the forces around him. [Source: The Madrigal of the Night sleeve 1996]

Lifted upwards
Rapt in Moonshine
In a Nature twofold shine
Beginning and End combine
Thy gift to my dying heart
Perception sans delusion
Wandering alone
The Wolf
[Source: The Madrigal of the Night synopsis 1996]

The prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel dined with me, and I asked them how they dared so roundly to assert that God spoke to them; and whether they did not think at the time that they would be misunderstood, and so be the cause of imposition. [Source: William Blake: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell]

ULVER is obviously not a black metal band and does not wish to be stigmatized as such. We are proud of our former instincts, but wish to liken our association with said genre to that of the snake with Eve: An incentive to further frolic only. [Source: Metamorphosis ep sleeve 1999]

I understand and not knowing how to express myself without using pagan words I prefer to remain silent. [Source: Arthur Rimbaud: Bad Blood]

G.: The production of silence in art is an utopian enterprise. If we disregard the alchimie du verbe, traditional language cannot capture the essence of what we attempt. It possesses utility only so far as it can construct boundaries. Forgive me, but I truly believe that music encompasses more, not stumbling in logic and formality.

S.: I appreciate the idea of something absolute, but maintain that all ethers fall before it. Still sounds might take us closer than words. The sound of someone writing is more void that a glimpse of the words written. And the transience of such a sound, unbidden and uncared-for, a volatile residue of something willed elsewhere.

G.: Looking upon ULVER's musical past, I understand that our metamorphoses can seem brute to some, but so is the nature of the beast. I am not down for this discussion anymore. Fumbling is more interesting than fucking.

S.: The staged uproar is of poor interest, it is but a negation, its ambition is an alternative order. The void is without form and without alternative. When approaching it the ether is in the way. Go wrong or go silent. I waver between the two. A violation. I vialote. Humble violations.

G.: And as the fall is inevitable, then I go down with all sails set.
[Source: Perdition City sleeve 2000]

Sound qua sound; a voice-over the void. [Source: Silencing the singing ep sleeve 2001]


ULVER CONTEXT

Your full name is?
G.: Kristoffer Garm Rygg.
H.: Jorn H. Sv?ren.
Y.: Tore Ylwizaker.

What do you do for a living?
G.: Perceive, play, produce.
H.: Read.
Y.: Audio systems operator.

If you could choose, what would you be doing instead?
G.: Write.
H.: Write.
Y.: Nothing, far away.

Who or what inspires you?
G.: Briefly: Francis Bacon, John Barry, Georges Bataille, Charles Baudelaire, Beach Boys, Samuel B. Beckett, Andre Bjerke, Black Sabbath, William Blake, Maurice Blanchot, Berthold Brecht, Andre Breton, William Burroughs, John Cage, Can, Peter Carroll, Chaplin, Coil, Joe Coleman, Aleister Crowley, Dali, Dante, Miles Davis, Philip K. Dick, Marlene Dietrich, Isidore Ducasse, Clint Eastwood, Torbjorn Egner, Faust, Alberto Giacometti, Lee Hazlewood, Henrik Ibsen, C. G. Jung, Kiss, Theodor Kittelsen, Kraftwerk, Timothy Leary, Bruce Lee, Mike Leigh, David Lynch, Macintosh, Charlie Manson, Curtis Mayfield, Ennio Morricone, Edvard Munch, Nature, Betty Page, Arvo Part, Edgar Allan Poe, The Residents, Arthur Rimbaud, Mark Ryden, Marquis de Sade, Sinatra, Sofokles, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Snorre Sturluson, Andrej Tarkovskij, Tor Ulven, Tom Waits, Robert Anton Wilson, Joel Peter Witkin, Tom Wolfe, Lucifer, Time, Space and Chaos.
H.: Distance.
Y.: Order.

Do you believe in (a) God?
G.: All of them, with the following words by brother Willie B. in mind: "All deities reside in the human breast."
H.: No.
Y.: No.

If you could, which artist/band should be aknowledged this year?
G.: ULVER.
H.: Coil.
Y.: King Midas.

Define yourself in 3 words ...
G.: A walking contradiction.
H.: Fallor ergo sum.
Y.: Stop play record.

What's next for you?
G.: Studio.
H.: Privacy.
Y.: Fornication.
[Source: Swear Head interview 2002]

G.'S ESSENTIAL:
Serge Gainsbourg: Histoire de Melody Nelson (1971)
Curtis Mayfield: Superfly (1972)
Black Sabbath: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1974)
Kiss: Alive! (1975)
Kate Bush: Hounds of Love (1985)
Metallica: Master of Puppets (1986)
Arvo Part: Passio (1988)
Astor Piazzolla: The Rough Dancer and The Cyclical Night (1989)
Coil: Stolen and Contaminated Songs (1993)
Matmos: A chance to cut is a chance to cure (2001)

H.'S ESSENTIAL:
Tuxedomoon: Holy Wars (1985)
Tom Waits: Rain Dogs (1985)
Big Black: Songs about fucking (1987)
Coil: Horse Rotorvator (1987)
Sigillum S: Bardo Thos-Grol (1987)
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: The Good Son (1990)
Fred Frith: Step across the border (1990)
Arvo Part: Tabula Rasa (Fratres 1994)
Mark Hollis: s/t (1998)
Coil: Musick to play in the dark volume 2 (2000)

Y.'S ESSENTIAL:
John Cage: Music for Prepared Piano
Miles Davis: Kind of Blue (1959)
Can: Tago Mago (1971)
Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks (1977)
Kraftwerk: Mensch Machine (1978)
David Bowie: Scary Monsters (1980)
Slayer: Reign in Blood (1986)
Autopsia: Death is the Mother of Beauty (1990)
Coil: Love's Secret Domain (1991)
Squarepusher: Big Loada (1997)

We set ambition before pretension, perdition before convention, and instinct before all. [Source: Dagobert's Revenge - Musick Magick Monarchism interview 1999]

After all these years the wolf is still my totem animal, and holds strong symbolic values to me. We are certainly not dogs. We refuse to be domesticated (laughs). [Source: Kerrang! interview 2001]

Having been deeply into the whole black metal scene and its heresies in my youth and then watching it suddenly burst into worldwide fame and consequently change into something different - and not to my personal liking, if I so may say - it felt natural for me to follow a different path. It also, of course, had something to do with growing up, and instead of fucking a dead corpse for money or whatever, I found myself more involved with sound engineering, other forms of music, other formats, different ideas. [Source: Outburn interview 2002]

We've been fascinated by the problem of silence in sound for a while now. As far as I'm concerned, communication is trapped in connotation. Just as certain linguists work against the common signals of text as language, the aim is to take sound to unheard places. [Source: Kerrang! interview 2001]

I think art, as a counterpart to science, can aid in broadening our conception of reality by transgressing many of the barriers imposed on us by our senses. It accesses spaces not otherwise accessible. Music for instance tends to hit you as more pure, pristine and resonant than the most well-chosen words. [Source: The Black Flame - International Forum of the Church of Satan interview 1998]

I agree that we are perhaps more painters of music than players of it. That actually kind of embodies what I was saying about technology earlier. That it's a means to paint or design music rather than play it, in a sense. You have a vision, and then you use whatever is necessary to realise that vision, make it come to life. So ... yes, the result is a very visual form of music, I think. [Source: Moondance interview 1999]

I see our music as an open room. Inside there is no exit. No outside. Only expanding black, which we transmit as we fumble. Only recurring echoes are kept, for the dogs that buy our stuff. I guess that makes us three happy bats (laughs). [Source: Distortion interview 2002]

Coil is the only group I can say has been hugely inspirational to me. Not necessarily as much the music as the way they approach it. I think it's a good principle doing things that aren't for everyone but just to those who are especially interested. A gesture to the few, the perceivers. [Source: Terrorizer interview 2000]

Blake's writings, especially the writings usually referred to as the prophetic, or illuminated books, embody many principles we can adhere to. However, I can not partake in such a personal vision, I can only admire it from my own distance. You know, he's out there talking to, actually having a conversation with the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel. Of course he must've been well aware he was tripping, but at the same time I think these ventures were very, very real, and that, you know, having that stuff inside, so to say, is something I can relate to. [Source: Moondance interview 1999]

I see [Satanism] as an imperative to a more cunning, clever and creative existence. I guess you could a romantic way of identifying with volatile and disruptive forces. It's irrevocable, so I guess I'm down with the Devil now. In terms of philosophy I enjoy contemporary Satanism for its many sharp and witty contemplations on the state of society and the human kind, as well as the individual striving to overcome any hindrances imposed upon by the aforementioned. I have little interest in being part of some black-clad group of bald people with goatees though. It just seems too convulsive to me. [Source: Dagobert's Revenge - Musick Magick Monarchism interview 1999]

It is interesting to see the development of science and technology in the light of the myth of Adam and Eve. As known, the snake said to Eve that if God forbade them to eat from the tree of knowledge, it was because he feared that by doing so, they would "become as God and know Good and Evil." That is precisely what is happening now: with the help of science (knowledge) we are gaining the powers of God. In this respect, Satan is the Christian Prometheus.

In order to expand and learn, it is sometimes necessary to give oneself free rein and open up to new experiences with the playful curiosity of a child. I regard drugs as extremely valuable to this purpose. Note that 'psychedelic' is synonymous to 'mind-altering' in English, whereas the Norwegian translation is 'consciousness-expanding'. And that is precisely the nature of psychedelic drugs: they expand your consciousness by breaking down perceptual barriers, enabling you to stretch the limits of your perspective.

A crucial question is: Do drugs distort perception, or are we merely quite distorted at the starting point?
[Source: The Black Flame - International Forum of the Church of Satan interview 1998]

I feel pretty fucking alienated. At the same time I think I'll manage, but certain times I feel extremely alienated. But it's very inspiring to me to know that there are people who are really taking the time and the effort to really dive into what we are doing. [Source: Moondance interview 1999]


ULVER IMAGES

February 2003 #1 | #2
December 2002
March 2002


ULVER PRESS

"That's a fucking gourmet-food restaurant, for the chosen" said the guy at the store who sold me the CD.

The daring and experimental form of sonic art which is now ULVER, is much like a surrealistic journey through a dream, like a flight over the night-lit city, like a thousand colours of red in one drop of wine and a million shadows of blue an eye would flash on a cold winter day.

"Change is the one constant." ULVER knows this. Hell, ULVER lives it. This band has been an exercise in mutation almost from its inception.

ULVER can be called one of Europe's highlights in the electronic avantgarde genre. I guess I have to scrap this compliment when ULVER's next full-length is out, since they never play the same thing twice.

Where most electronic composers have failed ULVER have succeeded, they have managed to produce a modern sounding subliminal masterpiece that includes the darkness, human emotion, composition and progression that their earlier black metal outings (and themes) touched upon or hinted towards.

Their stylistic diversity and compositional perversity is rapidly endearing this troupe of Norwegian wunderkinder to the European avantgarde crowd, adding to the great number of listeners ULVER already have among underground metal audiences (it's a long story).

ULVER was somehow the most Norwegian of all Norwegian black metal bands, the most folk-inspired of them all - and certainly one of the most brilliant. After such a debut album it would have been a safe way to continue doing that combination of yearning folklore and raging black metal, but as ULVER was from the very beginning surrounded by an aura of extravaganza, they searched for paths untrodden by the more usual bands that more and more started to adopt the trademarks ULVER had so inimitably cultivated.

To say that ULVER is a diverse force is just not fitting enough, in fact there is no word for the type of creative genius exhibited by this act. To play the most primal of black metal efforts, such as Nattens Madrigal, against Perdition City and know that both were spawned from the same mind is absolutely incomprehensible!

The best I can say to introduce ULVER is that there is probably no other band rooting in that genre that has acted so far away from the usual stereotypes and that there is probably no other band that is surrounded to such an extent by an aura and ambience of real "culture" as opposed to the youth scene market black metal has become.

The Madrigal of Night - Eight Hymnes to the Wolf in Man. This was one album no one expected from the ever morphing ULVER, least of all their label Century Media who expected another acoustic atmospheric album. Instead they got pure wolven aggression blasted through their ears. The only memory of older ULVER days is the 20 or so second acoustic melody played on the first track, somehow giving the false impression that there would be more of this to come.

WARNING: This is not a metal album.

As expected, ULVER have delivered the unexpected, a two-CD set of an interpretation that has as much to do with 1997's Nattens Madrigal as any Orbital record does. Naturally the black metal community has already deemed them traitors to the cause. Regardless, Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is another powerful album from Norway's most ambitious artists.

I hail Trickster G. and friends for the step they are taking forward with ULVER, if they don't define a new change in the genre, then they'll certainly make a new one of their own.

Perdition City is ULVER's fifth full-length album, and the culmination of a long, strange journey that began the best part of a decade ago. Back then, ULVER were a burning star in the black metal firmament; today, they're a barely recognisable echo of what they once were.

This ain't rock'n roll. It isn't even genocide. This is evolution on such a grand scale that most bands wouldn't even be able to wrap their tiny little minds around it.

With Perdition City ULVER finally have managed to get rid of all of their old fans once and for all.

Trying to explain what it actually sounds like is pointless, it can never really be nailed down to one style - which is where its beauty lies. Perdition City is one of the most interesting albums I've heard in a long time and trying to sum it up in a few words is nearly impossible. It would be like trying to explain colour to a blind person.

Arvo Part + Coil + Aphex Twin + Autechre = ULVER

Apparently calm, under the surface it hides dangers, phobias and conflicts. If there is anything about this album that could be predicted beforehand, it is the remarkable progress the Norwegians have made.

Norway's ULVER obviously possess a twisted-genius' ear for mood, melody and effect.

This album is night life music. It is ambient and it is everything about making you see what you are hearing.

The songs seem to go everywhere and nowhere at once. Most bands don't have the imagination to design such songs, nor the ability to develop and execute them.

Perdition City is too fragmented to be an ambient piece, it's too slow to be an industrial album, and it doesn't flow well enough to be a score either - but it still leaves me curious when it stops playing. Some say this album is great to listen to while driving around at night. Irritating for it's lack of perfection, but that hasn't stopped me from spinning this disc at least 50 times in about a month.

Perdition City is without a doubt the most musically diverse and extreme recording I have ever heard. No current project comes close to capturing such feeling and emotion in aural essence as ULVER has with this release.

True, due to ULVER's previous involvement, the overall atmosphere on Perdition City is to the tune of a darkened slant - that's a given. But inside Trick 007 Lucifer rests behind a wall of computers, firewire cables, a few Korg keyboards and, God forbid, a turntable or two.

I could enthuse for pages about the many ways in which the intimate and the numinous are made to collide - and occasionally even collude - on this amazing CD. It's a tangle of unexpected associations, an unassailably brilliant work.

Perdition City is above all, a monumental effort to defy every single law that has been carved to the lawstones of 'music': Inbetween every couple of notes, we're reminded that the linear perception and predictability are at stake, while the sense of order and composition are mere illusions. Yet ULVER's interpretation of avant-gardism does not cause an amok run - terms like deconstruction and fragmentation belong to a mature state of art in their dictionary.

ULVER lets you see a beautiful world where things are sometimes so right, and other times so wrong - finally culiminating in your acceptance and reverence. A wonderful, complex album.

A weird vibe that could be the soundtrack to getting mugged in the Bohemian section of a run-down urban metropolis on a rainy night. With Perdition City ULVER has masterfully intertwined soundtrack-style dramatics, fascinating arrangements, and a malevolent, psyche-gnawing vibe into one of the most unique albums that I have heard.

Sure, there are still soundscapes to iron out, beats to manipulate and songs to sample, but, in the end, Perdition City is a mammoth work of electronic genius.

If points were to speak rather than words in these pages, a 10 out of 10 would hardly reflect my admiration for this album - I dare to say Perdition City is not merely a masterpiece, also the philosopher's stone of innovative musicianship.

On a scale of one to five I'd be giving Perdition City a FUCK ME! and maybe throwing in a free night's accommodation at the four-star hotel of its choice. Get it now.

It's just beautiful.

Of course, being ULVER, they could have sampled their heating vents and sung 4 lines about it and certain members of the press would have deemed it "brilliant".

I would not be surprised to see this band studied in university music classes in the years to come.

In other words, total and utter crap. You have to wonder how anyone's going to take this seriously.

String bass and drums laying down a jazz beat, with some saxophone in the mix, sounding like lounge muzak that you might hear in purgatory. And after the wash of porn star moaning, you get a dose of spoken word backed by trumpet that sounds like it's straight out of some 1950's cheezy detective flick.

ULVER aren't so much leaders in a field of one as three steps ahead and two steps to the left of everything else out there. The goalposts have just been well and truly shifted.

[Sources: AmbiEntrance; Chaotic Critiques; Culture Burn; Dick Advocayt; Digital Metal; Eye; Gnosis; Grooves; Hellfrost; Illuminations; John Chedsey; Kerrang!; Leonard's Lair; Magnet; Mainstream Resistance; Music Extreme; Music Spork; Musique Machine; Pitchfork Media; Seven; Terrorizer; The Wire; Troll; Ultimate Metal; Unchain the Underground; Unrestrained.]


ULVER CATALOGUE

Bergtatt - Et Eeventyr i 5 Capitler [Head Not Found 1994]
Kveldssanger [Head Not Found 1995]
Nattens Madrigal - Aatte Hymne til Ulven i Manden [Century Media 1996]
The Trilogie - Three Journeyes through the Norwegian Netherworlde [Century Media 1997; triple picture LP box]
Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell [Jester 1998]
Metamorphosis ep [Jester 1999]
Perdition City - Music to an interior film [Jester 2000]
Silence teaches you how to sing ep [Jester 2001; 2000 ltd. ed.]
Silencing the singing ep [Jester 2001; 3000 ltd. ed.]
Teachings in silence [Black Apple 2002; 1000 ltd. ed.]
Lyckantropen themes - Original soundtrack for the short film by Steve Ericsson [Jester 2002]


ULVER CONTACT

www.jester-records.com

DISTRIBUTION

Voices Music & Entertainment
PB 2010 Grunerlokka
0505 Oslo
Norway

Tel.: +47 23 22 66 66
Fax: +47 23 22 66 67
E-mail: info@vme.no
URL: www.vme.no