Ulver - Shadows of the Sun
Those who carp about Ulver's post-black metal output should note that the "Black Metal Trilogie" (Bergtatt, Kveldssanger, Nattens Madrigal) represent but the first three years of Ulver's existence. Since then, the band has spent over a decade growing, experimenting, and striving for more individuality than 99% of black metal bands ever will.Admittedly, the results have been spotty. Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1998) and Perdition City (2000) were multi-genre melanges; the latter recalls Dødheimsgard's scattershot 666 International, which came out around the same time (1999). Lyckantropen Themes (2002) was a bit minimal, but functioned as a film soundtrack. Also a soundtrack and thus instrumental, Svidd Neger (2003) was emotive and lush. Blood Inside (2005) was overwrought.
On Shadows of the Sun (Jester/The End, 2007), Ulver have found their balance. They've stopped trying to be something else (electronica, avant-garde, soundtrack, etc.). For once, the band has settled on an identity, kneading it instead of dabbling. The identity is more adjectives (atmospheric, almost percussionless) than nouns (rock, prog). Ulver have found their sound by escaping genres.
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The sound is relaxed, warm, dusky. Bandleader Garm's voice is smooth, dark, like hot cocoa. Strings, trumpet, and theremin stir the drink. Christian Fennesz is credited with "supplemental shimmer." The vibe is mellow, but not optimistic. In an interview with Heathen Harvest, Garm said, "Nature is pretty fucking depressing, we are all here to die. And I guess we do what we do to forget the countdown, and there's a simple kind of beauty in that."
Throughout, the tone is elegiac. "Funebre" grieves for the fallen more poignantly than a hundred Amon Amarth songs: "In memory of a missing person / An angel / A flight of ravens into the sunset." "Vigil" is "For all who used to be / And now are in the dark." A cover of Black Sabbath's "Solitude" fits right in: "Sunshine is far away, clouds linger on." Horns and sunsets, indeed.
Shadows of the Sun is available physically and digitally from Jester, Amazon, and The End (the latter only physically).
Labels: avant-garde metal, clee, norway
6 Comments:
I'm not one to pine for their black metal output, I didn't hear of them until "Blood Inside". I do pine for blood inside, though. Overwrought or not, it had a lot more going on. Shadows of the Sun is more of a "genre" record, even if it's the only thing in that genre: it conforms to a set of rules, and just doesn't give me enough to think about.
It's not a bad record, I find myself listening to it before bed pretty often, so i'll probably listen to it more often than Blood Inside, but I prefer the mashed-up influences playing off each other on that album.
Hmmm... HUGE Ulver fan, but slept on this one. And perhaps it's the fact that I've basically stopped listening to experimental noise since around the time that "Blood Inside" came out, but this material sounds, well... pretty damn boring to me, really. I was listening to some stuff off "Perdition City" recently and it still kicked ass, though ("Porn Piece or the Scars of Cold Kisses" is perfection), so... I dunno. But this isn't creating any feeling for me.
Andrew, this is miles from "experimental noise." The album is definitely of a piece, and, as sunburntkamel points out, is a great afterhours listen. I like how it doesn't try to hit you over the head with 10,000 influences...the ride is a lot smoother now, you should give it a chance.
Definitely wasn't trying to toss this off as an experimental noise release, was just wondering if maybe the fact that I've lost interest in that genre would explain why the sparseness of this and those elements of Ulver's approach don't seem to be working for me here...
Finally getting around to listening to this, I must say that this sort of dark cinematic art music is exactly what I've been craving.
Upon first listen-- this is fantastic.
it taps into an almost...Piano Magic type place for me. Genius record.
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