Track Listing
Hymne I Hymne II Hymne III Hymne IV Hymne V Hymne VI Hymne VII Hymne VIII Year: 1996 Label: Century Media - Official Site |
Ulver - 'Nattens madrigal' - By C. Diamantis
All those who had heard the first two releases of the band (�Bergtatt� and �Kveldssanger�) didn�t really know what to expect next when this was released. The only thing that they�d probably been thinking is that the next record would be melodic. Well, being faithful to their history, Ulver proved everyone wrong. When this album was released nobody knew what to think and I�ll explain the reasons in a little while� This album is a tribute to traditional black metal and Ulver follow every rule with great care. The music is so brutal that it sometimes annoys the listener. Forget all those melodies and slow tempos, here we have fast riffing, very fast drumming and a lot of screaming in the vocals. I think that this album is the obsession of a Darkthrone fan. Totally primitive, quite simple in its structures and with melodies that appear very seldom is some parts of the song, just to remind us of the past and the enormous change of style. When everyone else were lowering the tempos of their music, Ulver decided to increase them dramatically. And to top everything, the production of this album is so bad that it must have been done this way on purpose. Considering the style of music, the production makes it even harder to listen to. Garm sings so harshly that it makes us forget all those emotional moments of the past. Here the only elements that exist are brutality, animal instincts and rage. The band choose one more time to create a concept album, this time dealing with the concept of lycanthropy and the connection between Man and Wolf. That doesn�t mean that the lyrics are like something out of a cheap horror movie, because Ulver approach the subject from a more philosophical point of view. I believe that the choice of subject is very successful since it totally fits with the general atmosphere of the music. What everyone must understand about this album is that it was done this way musically, because the band wanted to do it this way and not because of any lack of talent or skills. Considering this fact, this is a very good album, though very hard to be listened to many times in a row. You have to listen it with great attention in order to discover the true qualities of the music. Definitely not an every-day album but it seems that the Wolves were feeling playful again� Metal Obsessive Grade: 85% (The rating is pretty useless for this album. The fans, like me, love it. The others try to listen to it before understanding it.) |