Ulver

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Ulver
Origin Norway
Genre(s) Black metal/Folk Metal/Neofolk (early)
Experimental (later)
Years active 1993–present
Label(s) Jester, The End, Century Black, House of Kicks
Website www.jester-records.com/ulver
Members
Kristoffer Garm Rygg
Jørn H. Sværen
Tore Ylwizaker
Former members
Håvard Jørgensen
Torbjørn Pedersen
Grellmund
A. Reza
Erik Olivier Lancelot
Carl-Michael Eide
Hugh Steven James Mingay

Ulver (Norwegian for “wolves”) is a multi-disciplinary musical group from Norway. Since their first, folklore-influenced black metal release in 1993, Ulver’s style has ever been changing by mixing elements of experimental, electronic and ambient music, avant-garde rock and trip hop.

Contents

[edit] Musical overview

[edit] Black Metal Trilogy

Although Ulver’s first three albums are often called their “Black Metal Trilogie”, they are quite diverse in musical styles, with only two of them belonging to the black metal genre. The archaic Danish lyrics of the first album and Norwegian lyrics of the next two albums were inspired by Scandinavian folktales.

Bergtatt - Et Eeventyr i 5 Capitler is considered to be a folk-themed black metal album for its occasionally fast tempo, distorted electric guitars and croaky screaming vocals intermitted with melodious acoustic passages with clean vocals, and having a fantasy storyline. The title Bergtatt literally translates as “mountain-taken”; in Norwegian folk tales the word refers to people who wander off into mountains, lured by trolls or other legendary beings. The narrative of the album’s lyrics follows a maiden as she becomes so mountain-taken. The subtitle translates as “A Tale in 5 Chapters”. Bergtatt features a melancholic, fully acoustical song “Een stemme locker” (“A Voice Beckons”).

Kveldssanger, Ulver’s second album, contrasts with Bergtatt as it uses classical guitars, cello and chamber chants, completely eschewing the metal elements of Bergtatt, while still having a folk theme. Garm has since remarked that Kveldssanger was an “immature attempt at making a classical album.” Garm later clarified this by saying that the performance was immature, yet the content is strong when their youth is taken into account.[1]

The third album, Nattens Madrigal (“Madrigal of the Night”), saw the band returning to a black metal style similar to Bergtatt. Unlike on Bergtatt, however, the only acoustic instruments appear in a brief interlude in the first track. The album is intentionally underproduced, akin to Darkthrone’s Transilvanian Hunger, with buzzing guitars and rather muffled drums. There are rumors surrounding this album and its recording, the most famous being that the band recorded this album in a forest. Another and less-known rumor is that the band purposely recorded the album on a four-track cassette recorder and used the money that Century Media gave them for other things, like Armani suits, haircuts, cocaine, beer, and/or a new car. Garm has since confirmed that the band has expensive tastes.[1]

[edit] Blake album

Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, released in 1998, was different from what Ulver, or even any other band, had made before.[citation needed] Tore Ylwizaker, a new composer and sound architect, added to Garm’s expanding artistic visions and together they stepped over the boundaries of black metal aesthetics, creating a genre-defying work often associated with avant-garde metal. In this album, the musicians blended electronics, industrial music elements, progressive metal and avant-garde rock, adding ambient passages. Lyrically, the album incorporates the entire text of the William Blake’s poem The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and features guest vocals. Despite confounding and perhaps alienating many fans of the band’s first three albums, the album received widespread acclaim from critics within both the rock/metal and alternative music press. For instance, it was reviewed as album of the month in several high-profile magazines such as Terrorizer, Metal Hammer, and Rock Hard. It also ranked very high at many year’s best polls that same year.

[edit] The metamorphosis

Ulver’s next two releases, the EP Metamorphosis and full-length album Perdition City, were even more experimental and pensive than 'Themes…. A disclaimer on Metamorphosis reads: “We are as unknown to you as we always were.” The band had moved further away from rock and metal and into a more ethereal style, much like that of Coil. The use of programmed sound and atmospheric style is dominant here, unlike the previous albums. Neo-classical composer and film scorer Craig Armstrong may have been an influence on Ulver as his use of electronics and hip hop beats over strings and pianos is somewhat reminiscent of Ulver’s later works.

Perdition City combined many of their influences into a comprehensive painting of a desolate city filled with ghosts.[citation needed]

[edit] Teachings in Silence and soundtracks

The band followed up these two releases with two minimalist/ambient/glitch works Silence Teaches You How to Sing and Silencing the Singing. These works featured minimal melodies and often had subtle, weird and unnatural noises within the song structures. Due to their individual rarity, they were later amalgamated as Teachings in Silence.

Having proved their proficiency at making atmospheric music, Ulver were hired to make music for cinema films like Lyckantropen (see Lyckantropen Themes), Svidd neger (see Svidd neger (soundtrack)), and Uno.

[edit] Recent years

In 2003, Ulver began making more symphonic music. They released the EP A Quick Fix of Melancholy, which kept the minimalist, sparse styles of their previous albums, albeit adding more dramatic and symphonic elements, with various string sounds and operatic singing styles.

In July 2004, the band finished recording their sixth album, Blood Inside, which was released on June 6th, 2005. With Blood Inside the band stepped away from the more minimal styles they had been experimenting with previously. Bringing back more traditional rock instruments like guitar and acoustic drums (since 1998 the band had used primarily digital drums and sampled beats) and combining them with real and synthetic classical instruments, brass horns, and sound samples, the band created something they had never done before. Managing to fuse genres ranging from rock, classical, minimalism, electronica and vintage Progressive rock with Garm’s broad vocal range, Ulver created an album that was far beyond anything anyone has heard in the avant-garde scene.[citation needed]

Ulver recently collaborated with drone band Sunn O))) on a fifteen-minute track which appears on Sunn O)))’s WHITEbox box set, released in July of 2006. Additionally, Ulver had announced back in 2002 that they had been working on a string remake of Nattens Madrigal, but Garm has stated on the message board of his alternative rock band, Head Control System, that the project “is in a state of total dormancy.”[2]

The band's seventh and most recent album, Shadows of the Sun, was released on October 1, 2007. Garm called it “our most personal record to date. Low key, dark, and tragic.”[3]

[edit] Discography

[edit] Full lengths

[edit] Other releases

[edit] Contributions and guest appearances

  • Feuersturm – Century Media Records compilation (1997) – "Soelen gaaer bag aase need"
  • Souvenirs from Hell – compilation (1997) – "Synen"
  • Ablaze Compilation – Ablaze Magazine compilation (1998) – "Hymn VIII: Of Wolf and the Night"
  • Lords of Chaos: The History of the Occult – Lords of Chaos compilation (2002) – often called "(untitled exclusive track)", but in fact it is a rehearsal of "Hymn VI: Of Wolf and Passion" from Nattens madrigal
  • Frog Remixed and Revisited – Merzbow remix compilation (2003) – "Denki No Numa (Frog Voice mix)"
  • The Lotus Eaters – Dead Can Dance tribute compilation (2004) – "In the Kingdom of the Blind the One-Eyed Are Kings"
  • Uno – soundtrack (2004) – "Uno", "Avhør", "Brødre", "Brødre Rev.", "Flukt", "Gravferd", "David til ulvene"
  • Salto, salmiakk og kaffe – soundtrack (2004) – unreleased
  • Gods of Thunder – Kiss tribute compilation (2005) – "Strange Ways"
  • Sunn O))) – WHITEbox (2006) – "CUTWOODeD"

[edit] Members

[edit] Current members

[edit] Session, guest, and former members

  • Grellmund – guitar on Vargnatt (committed suicide on 31 Dec 1997)
  • A. Reza – guitar on Vargnatt
  • Robin – bass guitar on Vargnatt
  • Carl-Michael Eide (aka Aggressor; Czral; Exhurtum) – drums on Vargnatt, guest drums on Blood Inside
  • Lill Katherine Stensrud – vocals on Vargnatt and Bergtatt, flute on Bergtatt
  • Steinar Sverd Johnsen (also known as Sverd) – piano on Vargnatt and Bergtatt
  • Håvard Jørgensen – guitar (Vargnatt through Themes…), session guitars on Metamorphosis, Perdition City and Blood Inside
  • Hugh Steven James Mingay (aka Skoll) – bass guitar (Bergtatt through Themes…)
  • Erik Olivier Lancelot (aka AiwarikiaR) – drums, flute (Bergtatt through Themes…)
  • Torbjørn Pedersen (aka Aismal; Tykje) – guitar (Bergtatt through Nattens Madrigal)
  • Alf Gaaskjønli – cello on Kveldssanger
  • Jan Axel Blomberg (aka Hellhammer) – drums (on the song "Synen", released on the Souvenirs from Hell compilation)
  • Knut Magne Valle – guitar on Themes…
  • Stine Grytøyr (aka "her") – vocals on Themes…
  • Tomas Thormodsæter Haugen (aka Samoth) – vocals on Themes…
  • Vegard Sverre Tveitan (aka Ihsahn) – vocals on Themes…
  • Gylve Nagell (aka Fenriz) – vocals on Themes…
  • Rolf Erik Nyström – saxophone on Perdition City
  • Ivar H. Johansen – drums on Perdition City
  • Kåre J. Pedersen – drums on Perdition City
  • Bård G. Eithun – drums on Perdition City
  • Øystein Moe – bass on Perdition City
  • Bosse – guitar solo on Blood Inside
  • Jeff Gauthier – violin on Blood Inside
  • Mike Keneally – guitar on Blood Inside
  • Andreas Mjøs – vibraphone on Blood Inside
  • Maja S. K. Ratkje – choir on Blood Inside
  • Knut Aalefjær – drums and percussion on Blood Inside

[edit] Related bands

  • Coil – Probably the band by which 2000-2002 era Ulver is most inspired by and analogous to. This British-based experimental band has redefined the essence of electronic and minimalist music
  • Arcturus – Another project of Ulver members Garm and Skoll, as well as Ulver session members Sverd, Knut Magne Valle, and Hellhammer, which started as symphonic black metal and transitioned into avant-garde metal. Garm left the band in 2003.
  • Borknagar – Norwegian folk-inspired black metal band that featured Garm on vocals on their first two albums.
  • Ved Buens Ende – Side project of Skoll and Carl-Michael Eide. Since disbanded and recently reunited.
  • Head Control System – a duo of Garm and the Portuguese metal musician Daniel Cardoso.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b ULVER: The MetalKult Interview. MetalKult.com (2007-11-12).
  2. ^ quote was taken from Head Control System page (link is dead now)
  3. ^ ULVER official site (2007-07-13). Retrieved on 2007-07-13.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Ulver
Kristoffer Rygg · Tore Ylwizaker · Jørn H. Sværen
Håvard Jørgensen · Torbjørn Pedersen · Grellmund · A. Reza · Erik Olivier Lancelot · Carl-Michael Eide · Hugh Steven James Mingay
Albums
Demos and EPs
Compilations
Soundtracks
Other releases
Related articles