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Ulver

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Ulver

Ulver (Norwegian for Wolves) is an experimental musical ensemble from Norway that started out making folk-inspired black metal and neo-classical folk music. Since then, they have been exploring various forms of avant-garde and experimental music.

Musical overview

Black Metal Trilogie

Ulver's first three albums are often classified as their "Black Metal Trilogie," although they are in fact quite diverse in musical styles, and in fact weren't all black metal, ironically. The vocals of these earlier releases are performed in archaic Danish language, with lyrics inspired by various tales of Norse mythology and folk tales.

Bergtatt - Et Eeventyr i 5 Capitler is considered to be folk-inspired black metal for its fast tempo, dry sound of electric guitar and unnatural screaming vocals intermitted with acoustic passages and clean vocals, and having a fantasy storyline (a potentially viking metal album, but possessing more general folk passages as opposed to folk music being intertwined with the black metal). The title "Bergtatt" translates directly into "Mountain taken", meaning "to be captured by the mountain" The word is often used in Norwegian folk tales, describing people who are lured to wander off into the mountains by trolls or other beings. The subtitle translates into "A Tale in Five Chapters." The central theme of this album follows a woman as she loses her way in a mountainside forest, and slowly begins to be lured deeper by mysterious beings lurking around her. Bergtatt features an all-acoustic song, Ein Stemme Locker ("A Voice Beckons"). Kristoffer “Garm” Rygg, the band's main contributor, has since said that he thought of Bergtatt as a “very traditional black metal album.” [1]

Kveldssanger, Ulver's second album, contrasts with Bergtatt as it uses acoustic guitar and cello with chamber chants performed by Garm, and completely eschews the traditional black 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.”

The third album, Nattens Madrigal (“The Night’s Madrigal”), was a return to black metal, more ferocious than Bergtatt ever was, the only "mellow" moment being a brief acoustic interlude in the first track. The style is very raw and intentionally underproduced, akin to Darkthrone's Transilvanian Hunger album, with buzzing guitars and barely audible 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, for example Armani suits, haircuts, cocaine, beer, and/or a new car. These rumors have both been refuted by Kristoffer Rygg.

Confounding

Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, released in 1998, was completely different from what Ulver, and furthermore, any other band, had made before. Tore Ylwizaker, new member and composer/sound architect, paired up with Garm's continuously expanding vision and together they stepped over the boundaries of black metal aesthetics, creating an original, genre-defying work. In this album, the musicians blended electronics, industrial elements, progressive metal, neofolk, ambient passages, and trip-hop. 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.

Ulver Evolves

Ulver's next two releases, the EP Metamorphosis and full-length album Perdition City, were even more experimental than the “Blake Album”. The band had moved further away from rock and metal and into a more electronic genre, much like that of Coil. The use of electronics is much more extensive here than on previous albums. Neo-classical composer and film scorer Craig Armstrong may have been an influence on Ulver as his use of electronics, trip-hop and hip hop beats over strings and pianos is somewhat reminiscent of Ulver's later works.

Silence

The band followed up these two releases with two minimalist/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 throughout the song structures. They were later released together as "Teachings In Silence."

Films

For their unique atmospheric sound, Ulver were hired to make music for cinema films Lyckantropen, Svidd Neger, and Uno.

Modern Era

In 2003, Ulver began making more symphonic music. They released A Quick Fix of Melancholy, which kept the minimalist, sparse stylings of their previous albums, while adding a much more expressive, dramatic, symphonic element, with various string sounds (most likely sampled) and various operatic singing styles.

In July 2004, the band finished recording their next 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/or sampled beats), and combining them with a whole slew of 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 prog with Garm's broad vocal range, Ulver created an album that was far beyond anything anyone has heard in the avantgarde scene.

Ulver have most recently collaborated with drone band Sunn O))) on a 15-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]

Discography

Full lengths

Other releases

Contributions and Guest Appearances

  • Feuersturm – Century Media Records compilation (1997) – "Sœlen Gåer Bag Åse Need"
  • Souvenirs from Hell – compilation (1997) – "Synen"
  • Ablaze Compilation – Ablaze Magazine compilation (1998) – "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 "Hymne VI - Wolf And Passion" from Nattens Madrigal
  • Merzbow - Frog Remixed & 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"

Current Members

  • Kristoffer Rygg (aka Garm, Trickster G., G. Wolf, Fiery G. Maelstrom) - Vocals, Additional Programming
  • Jørn H. Sværen - Misc.
  • Tore Ylwizaker - Programming, Keyboards

Session / Guest / Former Members

  • Håvard Jørgensen – guitar (Vargnatt through Themes...), session guitars on Perdition City and Blood Inside
  • Torbjørn Pedersen (aka Aismal; Tykje) – guitar (Bergtatt through Themes...)
  • Grellmund – guitar on Vargnatt (committed suicide on 31 Dec 1997)
  • A. Reza – guitar on Vargnatt
  • Erik Olivier Lancelot (aka AiwarikiaR) – drums, flute (Bergtatt through Themes...)
  • Carl-Michael Eide (aka Aggressor; Czral; Exhurtum) – drums on Vargnatt, guest drums on Blood Inside
  • Hugh Steven James Mingay (aka Skoll) – bass (Bergtatt through Themes...)
  • Robin – bass on Vargnatt
  • 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 & percussion on Blood Inside
  • Steinar Sverd Johnsen (aka Sverd) – piano on Vargnatt and Bergtatt
  • Alf Gaaskjønli – cello on Kveldssanger
  • Knut Magne Valle – guitar on Themes...
  • Rolf Erik Nyström – saxophone on Perdition City
  • Jan Axel Blomberg (aka Hellhammer) – drums (on the song "Synen", released on the Souvenirs from Hell compilation)
  • 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
  • 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...
  • Lill Katherine Stensrud – vocals on Vargnatt, Bergtatt; flute on Bergtatt
  • 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 and Knut Magne Valle, 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 — Still another of Garm’s side projects, this time a duet with a Portuguese metal musician Daniel Cardoso.
  • Code - Black metal band that Erik Lancelot played drums for from 2002-2006.

Note

  1. ^ — The quote was taken from an interview with the band which can be found on the Lyckantropen DVD (2002).
  2. ^ - the quote was taken from http://www.headcontrolsystem.com/thesektor/viewtopic.php?t=109 (link is dead now)
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