Customer Reviews
I don't see the point
honestly, for the life of me, I don't get what all the hype about Ulver is. . I love black metal, and these guys are almost put up like a litmus test of "tr00-ness". *yawn* No thanks. . . give me Immortal or Marduk any day. If I want atmospheric qualities to my black metal, Emperor or Dimmu Borgir fit the bill nicely.
Ulver is just. . . I dunno, it doesn't SUCK, it's just. . . **shrug**.
Landmark
There are a number of reasons for this, but the point I find myself considering most often is the fantastically idiosyncratic nature of this album, both stylistically and sonically. Along with some Agalloch and Weakling this is probably the best black metal album I've heard.
'Blackened folk-metal' is actually quite an apt description here, although it doesn't quite tell the whole story.
The music is composed of, and oscillates wildly between a number of different moods. We have harsh, exceeptionally fast black metal passages, with guitars that do buzz, but more often create highly melodic, eerie riffs. We also have delicate acoustic passages that foreshadow some of what Opeth would do, but on _Bergtatt_ these passages are more bleak, haunting and somehow grating, despite their great beauty. On top of this we have certain sections with chanted, almost lullaby like folkish vocals which engender a fascintaing, trancelike atmosphere, and some atmopsheric, droning areas with minimal metallic bluster.
If I have characterised the album as somehting of a twisted, multi-sectioned landscape then I have probably achieved the most effective interpretation I could have hoped for, as _Bergtatt_ evokes, for me, blasted, windswept hillsides and parched, desert geography. I also refrain from describing the album track by track as it functions very well as a whole, with sections and ideas linking across the tracks rather than segregation (track 4 does vary from the template slightly). Overall, this is a very special album because it touches on so many ideas and posesses such great beauty (often to be found in the most unexpected places).
In fact, _Bergtatt_ barely sounds like a black metal album, or at least the ideal of a black metal album as a noisy, disastrous and destructive musical form. Progressive, entrancing, unique, clever and very, very rewarding.
Beautifully balanced black metal
All those bands stick to one formula: head-crushing, church-burning for the satan within us. When speaking of black metal bands, you'll probably hear about such extreme metal artists as Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, Immortal, Bathory, ect ect. But you most likely won't hear of Ulver, a band that, one album, will churn out Emperor-like black metal, filled with impossibly fast percussion, atmosphere guitar work, screeching vocals, and rough production quality (Bergatt would be that album), and turn around and do a follow-up of true folk music. And their music has continued to get more abstract from there. Ulver is not your average black metal band, and because of it many would speculate that Ulver isn't a black metal band in the first place. Say what you will, but Bergatt is a black metal album. It has all the qualities of a true black metal album (listed above), but Ulver makes black metal that is truly beautiful. The album starts out with the perfect intro song, " Chapitel I- I Troldskog Faren Vild," which starts out on a soft note with clean vocals. These vocals add much to the song's beautiful atmosphere, which seems to be strikingly similar to Bergatt's cover. "Chapitel II- Soelen Gaaer Bag Aase Ned" starts on a similar note, but with a much more gentle approach, with flutes and acoustic guitars abound. Then all the sudden all hell breaks loose. . . the black metal truly begins. Now all the traditional black metal pieces come together- the loud sceeching/growling vocals, repetatively fast percussion and guitar work. From here on the album balances itself out with combinations of a more gothish-metal with clean vocals and true black metal with Emperor-like vocals. This is by no means as brutal as Emperor, as it seems almost to be a mix between Emperor and old-school Cradle of Filth, but it is brutal enough. If only I could understand the lyrics. . . but I'd have to know their language in order to do that. . . no english here, but I trust that they are wonderfully crafted. No matter, they add a sense of elegance to the music.
Overall, Bergatt is not your average black metal album. It is one of the most unique in that it mixes many different types of music- some not even anywhere near relating to anything metal. It takes all these different pieces to complete a beautiful and complex puzzle that is sure to please any black metal fan. It is one of the finest examples of what can be done in the black metal genre, as it paints a vivid atmosphere, which is what most black metal bands try to do in their music. Bergatt doesn't follow the evil and satanic trends of similar bands, as much as I can tell. Bergatt is a jem in a genre that is in need of unique jems like this, as they are few and far between. If you are a fan of black metal, then you need to listen to this album. And if you're new to the black metal genre, than it is a good place to start, as it is more approachable than many other albums of the genre.
Overall- 8. 5/10.
. You can see a complete list of all Ulver discography, or go back to the Ulver tabs
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