Since some has already done this, my view on the new album (song by song and then overall):
February MMXMy first impression was that this sounded very Blood Inside-ish, slightly more uptempo then we normally hear Ulver.
I think the whole sound of this song is very interesting, because the drums makes it uptempo, but instead of guitars they focus on piano and weird sounds, it just sounds very interesting.
This song got stuck pretty much right away, Garm has some sweet vocals during the chorus, and as Portrucci mentioned, I also dig the breakdown and then the part after when the song kinda starts to build up again.
Great song overall.
Norwegian GothicStrong Shadows of the Sun-vibe on this one, a pretty calm ambient-track focusing on Garm's vocals and some weird noise.
Kinda subtle song that really grows for each listen, the violin is pretty neat too.
Not really sure what else to write about it, I guess that sums it up.
ProvidenceAn early favorite, this song has several elements that are all reasons why I love this band.
The piano-pattern throughout the song is just lovely, the dual-singing between Garm and the chick (no idea who she is) works pretty good, I'm not really sure what I think about her voice standalone, but in this song it adds variety and makes it more interesting.
The middle of this section is just Ulver at their best when doing weird sound effects, and a lot of the sounds remind me of a jungle for some reason.
Very cool song overall.
September IVMore piano, another great song.
Garm delivers some more superb singing, and this song was another instant favorite, it just seemed to click very early.
The ending of the song is pretty sweet as well.
EnglandAnother early favorite, a song that seemed to click right away.
Again, more great singing from Garm, and some fantastic music.
IslandLove this one, and the journey it takes.
Starts off as a somewhat calm song, about halfway in we get some really cool sea-sound effects, seagull's and such, creating a wonderful atmosphere.
Hearing the waves and such just suits perfectly with the title, and I love it.
Then the song get's really weird, and the ending is probably my favorite part of the whole song, so dark and noisy, so perfect.
Stone Angels One of the most epic songs I've heard, this one reminded me a lot of No-Man/Bass Communion, at least music-wise.
It's so unique, not only on this album, but in the Ulver-catalog overall.
I'm a huge sucker for beautiful ambient music, and that combined with a great poem read by Daniel just makes it even more superb.
I can see this becoming a bit of a 'love it or hate it'-song, because some people would say that it drags or that its boring, but they couldn't be more wrong.
To me, this song is perfect just as it is.
Overall thoughts:
Fantastic album overall.
The length is just right, it doesn't feel neither too long or short, it has a great variety soundwise with a song like February MMX being more uptempo, and having more downtempo and calm songs like Norwegian Gothic, while still maintaining a certain red thread throughout the album.
It definitely sounds like Ulver, with a few songs clinging strongly of the past (Blood Inside and Shadows of the Sun), but still having many new elements, and a song like Stone Angels which is like nothing they've ever done before.
To keep it short, I love this album.
Topic: Ulver-appreciation thread (Read 62976 times)
