POST ROCK/MATH ROCK

Try and imagine how the music style found on the "A Quick Fix of Melancholy" EP would sound if the tracks were more ambient, subtle, and repetitive and you´re halfway there describing the sound of "Svidd neger". It´s a pleasant, atmospheric, and ambient soundtrack release, but it´s also apparent that the music is made to be used as the soundtrack to a film. Because as pleasant and calming it is listening to "Svidd neger" it´s obvious that the music would function better while watching the movie. The dramatic climaxes of "Rock Massif Pt. 1" and "Rock Massif Pt. 2" which are placed around the middle of the album are some of the few examples on the album featuring anything but mellow, subtle, melancholic, and ambient music, although the intriguing "Waltz Of King Karl" arguably also falls under the catagory of being different from the remainder of the album. A few shorter noise tracks also help keep the album varied, but the overall feeling after listening to "Svidd neger" is still that it´s predominantly a mellow, subtle, and melancholic ambient music release.

"Svidd neger" features a well sounding production, and especially the programmed orchestral/string parts sound really well. Upon conclusion "Svidd neger" is a good quality ambient music release from Ulver and it´s obvious that it would make an effective soundtrack too. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

I was delighted with their self titled EP for its brief and thought provoking marriage of post rock and Indy pop, but on "On the First Day" I feel a bit of a morning after sugar hangover. Sure the sound is mostly the same but now I'm hearing 1980s drum machines and it doesn't matter if that's what they are because that's what I hear. Now I liked AHA well enough for one album, but they never claimed to be prog either. I hear somewhat muddied production that has faded as a novelty, and a sameness to the many tracks that are just fine in a bubble but don't stock their necks out as good post rock should.

Luckily, several pieces do stand out. The buildups in the split title track, the catchy "Writing History", the slightly epic "Until the End of Time" with a majestic outro, and the fully epic "Sinking Ship" that's bombastic all the way through are all thoroughly satisfying. Elsewhere, the unnecessary reprise of the CRIMSON-esque "Washed Away" and the derivative closer (I'm thinking BJH as template?) cap off a series of decent numbers that sadly outnumber the aforementioned.

It seems the first day for AWBQ was also their last, which is a shame since they are clearly better than most, just not enough so to keep them from going silent.

Ulver had been experimenting with drone, noise, and ambient music since "Perdition City: Music To An Interior Film" (March 2000) and some experiments worked better than others. With "A Quick Fix of Melancholy" they hit one of their better quality ambient moments. While still being pretty experimental and diverse, the four tracks on the 23:09 minutes long EP have more shape, form, and direction than the more experimental ambient releases which directly precede it. The programmed orchestral parts and the semi-operatic vocals (the fact that there are vocals at all) are a relief after being subjected to the shapeless ambience of the preceding releases. I´ll dare say that "A Quick Fix of Melancholy" is at least occassionally an inviting and easily accessible ambient electronic music release.

Featuring a well sounding production job, intriguing songwriting ideas, and a perfect execution of those ideas, "A Quick Fix of Melancholy" is arguably the most interesting and well made Ulver release from this period of their career. A must listen for fans of Ulver´s ambient output. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

After the two relatively experimental ambient EP releases, "Lyckantropen Themes" is slightly more inviting and easy to digest. It´s of course still an experimental and slow building ambient music release, but the generally shorter song lengths make this soundtrack album an easier listen than the longer and more directless ambient experiments of "Silence Teaches You How To Sing" and "Silencing The Singing". Especially the former is a demaning listen. I guess you could describe "Lyckantropen Themes" as a continuation of the most subtle and ambient moments featured on "Perdition City: Music To An Interior Film" (Ulver´s fifth full-length studio album from March 2000).

"Lyckantropen Themes" is a much less dramatic but unfortunately also less interesting release than "Perdition City: Music To An Interior Film", but for an ambient soundtrack album, it´s certainly a pleasant enough listen. Dark, melancholic, and ambient music, designed to make the listener chill out and float away. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

While the song arrangements tend to the high end as the subdued jangly pop style goes, each track tends to be capped off with a restrained post rock frenzy where the individual elements are still discernible, with the best example being the emotional "Let Her Live". At times the two are intermixed more imaginatively, as in the sparkling "Tomorrow". Then you have "Washed Away", so good they reprised it on the subsequent album, where the main mellotron riff of the "Court of the Crimson King" makes its umpteenth appearance since 1969, this one in vocal form, before an extended guitar led outro that is much less familiar but most enjoyable. Shockingly, the idolatry is reprised on the very next and final track, which is the one named for the group and the album. In case you needed another reminder, it's right at the outset for good measure. I tease mostly though, as I think I kind of secretly want to hear that snippet every time I listen to any music, or even watch an epic hockey game, or especially a mundane one. Still, then, could they not have clipped the "Epitaph" or "Poseidon" melody instead of repeating themselves?

I'm more than satisfied. Neither earth shattering nor over the top, this act has cemented a modest but appreciated legacy even if they remain silent thenceforward.

Featuring only four tracks and a total playing time of 52:59 minutes, "Teachings In Silence" is a compilation which is rich in quantity. The 24:05 minutes long title track from "Silence Teaches You How To Sing" opens the compilation and it´s a fragmented ambient electronic oriented track, featuring both drone/noise sections and more melancholic atmospheric sections. The three tracks from the "Silencing The Singing" are slighly more easily accessible and predominantly consist of repetion and subtle dark and melancholic melodies, glitches, and other atmosphere enhancing features.

It´s obvious that Ulver at this point in their career experimentet wildly and dipped their toes in a lot of different genres and stylistic elements. It´s certainly bold, but not necessarily their finest hour. A 2.5 star (50%) rating is warranted.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

The EP features 3 tracks and a total playing time of 28:55 minutes. Stylistically this is electronic ambient music, featuring a lot of repetition and slow building songwriting. Not much happens during the playing time, but it´s a relatively pleasant ambient release, with some subtle melodies to maintain the listeners attention under the layers of glitches and dark ambient elements of the music. "Silencing The Singing" is well produced too and if you enjoyed the dark ambient nature of "Perdition City: Music To An Interior Film", you may appreciate this release too, although it´s a bit more minimalistic. A 2.5 (50%) rating is warranted.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

Apart from the opening pastoral instrumental "Sekvenssi" ("sequence") and the closing atmospheric rocker "Saato" ("adjustment"), this really doesn't work for me, as the robotically angelic vocals don't mesh well with the metallic guitars or plodding rhythms. It's a rather poor facsimile of a facsimile of THE GATHERING, and the industrial sludge that is "78" would at least be over faster if it was played at that speed.

If pressed, I'd add "Helmi" to the nice list, but even then this barely gets to the 2.5 star level and is only 38 minutes long, which in the post rock paradigm means maybe 3.5 musical ideas, and not enough motivation for a round up.

"Silence Teaches You How To Sing" features only one 24:05 minutes long ambient electronic oriented track, which opens with 4 minutes of drone/noise, but after that pretty harsh opening to the track moves into much more melodic and easier to access ambient music territories, but after 4 minutes of that returns to ambient noise territory again. And that´s pretty much the story of the whole track. ambient droning parts are counterpointed by atmospheric melancholic parts. The emotions of the music therefore range from dark and disturbing to subtle and melancholic. "Silence Teaches You How To Sing" is well produced and it´s overall a decent quality release. A bit more direction and less of the feeling that the track is put together almost at random, would have made the listening experience a bit more satisfactory, but the track certainly contains some interesting parts. A 2.5 (50%) rating is warranted.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

The production on the album is actually quite good, even if it is not clear whether Sleep Token have the desire to be a modern metal band or a crossover pop act, very often the lush production and mellow lyrical content hint of a very accessible and finely conceived pop album with rock instrumentation. The heavier moments on the album, the ones that actually showcase the band's metal roots are to be heard on the opening track, on the fabulous 'The Summoning', a very well-crafted track with irresistible pop hooks in the final section as well as 'Vore', which is quite visceral and unhinged. Most of what is left (which amounts to some 70% of the album) is really forgettable and unadventurous, it lacks that heavy edge and actually approaches straightforward 2010s-inspired R&B (on questionable tracks like 'Are You Really Okay?', 'DYWTYL' and the closing track 'Euclid'). 'Take Me Back to Eden' by Sleep Token has its strengths but can generally be perceived as a confusing and often directionless mixture of incompatible styles, as one side of the album pertains to pure metalcore, another one to mellow and forgettable pop, and so on. Perhaps a clearer definition of a single, more recognizable style shall be beneficial for the band's sound.