Ulver Album: “Perdition City”

I'll preface this review by saying that I'm not normally a big fan of electronic music. At the risk of sounding like I'm lumping all of a vast genre together, most of the electronica I've heard, I've thought to be repetitive and uninteresting, with vocals used in ways that are more of an irritant than an enhancement. I picked up Perdition City because I was a fan of Ulver's black metal albums, and I love seeing what happens when a band strikes out in a new direction.

That said, Perdition City is unbelievably good. None of my complaints about electronica in general apply in any way here. Songs that go for seven minutes or more are enthralling from beginning to end, and the vocals, rare as they are for most of the album, only add to the brilliantly constructed atmosphere. This is one of those albums where I can just lie back, close my eyes, and let the music weave its images in my mind. It's almost like being transported to some futuristic world that's interesting enough to make reality a disappointment.

My favorite tracks are probably "Porn Piece..." and "Hallways of Always." There's a decidedly strange intermission in "We Are the Dead," with haunting noise in the background, and Garm whispering eerie lyrics. The low point in my opinion is the last track, "Nowhere/Catastrophe." With actual singing throughout the whole track, it just doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the album. It's not a bad song, but it strikes me as discontinuous.

Perdition City proves beyond a doubt that Ulver's talent for writing excellent music extends well beyond the boundaries of metal. After hearing this, I really look forward to checking out the rest of Ulver's catalogue, and to seeing where they go in the future.

One night two summer's ago I wanted to go for a ride in the middle of the night. It was raining and that was perfect. I grabbed Perdition City. I turned my car on and put the album in. I left. I drove around downtown and let the rain accumulate before wiping it away with my wipers each time and with the music playing it gave it this sort of surreal feel. I didn't feel like I was apart of the world. It was odd. The lights had a different meaning as they were skewed both by the droplets of water on my windows, but also with my aural senses. It was a night I won't soon forget. I drove around and around and around, the greens the reds the yellows all filtering in so bright so alive. Ulver _Perdition City_ is the album to listen to while driving on a rainy night. It's epic and dark. Evil and uplifting. Free and concise. Everything is meticulously placed yet not forced. Imaginative. This is a masterpiece of modern music and highly recommended.

I have to admit that I have a strong obsession with any band that Garm is involved in, but Ulver is definately my favorite. Every album that Ulver has released has been a reinvention of themselves; I praise these few who dare to achieve what they want to do musically, and not just to satisfy the listener. Listening to Ulver is like taking a trip to a destination that you have absoulutely no idea where it will end. This album holds a very special quality to it. It is extremely atmospheric and it enables me to visualize many different scenarios in life and dreams. In fact, the lyrics to Nowhere/Catastrophe come across as if Garm is describing some kind of lucid dreaming experience. The album gives me a chilling sensation every time I hear it, and it is extremely relaxing. For the most part, the album is instrumental. There is only occasional vocals by Garm, and most of them consist within the final song, Nowhere/Catastophe. This is one of top ten favorite albums of all time.

I recommend this album to everyone who REALLY loves music. Whether it is metal, electronic, classical, or country, it does not matter. If you love good music and like to hear music mixed and done to perfection, this is a good album to invest in.

Everything on this album is perfectly flowed together.

From beginning to end, this musical masterpiece shows how much a metal band can evolve(who is still evolving far beyond this). There is NOTHING resembling metal anywhere on this album. However, being a huge fan of black metal (especially Norwegian), I can say that this is one of my favorite CD's.

Not having ever heard much electronic or ambient music I cannot compare it to anything or anyone else. It's better than ambient Burzum and the William Blake CD. Really, the only thing I like more than this is the Teachings in Silence album.

I recommend it for anyone who ever finds themselves looking for the perfect soundtrack to a late night drive through a busy city or something to make the pencil flow across the paper a little easier. It's great to hear while clicking away your life on a computer or just to have on while having a conversation. It will not distract you from what you are doing, but if you do find yourself sitting alone with headphones on in a dark room (as is recommended on the CD itself) you will be pleasntly surprised and amazed at what you hear.

The sound Ulver achieves is both one of simplicity and complexity. The overriding keyboards or beat box drumming on some songs may be all you hear the first couple of times, but when you really listen and hear the way everything is masterfully flowed together, you will (hopefully) appreciate the music for all that it can give you.

So, I found this CD at a local store a few months back after having enjoyed Themes... quite a bit. I checked the CD out, liked it a lot, so I bought it. The thing about this sort of music, even though its not part of the genre I usually enjoy the most, its really very enthralling. The music itself is great, but it seems to create an ominous atmosphere when being played, but as ominous as it is, it's somehow pleasant. The best word to describe what the music would be subtle. It's mellow, mostly electronic sounds. The thing thats really remarkable about almost all of the songs is the dynamics. Without fail, especially among the instrumental tracks, there is a fantastic climax to the songs. While Ulver has become a mostly electronic band, straying far from their black metal roots, this cd has elements of jazz and rock scattered throughout. Some of the passages are more experimental than others, some closer to the sound of Themes, and some closer to the even stranger Silence ep. This disc, as it says on the back of the album, is best enjoyed with a good pair of headphones in complete darkness.