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Ulver - 'ATGCLVLSSCAP' - Full-lenght - 2016

Recently I came across this band originally formed in Oslo, Norway in 1993. By then they went through a serious transformation of style and approach to the music they create. Ulver originated as a black/folk metal band, with couple of recorded albums in the genre. Later, they take on a new adventure experimenting with different types of music and instruments, a step that brought them more fame than before. And the motion keeps evolving with every new piece of music they put out, so it’s kind of hard to suppose what their next step will be. Nowadays the band can be labeled as a mix of ambient, avant-garde and elektronika subtypes mastered in deep and hollow way of music consumption. In the 23 years of activity Ulver produced a total of 12 albums and multiple demos, splits and EPs, thus being one of the most productive Norwegian bands. The list of suspects for this mayhem project include: Kristoffer Rygg (vocals and programming), Tore Ylwizaker (keyboards, programming) and Jørn H. Sværen (Miscellaneous – the guy plays every weird thing you can imagine). The latest asset is the Englishman Daniel O’ Sullivan (ex Sunn-O))), bass, guitars, keyboards) completing the quartet in 2009. A fact worth mentioning is that on live shows they recruit more members according to the music’s demands. Like many bands from Scandinavia with their name meaning wolf, or wolves, Ulver own the second one. Numerous awards have been given to these guys and world-wide appreciations follow their paths. The number of records sold had come up to half a million sold and still counting, as the band doesn’t seem to stop. The 12th album in their discography out this January and expected by fans worldwide, so I’ll try to explain a bit what ATGCLVLSSCAP has to say to them.

ATGCLVLSSCAP, and if I managed to get every letter in correct order, than I can tell you that each letter is the first one of each zodiac sign aligned. It is something original but without the band explaining what it means, probably I would have never guessed. So for this album you really need a lot of free time to listen to it more than once. It’s worth it. It has a spinning time of 80 minutes and a motion that takes the listener on a seemingly endless, but beautiful journey. All of the songs featured are live recordings and moments of the band’s improvisation during a tour (12 live shows, you know 12 zodiac signs) during February 2014. Each one of them has been collected, re-mastered, put in a shape in an album fit for promotion and distribution. On ATGCLVLSSCAP barely any vocals appear, only in 3-4 songs at the mere end (Nowhere (Sweet sixteen) – originally featured on Perdition City album from 2000, Ecclesiastes (A vernal catnap) and D-Day drone). I forgot to mention the total of 12 songs (it figures). So album number 12, 12 songs recorded on 12 different live shows, talk about symbolism. Considering the fact that it is mostly a live recorded set, the quality has some high standards, and it’s nicely blended in having fine turnovers from one song to another. Pretty much it all sums up in the turnovers as they are the key in creating the proper ambient. If you don’t pay too much attention you can easily get lost in knowing which song it’s playing at the moment. The album flows slowly and most of the time with occasional twists in temper and dynamics, representative songs like Cromagnosis and On Hanumate Namah are such¸ or the ‘happier’ Desert Dawn composition. On an average measure, the songs last 6+ minutes and maintain almost same pattern from the beginning until the end of the song. In between there are differences in motives, additional instruments appearing, effects, changes of mood etc. I’ll be quite interested to dig a bit deeper in all of their previous work and have a bigger picture of what Ulver really are.