[.ca] Perdition City

To boldly go where other bands should go too:
Treading new ground in new music is like a dark room. The dark room is always there. You either open the door and move on in or you dont. There's no two ways about it. If the dark room scares you or intimidates you you wont discover what might be in it. Ulver have gone in. What have they found? They've found "more" music. Huh? What's that? It's what i said: more music. While people are desperately (and increasingly) looking into the electronic scene to find some musical oxygen to breathe they tend to look into the wrong places. Massive Attack. Dj Krush. Bohren and the Club of Gore. But they miss out on people like Ulver. "Perdition" is nothing short of a monumental album. It doesnt matter how "experienced" your ears are with music and it doesnt matter how perceptive you are or openminded. You will find that listening to this album will take a while for it to reveal to you all its secrets and all its angles. It's that rich. The catch? It's rich while being subtle. Ulver dont shove their sounds down anybody's throats by being pompous or overproduced. When they used effects it's not because they're trying to disguise the nakedness of their music but to enhance it. When they use vocals it's not because they "have to" but to add mystification. And when they make their choices on instruments it's not based on what's "acceptable" but on what serves their puprose. I've bought this album some months now and i'm still discovering it. I'm thinking that it could very well be one of the most undiscovered LPs of the pst 5 years if the term "most undiscovered" is accurate. How is it then musically: well, it's one of those where it may be vain to try and describe it in words. It doesnt have any orthodoxy about it. It moves effortlessly like water from one scape to another. It's elecronic but it has classical elements. It's that but it's experimental. It's experimental but also mental. It's mental but also accesible if you let access you. And once you allow it to access you you are bound to treasure it.

Outstanding music:
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.

the unpredictable beast:
i can't believe the band who made the awfully dissonant "nattens madrigal" is the same one i'm listening to, now. i dont know what inspired ulver to write such a music but i'm glad they did it. the album flows like one long track (with the exception of "nowhere/catastrophe", which is obviously, a break, made on purpose. the music is simply great; tracks 1 and 2 will become your instant favorites but with each new listen, the remaining songs (namely "the future sound of music" and "dead city centres") will get just as (if not more!) interesting. The use of saxophones is pure genius because these instruments fit the mood so well. and if the cd you have contains the "limbo central" animation, then, you're in for a treat! i've been listening to this cd for several weeks non-stop, at work or alone at night, its music is spellbinding and fresh. being a fan of early ulver as well, i get amused with playing "bergtatt" after "perdition city" . ulver are true artists.

Music for any city:
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.

Headphones And Darkness:
Sitting alone in a dark room wondering if the sounds are of the settling house or spirits coming to address the loneliness of the single occupant. Briefly elevated by inner longing personified into dramatic mood-shifts and bleak arrangements. Non-typical flickering television program describing the future depraved state of reality in the form of "Catalept". Every living shape miles around exists only within themselves, and computer A.I. expresses its own feelings and emotions on "The Future Sound Of Music". Long playing avant-electronica without the joy or adrenaline.

• Lost in Moments
• Porn Piece or the Scars of Cold Kisses
• Hallways of Always
• Tomorrow Never Knows
• Future Sound of Music
• We Are the Dead
• Dead City Centres
• Catalept
• Nowhere/Catastrophe