Early Ulver

[Eoin McLove]

Cranking 'Bergtatt' this fine morning with a nice drop of tea.  The influence early Ulver had on the 00s BM sound can't be overstated, from Agalloch to Alcest and on into WITTR and that whole end of folky post-BM. Alcest more or less seem to have lifted their entire sound from the opening track. I can hear that more clearly than the often cited My Bloody Valentine,  who sound much weirder than Alcest to me.

[Shane]

 

[Blizzard Beast]

Yeah, Marcus, here he is trying to hitch a lift after, this was Oct '95 I think.

Can't remember much about the conversation in the room, the Ulver guy, Skoll, was into bikes, can't remember much else, oh yes, the photos we were looking at weren't music related or anything, just random photos that Marcus never got around to removing from his bag, photo of his mother hanging out the washing, his father in a Pestilence shirt that Marcus thought he'd lost years earlier til he was going to the loo one night and met his father on the landing wearing it, turned out he'd been wearing it in bed for years , the guys thought the photos and stories with them were hilarious at the time anyway, I suppose you'd have to been there.

Class.

[Eoin McLove]

Listening to Vargnatt here. Man, it's such a great recording. Are there other demos or albums from that era apart from the other bands already mentioned in the thread, so obscure and possibly overlooked gems that have a similar buzz? That's possibly a tall ask considering how varied the bands were back then, but I'm sure some of you older heads will have an insight or two.

[Eoin McLove]

https://store.artefacts.church/product-eng-880-ULVER-VARGNATT-Limited-Gatefold-LP-Varg-Color.html

Beautiful new vinyl edition of Vargnatt up for sale here. It's pricey but if I wasn't completely broke at the minute I'd buy it in a heart beat. Incredible demo and I'm a sucker for a posh LP.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

The Anacrusis of black metal.

[open face surgery]

Looks great alright. Sold out by the looks of it.

[Eoin McLove]

Would have liked to have picked that and the Arcturus boxset up. Ah well.

[Eoin McLove]

Auerbach Tonträger will be releasing an album of Havaard's solo stuff at the end of the year. That should be interesting to hear. I've been obsessively listening to the first two Satyricon albums over the past few months and his acoustic contributions to those albums, as well as the acoustics he brought to Ulver, add so much depth and sophistication. A full album of that type of thing should be a treat.

[Mithrandir]

I've been listening to a lot of the first 3 albums recently, Ulver is a band I'm so confused by listening to and maybe some of you know a bit more of the biography of the band, but what the hell was going on with them between 95-98. So the first 2 albums, the link between Bergtatt and Kveldssanger is there with the folk themes but still an odd transition, but then seemingly out of nowhere they release Nattens Madrigal which leans more straightforward BM with a harsh lo fi production (Even more so than the mental Varnatt demo to me), then the following year release an electronic/experimental album. 4 crazy different albums in 4 years that could nearly have been released under 3/4 different project names. NM is my favourite Ulver but I always felt like it was the odd one out, nearly as if it sounded like what should be the debut if that makes sense. Maybe there's nothing really to it but just always trips me out the progression between the first 4 albums in such a short time.

[Eoin McLove]

I think Kveldsanger was the result of the electric guitar player going to do his compulsory military service for a year. Might be wrong there, but it rings a bell. The reasoning behind the lo-fi attack of Nattens Madrigal escapes me now, though. Maybe a lot of the ideas for Kveldsanger were originally intended to be mixed with BM so after they used them to make a fully folk album instead they were only left with harsh riffs and decided to go to to town on them?

[Caomhaoin]

Didn't they squander money which was laid aside for recording and had to make do with what they could afford?

Then again, I have a friend called Mikey who rode a knacker who told him to lob it in boss so maybe it's one of those stories.

[Eoin McLove]

Didn't they squander money which was laid aside for recording and had to make do with what they could afford?

Then again, I have a friend called Mikey who rode a knacker who told him to lob it in boss so maybe it's one of those stories.

Don't babby me, sur!

Could be true or it could be part of the myth, like that they recorded it out in the woods in a cabin. Is it true? Does it matter if it adds a little to the mystique? Maybe not.

[nukeabuse]

Auerbach Tonträger will be releasing an album of Havaard's solo stuff at the end of the year. That should be interesting to hear. I've been obsessively listening to the first two Satyricon albums over the past few months and his acoustic contributions to those albums, as well as the acoustics he brought to Ulver, add so much depth and sophistication. A full album of that type of thing should be a treat.

I never realised thats the same guy, the acoustics part of those first two satyricon are some of the best parts and have been listening to bergtatt a lot recently.  Do you know anything else he would have played on/solo work? I'm sure metallum has the answers.

[Kailash]

Auerbach Tonträger will be releasing an album of Havaard's solo stuff at the end of the year. That should be interesting to hear. I've been obsessively listening to the first two Satyricon albums over the past few months and his acoustic contributions to those albums, as well as the acoustics he brought to Ulver, add so much depth and sophistication. A full album of that type of thing should be a treat.

I never realised thats the same guy, the acoustics part of those first two satyricon are some of the best parts and have been listening to bergtatt a lot recently.  Do you know anything else he would have played on/solo work? I'm sure metallum has the answers.

fantastic guitar player, he contributed so much to the early BM i love
this interview will tell you most things you want to know hopefully

https://youtu.be/AlbBdjSibIg

his solo album isn't bad, nice to see him active again