Ελληνικά
Last Updated on 07:30 PM by Giorgos Tsekas
Genre: Electronic/Post Rock
Country: Norway
Label: Jester Records
Year: 2016
Ulver is the probably the only band that plays electronic/ambient/avant-garde and is reviewed in the majority of metal magazines and webzines. To some this may seem inexplicable, others might consider this an effect of the band’s metal past and a few may be just interested in its music regardless of the direction it takes. We leave all these thoughts behind and proceed to the presentation of the album.
The main conclusion, drawn already after the first spin, is that this record is the one with the biggest relevancy with rock music. The extensive use of guitars, bass and physical, non-sample drumming, advocates to this conclusion. The musicians behind these instruments seem to have enjoyed this new aspect a lot, judging by their dazzling performance. To be more specific, in the first half of the album we find the songs Glammer Hammer, Moody Stix, Cromagnosis, Om Hanumate Namah, which are built upon progressive/post rock forms and the keys are just in the background.
The electronic/ambient and drone songs are still present, still a bit restrained, and their use and placement carefully executed. The songs in question are: the intro-wise “England’s Hidden”, “The Spirits That Lend Strength Are Invisible”, “Desert/Dawn” with the overwhelming organ parts, the hypnotic ambient “D-Day Drone” and “Gold Beach” and “Solaris” that closes the record.
Two songs before “Solaris”, Kristoffer Rygg’s voice makes its first appearance in “Nowhere (Sweet Sixteen)”, more than an hour after the first note of the album was played. I must admit that the mood that the record set up to this point was utterly upset by this, as I was convinced that ATGCLVLSSCAP would be solely instrumental and, besides that, the song, with its British rock feel, seemed to be completely out of place. And, as if that was not enough, its succeeding song, “Ecclesiastes”, left with the same awkward feeling. The overplayed motif and the annoying banality of the song’s lyrics made the listen quite unbearable.
To sum up, ATGCLVLSSCAP seems to be the most broadly accessible release of Ulver’s second era. The use of classic string and brass instruments, which was abundant in some of the band’s previous works, has now disappeared. So does the -over the edge- experimentation. The songs have a main body, over which the band adds sounds and variations of the same central idea. The rambling song-structure is not evident here at all. In simple words, this is a chilling electronic/ambient record, with many post rock hints and some controlled outbreaks, which can be played every time one gets in this certain mood.
4/6
