Only a band like Ulver would release their most uncommercial album when they are signed to a corporate label like Century Media. Instead of recording some sugar 'n spice metal they were expected to, the band did the coolest and the truest, in terms of the underground, thing. They went to their local forest and recorded the most abrasive, stripped down and raw black metal they were capable of. Production-wise, this album is up (down) there with Ildjarn and Darkthrone's "Transilvanian Hunger." The only trace of the band's previous style is a small acoustic section on the first song. The rest of the record is pure black metal ugliness of total brilliance. Ulver's boldness and diverse talent is what makes them such an elite group of musicians.

© 1999 boris