Ulver - Nattens Madrigal - Aatte Hymne Til Ulven I Manden review
| Band: | Ulver |
| Album: | Nattens Madrigal - Aatte Hymne Til Ulven I Manden |
| Style: | Black metal |
| Release date: | March 1997 |
01. Hymne I - Wolf And Fear
02. Hymne II - Wolf And The Devil
03. Hymne III - Wolf And Hatred
04. Hymne IV - Wolf And Man
05. Hymne V - Wolf And The Moon
06. Hymne VI - Wolf And Passion
07. Hymne VII - Wolf And Destiny
08. Hymne VIII - Wolf And The Night
This album has to be one of my favourite black metal albums ever. There is no other album with a sound quite like this album. Many will tell you that this album sounds terrible. They have a point - it isn't very well produced (by black metal's standards), but that's what makes this album different.
One time I was listening to a song off this album when my friend walked into my room - the first thing he said was "Have they ever heard of the bass knob on their amps?" The guitar sound on this album is pretty much just pure treble. But it works really well. It makes the bass very clear - the bass is very bassy, so it complements the guitar. The bass-lines on this album are quite interesting, they're not the same as the guitar a lot of the time. Where the guitar is playing in tremolo, the bass (not all the time, but at some points in some songs) will play the note that the guitar is playing just once. This works really well and gives the album a unique sound. This album is a very melodic album, the bass and the guitars complement each other extremely well. The drums on this album are relatively quiet, and there's little variation - it's pretty much just blast beats for the whole album. Not like that's a bad thing, it works very well. The vocal style is pretty standard for black metal, and it suits the music perfectly.
So, overall, I think this is an excellent album, and if you can get past the "terrible" production, you'll think so too.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 9 |
| Production: | 7 |
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Rating:
7.0
7.0
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Rating: 7.0 |
Ulver have been a staple of the elite black metal community since their inception. Though often associated with Darkthrone, Emperor, Burzum and Mayhem, those founding bands who started the original ?Black Metal Circle?, Ulver have always been different. Allegedly, Century Black had signed Ulver to release this album after hearing about the underground success of their previous works. Confident about a return, Century Black gave Ulver several thousand dollars with which to record the album. Surely though, anyone reading this review has seen the few flashy promotional photos of Ulver that depicts the band riding in a convertible wearing black suits and sunglasses. Ulver took the money given to them by Century Black, bought those clothes and that car, and then proceeded to record the album on a four track cassette recorder in one of the forests in Norway. Or so the story goes. Read more ›› |
Rating:
9.0
9.0
|
Rating: 9.0 |
Is there any Black Metal fan who has not heard about this album? Hard to believe! But in case you have not listened to it yet... you may read my review before you do. This is an excellent (and I mean it!) black metal album in all musical ways except... production. But before I get to this point, let me tell you about the music. Read more ›› |
Comments
| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Posts: 40071 From: The Netherlands  |
I absolutely love this album and agree with the review. And this is one of the albums that really physically hurts my ears. My god, the treble in the production. A physically hurtful but really nice experience.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| BitterCOld The Ancient One Posts: 15250  |
Great album. I would have scored it a tad higher - mostly based upon the strength of the concept and flow of the album, how it evolves from start to finish. I love the claustrophobia and hatred in the attack of the first couple tracks, the sublime and almost simultaneously joyful and mournful riff in "Wolf and Passion", and the fantastic riff of "Wolf and the Night" which conjures images of a wolf loping along the wilderness under a moonlight sky. Great stuff. The production is (intentionally) terrible and is a reason why I do not listen to it as much as I otherwise might.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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| LesnySwietlik Account deleted |
LesnySwietlik
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This album is Black Metal masterpiece. Cold, winter atmosphere... When I listen this album or Ulver's Bergtatt or Kveldsfanger, I know that it can not be better. Essence of old, dark winter forest... in the wolf eyes. Lyrics in archaic Danish sounds very orginal and fits perfect to conception of this album. Words on this album are full of pasion. They are vey emotional and dark. Last track is my opinion the most dramatic on whole album (if I must choose). Outstanding finish... Production in my opinion is perfect. This is how Black Metall should sound. Bass does not warm-up this fantastic, cold sounds. Of course, production is extremly cold, grim etc., but it is something that I get used to  Before that, I can not focuse on music because I get too much attention on production Clean productions are boring...
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| Ulven i Manden Account deleted |
Ulven i Manden
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P. S. If I must describe this masterpiece in one sentence: It is like a Black Metal Blizzard... The coldest Squall... 
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| Ulven i Manden Account deleted |
Ulven i Manden
Account deleted Written by Guest on 10.12.2006 at 01:27  Splendour of this album begins beyond and outside the production... 
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| Phobik Account deleted |
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| Ulven i Manden Account deleted |
Ulven i Manden
Account deleted Written by Guest on 16.12.2006 at 03:04 Ulver had a perfect talent to make pure BM... A sixth sense... They were able to make essential BM music... To create Darkneess...
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| Phobik Account deleted |
Phobik
Account deleted Written by Guest on 16.12.2006 at 11:06 Yes man, they had a special talent to create a perfect atmosphere of darkness, sorrow and the magnificence of the darkest nature seen by the eyes of a wolf. Why they left us with only 3 perfect albums? Why they don't create again a new true BM album? 
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| Ulven i Manden Account deleted |
Ulven i Manden
Account deleted Written by Guest on 16.12.2006 at 14:09 Maybe one day guys from Ulver said: "There is nothing more we can do in BM! Everything is done! We have just made all! Creating more BM is like duplication and copying of ourselfs! We should do something more... We should go beyond BM..."
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| Phobik Account deleted |
Phobik
Account deleted Written by Guest on 16.12.2006 at 18:33 After all, the members of Ulver are more than simples musicians: they are great artists that have a 6th sense to make us feel much better when we hear their work. So we will never forget their albums like Bergtatt, Kveldssanger and Nattens Hail for them all!
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| Ulven i Manden Account deleted |
Ulven i Manden
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Indeed... Ulver Lords are (were  ) Masters and Champions of Black Metal Arena!
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| Wintermute Posts: 34 From: Australia  |
I downloaded this last night. I'm a relatively new Ulver fan. I find it great that with each album they have distinctly different styles. Top album
---- Life is a waste of time.... time is a waste of life.
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| Slayer666 Posts: 2466 From: Serbia  |
Great album, agree with the review. Only, production is not worth shit over 5 points....
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| Lord_Regnier Posts: 1469 From: Canada  |
This album is great. I love it but people who have trouble with very raw production will most likely have trouble with "Nattens Madrigal". There's a lot of static in the sound and the guitars sound really razor sharp. It scorches your ears if you listen to it with earphones and the volume is too high.
---- "Why would we fear death, when life is so much more frightening?"
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Posts: 40071 From: The Netherlands |
Written by Lord_Regnier on 13.04.2009 at 09:00 Totally agreed. Like I said in my opening comment here "I absolutely love this album and agree with the review. And this is one of the albums that really physically hurts my ears. My god, the treble in the production. A physically hurtful but really nice experience." But I think had the production been less raw it would have taken away from the overall expereince of the album and I would rate it lower.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Uirapuru Liver Failure Posts: 2955 From: Brazil  |
Yeah.. I could pass through the horrible production, but this makes me want to listen to this album much less than normally. A slightly better production maybe would turn this album into one of my favorites.. its the same problem I have with Azaghal...
----  ---- member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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| INÆRIS Posts: 204 From: USA  |
What I think is interesting is that the distorted guitars are horribly produced, but the acoustic passages are perfectly clean and noise free. Overall this is a wonderful album and anyone who is remotely interested should get it. It's much better than I thought it was going to be. Ulver is amazing.
---- Still Life, Still Death
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| Lord_Regnier Posts: 1469 From: Canada |
Written by INÆRIS on 18.06.2010 at 06:48 But don't judge Ulver by this album because it's the only one that sounds like this. What I mean is if you expect their other albums will sound like "Nattens Madrigal", you could be quite disappointed. Only "Bergtatt" can also be considered Black Metal and even then it is quite different from "Nattens Madrigal" and it is BM only in some parts.
---- "Why would we fear death, when life is so much more frightening?"
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| INÆRIS Posts: 204 From: USA |
Written by Lord_Regnier on 19.06.2010 at 04:30 Oh I know have all of their albums except the EP's that they've released. Nattens Madrigal is a unique release by Ulver for sure. But so is every other recored by them.
---- Still Life, Still Death
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| \LACER|A|TIONS/ Account deleted |
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