Others will follow the band through their pantheon of friends and associates, obsessions and affinities. Pulmenbat PulmenbatMil

Flowers of Evil, the new studio album from Ulver, finds the wolf pack exploring the fear and wonder of mankind’s fall from redemption. Where other “dark” albums in the band’s career, like Shadows of the Sun and, indeed, The Assassination of Julius Caesar, already contained something of this stance, Flowers of Evil seems more vehement and hopeless about it. The kind of dark, dejected, and anti-humanist nihilism which, interestingly enough, is rife throughout black metal, where Ulver began. ‘Russian Doll’, the album’s first single, moves determinedly through the night, with a story of unfolding tragedy and misery. The slower rhythms and downcast melodies sits this alongside the saddest of darkwave bands. The musical progression is not drastic from Julius Caesar. England. With Flowers of Evil Ulver have fled a burning Rome, only to confront further crime and corruption. As this silent spring comes to an end, it’s time to reveal more of what the fabled Oslo band has buried from view. This is a return to the musical style of the prior record but with the themes of the records before that. Ulver - Flowers Of Evil / Wolves Evolve: The Ulver Story. Empathy is doomed to fail while anger, misunderstanding, and confusion (all of which lead to murder and death) are destined to prevail. Everything about Flowers is more sedate. You can get it from their Bandcamp page above.

It is deliberately less inviting which ultimately limits the raw ‘enjoyment’ which can be gleaned from its 39 minutes. Coming full circle, this also affects the music. To be clear, this is still less of a “review” for the album and more my thoughts on the ideas expressed on it. Thread Modes. And while the closing track is definitely nihilistic, it draws a conceptual thread back to a very interesting character: the Marquis de Sade. The latter was more mystic, seeing the fall of modern life as a religious, world-soul moment to be approached via aesthetics.

He has a buoyant approach and his lyrics, as ever, offer poetic analysis of modern themes. Off the back of 2017’s The Assassination of Julius Caesar and the Ulver Primer which we ran a few weeks ago, 2020 has bequeathed unto us a new full-length title from Norway’s Ulver.

As I hinted at above, Flowers of Evil is less grandiose in its musical expression and more intimate, closer, smaller. I will face my fear. 34 Trinity Crescent And while it’s true that the rest of the track gives a sort of solution in the form of animism and carnal release, which the previous album did as well, it is marginalized here, a side-note in an otherwise vociferous condemnation of the human equation. The choruses are there but more subtle, and lacking the BIG melodies at their apices. The album opens with the following lyrics, from “One Last Dance”: We have seen the burden God has laid upon the human raceAll the oppression that has taken place under the sunHe tests us so that we may see we’re just like the animalsAll go to the same place – all come from dust, and to dust return. But Flowers of Evil is all about the inherent failures and shortcomings of humanity qua humanity, limited, angry, nostalgic, violent creatures that we are. My review for the previous Ulver album dealt with the album in broad, conceptual brushes because the release itself was broad and conceptual.

> CD > Ulver - Flowers of Evil CD. It feels more urgent, less detached and judgmental of humanity, more participatory in their burden. The first, true to its name, breaks with the nihilistic theme and looks fondly on the past, dotted with music and happy memories fading into the past. SW17 7AE Despite the musical changes across Ulver’s discography, relatively minor though they may be between Julius Caesar and Flowers, deep and thoughtful compositions have always been core to their sound. A dragon fights a dog and a wolf. Once again Michael Rendall (The Orb) and legendary producer Martin “Youth” Glover have taken crystalline care of the mix. A dragon fights a dog and a wolf. Dismal cries resound on ‘Hour of the Wolf’; echoing Bergman’s classic film, the song is dedicated to the hour between night and dawn, “when most people die, when sleep is deepest, when nightmares are most real”. Have Ulver discovered new pastures under the sun? Rarely simple and never expected, Ulver has built a career out of subverting expectations and always pushing into new territories.

August.2020 Best Ulver - Flowers Of Evil Album Download.

Ulver’s Flowers of Evil was released on August 28th. ‘Apocalypse 1993’ reveals Ulver at their catchiest, its bounding-goat groove running hand in hand with a grand chorus depicting the catastrophic events at Waco, Texas, during the winter of that year – the very same winter that saw the birth of Ulver’s first incarnation. Musically, if you’ve been following Ulver for the last few years, you probably know what to expect here; the Norwegian gang are continuing their foray into darkwave and 80’s EDM, channeling dark, moody, and atmospheric synthpop into their sound. Flowers of Evil unfolds with the shattering second single, ‘Little Boy’. And while there, they will get a glimpse of the shapes and mis-shapes that have made up the alternative cultures of the past three decades, rescued from the iniquity of oblivion. But Flowers of Evil reveals a new type of message and perspective for the band and one which, depending on our mood and taste, we might not find all that palatable.

Ulver - Flowers of Evil CD. ‘Machine Guns and Peacock Feathers’ brings fiery end-time imagery – “barrels are burning / great art will be destroyed” – with a disco beat and flashy ’80s synths. Slowly, nature finished what he had started. This mood is, perhaps unsurprisingly, nihilism. Finally, the wolves are back in the palace of excess, waltzing the night away.