ULVER
The Norwegian National Opera - cd e dvd

Black metal

The paradigm-shifting fourth studio opus from Norwegian pioneers, Ulver. 

2CD deluxe digipack edition including a retrospective look at the album by writer Jeff Wagner. 

Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven & Hell includes guest vocal appearances from Darkthrone’s Fenriz, and Ihsahn and Samoth (Emperor).

Ole Alexander Halstensgård, Kristoffer Rygg, Tore Ylwizaker and Stian Westerhus – went full isolation in their studio below the haunted hill, fantasizing about bygone nights of slasher, exploitation, and giallo. Three or four months went by, the band returned to the living, and sent their radiophonic workshop experiments off to the Dogs of Doom, France, where friend and fellow film freak, Carpenter Brut did a razor-sharp mix before taking it to Thibault Chaumont (Deviant Lab) for the master.

Scary Muzak, on one hand a homage to Carpenter’s themes – five out of twelve tracks are covers whereas the rest comes from the outer realms – and on the other zooming out on the aesthetics of the late ’70s and early ’80s popular culture. It is perhaps the Norwegians’ most hauntological moment, whirling up themes and moods, horrors and mysteries hidden in the foggy back alleys of your youth. Imagine the gloomy siblings of Les Humphries, Gert Wilden, and their respective orchestras, armed to their teeth with synths, pads, FX. Sometimes classy and chilling, other times amusingly smooth and sleazy, and at times outright beautiful in its suspense-filled vigour, Scary Muzak is an inspired, goblinesque addition to the ever-expanding Ulver catalogue. Interior films, remember?

This edition of Ulver’s Vargnatt marks 30 years since the original release of this classic 1993 demo. 

CD edition with audio sourced from the original DAT. 

Contains the bonus track Vargnatt, captured live at Bootleg TV in Oslo, 1993, and sourced from the original U-matic, courtesy of the National Library of Norway.

2024 reissue on Transparent Petrol Green  Vinyl with LP booklet.

Ulver’s first two legendary Black Metal albums, “Bergtatt” & “Kveldssanger” are finally available again as separate vinyl LPs. Both releases have been remastered for vinyl by Jaime Gomez Arellano as in the long sold-out LP out box set “Trolsk Sortmetall” (2014) and – just as the latest 2019 reissues – come in gatefold sleeves and on 180gr heavy coloured vinyl. The “Bergtatt” 4page LP-Booklet includes a detailed written interview with Ulver’s mastermind Kristoffer Rygg and the “Kveldssanger” 8page LP-Booklet includes sheet notes of the song “Ulvsblakk”. Truly classic Norwegian Black Metal pioneering art!