Ulver — Bergtatt — Et eeventyr i 5 capitler — recorded 11 to 12/1994, released 01/02/1995
Welp folks this is it. I don’t even know how to introduce this, probably because I don’t need to. This album is probably the reason why all of us are even into Ulver at all. I still remember the first time I heard this, because it wasn’t that long ago tbh; I was immediately bowled over by the delicate force of I Troldskog faren vild, its relentless, galloping instrumental, theatrical even, combined with the soulful singing… This album is just special, guys. Bergtatt means “spellbound”, and that’s precisely what it does to you when you listen to it.
Not that I’m a really metal-savvy guy, as yinz know, but this is one of the most special metal albums I think I know. It’s kinda hard to explain, but the specific way they combine heavy rock guitar riffs n’ shit with medieval village flute and whatnot just works in such a unique way, not forced or corny at all. Again, kinda hard to put into words, but I feel it deep within me bones
The production is remarkably clean, especially considering the context. There’s not a lot of that raw and grim (i.e. excrement laid upon the floor by a bad doggy) sound, and when there is, it’s a perfectly placed counterpoint that does not interrupt the general flow of things, but instead makes it just a tad more complex and dynamic. This is just so different from the rest of the early 90s norse bm scene, just unfathomably more sophisticated, even though these guys were actually a good few years younger than most of their peers. The band is playing better than in Vargnatt afaict, and Garm’s vocals are remarkably on point as far as I can tell: both the growling and the epic crooning are just right, and even the vestigial remains of the garm of the opera actually work pretty well with the general thing.
And speaking of dynamism, I think that’s Bergtatt’s strongest feature. Even if atmosphere is the main thing at all times, it never stops moving, never settles in a comfortable litle nook in the dusty convent walls; instead, it gallops under da moon with the wolf pack, it weaves and swerves between the trees of da forsest, it goes up and down and in and out, and, I don’t know, that just makes me very happy. A big part of that is very much due to the instrumental and production variety, “incorporating elements of Norwegian folk music, utilizing acoustic guitars, droning low choirs, flutes, melody-focused songwriting and clean vocals together with fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars, blast beat drumming, raw (lo-fi) recording and unconventional song structures”. Each song is like three or four songs in one, switching almost seamlessly between pensive folk sections about the moon or whatever and hard-hitting but melodic in an almost deafheaven-esque way bm sections, making the average Bergtatt song waveform a veritable rollercoaster of valleys, hills and plateaus.
I honestly don’t know what else to say without just repeating myself. I have this thing where if a thing (album, movie, book, whatever) is exceedingly good and mindblowing to me I’ll sometimes speed past the “won’t stop yapping about it” zone and horseshoe my way straight into the “has a hard time combining words in a coherent manner” zone. So I guess I’ll just leave it at that. Go listen to Bergtatt again.
DOES IT PULVERIZE? Gaze upon the charred remains of my rectal cavity, o ye of little faith, and weep.
