Review by Daniel for Ulver - Nattens madrigal: Aatte hymne til ulven i manden (1997)

While I've always had time for the Ulver's infamous 1995 debut album "Bergtatt: Et eeventyr i 5 capitler", I have to admit that it's never struck me as being as mind-blowing as other people seem to find it & I actually don't find myself returning to it all that often. I guess the folkier side of atmospheric/Pagan black metal probably isn't my strong suit but I've never doubted the album's credentials. I did quite enjoy their entirely folk driven sophomore record "Kveldssanger" from the following year though & found myself giving it a fair few spins over the course of the next year, predominantly when I was winding down or when my less metal-inclined friends & family were around. But let's be honest, if Ulver were ever going to really grab me it was going to be via their surprisingly grim & ultra-raw third record "Nattens madrigal: Aatte hymne til ulven i manden" which strangely saw the band regressing to the most primitive of black metal aesthetics.

I often see fans of your more underground & extreme black metal maxing lyrical about this record & yes there's a fair bit to like about it but there's also something that prevents me from letting it fully engulf me. There's very little doubt that it's a tribute to Darkthrone's unholy trinity because it takes exactly the same predominantly tremolo-picked route as "Transilvanian Hunger" & is presented with a very similar lo-fi production to "A Blaze In The Northern Sky" with Garm's fantastic vocals being the spitting image of Nocturno Culto's & the relentless drumming having almost no variety whatsoever. But there's something different about the use of melody here in that it evokes a more positive atmosphere which is a fair bit less imposing than that of Fenriz & co. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that some of the tremolo picked riffs possess a similar feel to a band like Deafheaven in that they're almost uplifting &, while that certainly works for Deafheaven's more polished offerings, it's not something that I'd suggest would usually be my cup of tea within the context of a much rawer black metal album. "Nattens madrigal"s filthy sound is certainly primitive but it's not always particularly dark or cold & that's something that places a cap on my enjoyment level a touch. It's also very heavily weighted towards the extreme ends of the tracklisting with the two best tracks kicking off proceedings, the quality level dropping a bit throughout the entire middle of the record & things taking an upward curve again at the end.

In saying all that, I do regard "Nattens madrigal: Aatte hymne til ulven i manden" as Ulver's most appealing metal record & did come pretty close to awarding a 4/5 rating, only to fall just short due to the inclusion of "Hymne VII - Wolf and Destiny" which doesn't do much for me at all. At it's best this is a very solid example of true Norwegian black metal but it just doesn't reach those heights consistently enough to see me regularly returning to it.

For fans of Darkthrone, Immortal & Gorgoroth.