Search - Ulver :: Madrigal of the Night (Nattens Madrigal)

A violent, timeless and beautiful expression of the beast in

Andreas Faust | Tasmanian Autonomous Zone | 12/02/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Thematically if not musically, this is a logical progression from Ulver's first two albums, continuing their portrayal of the dark side of Norwegian nature and folklore. 'Nattens Madrigal' is a sonic portrait of lycanthropy, and is subtitled '8 hymnes to the wolf in man'. Whereas on 'Kveldssanger' Ulver used acoustic instruments to paint a mesmerising portrait of twilight in the Norwegian wilderness, here they used electricity to depict the savage power of the werewolf.



Between some songs, you can actually hear the electric crackle of leads and amps being disconnected, and wires humming, which adds to the feeling of a force at work. The guitars are astonishingly high in the mix, and the sheer bloodthirsty feral aggression has to be heard to be believed - completely eclipsing more orthodox black metal groups. The music gives no respite, no time for rational thought, as your heart races and your spirit runs with the wolf."

Buzzsaw Bees

Robert Jackson | Costa Mesa, California USA | 09/17/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To me, this album sounds like a swarm of bees who went to Norway, and liked what they heard.



My friend played the first song for me, and I could NOT stop listening to it. This is coming from someone who, to this day, couldn't name more than 3 Death Metal bands.



It really sounds orchestral, and without the drums, it probably wouldn't be called DM. (OK, well, the singer's voice....)



Whether or not it was recorded in the forest in the wintertime, that's DEFINITELY what it sounds like, and I can't call the production 'bad', (and it never really occured to me to think of it that way until reading these reviews), because you can tell that this is the way that the band WANTED the album to sound. (not everyone accepts people doing things their own way!)



There's NO other DM album that I listen to all the way through, and I have a few (mostly sent by the same friend that introduced me to this), but nothing else even comes CLOSE. Like a previous reviewer said, listen to the excerpts, and you'll know if it's for you or not.



I personally LOVE this CD. I mean LOVE."

A Black Metal masterpiece!

Pawnurface | USA | 01/02/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album first annoyed me with the tin canned sound but after a while if you listen closely you will hear everything. Some people say they can't hear the drums or bass much. I agree that the drums could sound better and probably not hurt the atmosphere but the bass guitar is very clear. I can hear the bass here more than on most metal albums. Overall I think it sounds very good and the way they wanted it to. This is dark, dark metal and the sound captures the atmosphere. Some people say it was recorded in a forest on a 4 or 8 track. Unless I hear it from Ulver themselves I do not believe it. I think it was produced this way on purpose to make the album that much darker sounding. Every song is good and it gets more dramatic sounding the further along. My only gripe is that most of the songs fade out and one just suddenly cuts off. I have never been a fan of songs ending this way, but the final piece ends in a proper and majestic way that kinda ties the rest of the album together. This is a sonic tour-de-force which will always be remembered as a true dark metal masterpiece I think."