Ulver - Blood Inside review
| Band: | Ulver |
| Album: | Blood Inside |
| Style: | Electronic Avantgarde |
| Release date: | June 06, 2005 |
| Guest review by: | Spyroid |
01. Dressed In Black
02. For The Love Of God
03. Christmas
04. Blinded By Blood
05. It Is Not Sound
06. The Truth
07. In The Red
08. Your Call
09. Operator
And Ulver is changing again. I guess nobody should be surprised - Ulver is for sure one of the most diverse bands in the metal and music scene of the world today. Still, most fans I've talked to liked more or less all their albums - and if you liked their other stuff I'm almost sure you will enjoy 'Blood Inside'.
It's quite hard to describe how this album sounds to anybody who isn't familiar with the band, and even harder to somebody who almost hasn't listened to electronical/experimental/industrial music at all. For Ulver fans, I would say this album is mostly comparable to Perdition City, but harder and more 'progressive'. The beats are harder and there aren't as many trippy, soft and atmospheric passages.
For people who haven't heard any other Ulver release - well, where should I start? Imagine a mixture of industrial music, electronica and occasionally trip hop. Blend that with unique experimental rock, choirs and melodies inspired by classical music, and put an overall progressive feeling over everything. Finally, add some unique vocals that range from shivering baritone to jazzy night club-oozing harmonies, often in multiple layers. This might actually be Ulvers least experimental album since it's not completely different from the later work of the band, but it sure shows that the band still is creative.
I really love when an unique band manages to create music that is not only strange but also good. Ulver is very good at that. Still, this album is a little bit too much - I prefer the calmer sides of the band and this is probably the "hardest" album since 'Nattens Madrigal'. The industrial beats and heavy electronic passages can sometimes get you a little bit confused/stressed/tired, I could compare it with listening to Meshuggah and you might understand what I mean. You like the music because it's unique and occasionally/mostly good, but you can't listen to it everyday. Still, if parts of this album might be too much sometimes, I also have to mention that I never get tired of the awesome 'Blinded By Blood'. There are actually some songs that I don't like though, unfortunately the album is a bit too short (only 45 minutes) to have bad songs, so that drags down the songwriting points.
'Blood Inside' is still a great and very unique album by a great band, though not their best.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 7 |
| Originality: | 10 |
| Production: | 9 |
Written by Spyroid | 13.06.2008
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Comments
Comments: 12
Visited by: 137 users
| Stuart MiseryKing Posts: 413  |
decent review, you made some good points and I really found the comparison to Meshuggah quite interesting. This is an incredibly difficult album to review because it is quite unusual music. That being said I completely disagree with the industrial comments, there is absolutely nothing industrial about this album whatsoever, in fact, I would call this Anti-Industrial music, I would recommend researching industrial music a little closer. Also I found this album far more experimental than their only later work "Shadows of the Sun"
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| Spyroid Rosetta Stoned Posts: 1023  |
Written by Stuart on 14.06.2008 at 00:33 Thanks for the comment! I feel quite stupid because I wrote 'later' instead of 'earlier' - of course this is more experimental than 'Shadows of the Sun'! I'm not into industrial music at all but for me this album, as well as Perdition City includes a very industrial atmosphere. The beats aren't industrial but everything I can think of when I listen to theese albums are cities and buildings, and that is industrialism for me in music - at least when it comes to atmospheres. I should've pointed that out clear in my review.
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| Stuart MiseryKing Posts: 413 |
Written by Spyroid on 14.06.2008 at 00:42 That's strange, I always imagine Vast Expanses of Nothingness when listening to this album... shows how diverse and twisted it really is.
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| Spyroid Rosetta Stoned Posts: 1023 |
Written by Stuart on 14.06.2008 at 00:54 Probably one of the most strange albums I know. And most original. Ulver sure is a phenomena.
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| Elio Red Nightmare Posts: 4920  |
Neeh, this is a great album, deserves surely more.
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| IronAngel Posts: 4887  |
I approve of this review. It remains relatively impartial, while displaying the author's personal experiences and interpretations. I wouldn't quite agree with the description as a whole (the "industrial" term is a bit off the mark in my eyes, too), but it's better than most staff reviews on Metal Storm. 
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| Spyroid Rosetta Stoned Posts: 1023 |
Written by IronAngel on 23.06.2009 at 11:13 I take that as a grand compliment  thanks for commenting 
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| TheAmazingP Posts: 30  |
I agree with most of the points of this review, although I wouldn't rate the songwriting so low. That's because imho "Blood Inside" is one of the most creative works of Ulver, with compositions of variant styles and emotions. Before listening to this album, I thought that they were more or less repeating themselves, but this one blew me away as a masterpiece of a unique mixture of different musical approaches in every song, certainly superior to their solid next one, "Shadows of the Sun". That's only my opinion though.
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| Uirapuru Liver Failure Posts: 2955  |
I prefer much more the heavy electronic passages of this album, than the calm eerie atmosphere of ''Svidd Neger'' and ''Lyckantropen Themes''.. this album feel more alive, except for ''Blinded for blood'', ''Christmas'' and the horrible ''Your Call'', the songs are pretty fun, it is a nice experience. One of their best experimental results, close behind ''Perdition city'' and ''Shadows of the sun'' to me.
----  ---- member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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| Lucas Mr. Noise Elite Posts: 13427  |
I'm on the first playthrough now. I own and love their Perdition City album and even though I've spun that a lot, I'm still getting lost & confused in this release. On first listen at least. That itself makes it a cool listen, although there are certainly a couple of parts that are just taking things too far imo.
---- SLUDGE. DOOM. DEATH. Wait, what?  "The reason I'm running for president is because I can't be Bruce Springsteen." - Barack Obama
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| MechanisT Account deleted |
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| Darkside Momo Retired Elite Posts: 9089  |
My first contact with Ulver was through Perdition City, and it took me a lot of time to appreciate it. Blood Inside, however, was almost an instant hit. The experimental craziness ("The Truth" with all its dissonance, for example) and the catchiness of "In The Red" are pure awesomeness.
---- My Author's Blog (in French)  "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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