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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This is NOT Sigur Ros at all, August 20, 2004
What amazes me with the reviews I've read of this album is the fact that people seem to think it was made by Sigur Ros, when in fact they only contributed two songs they had recently recorded for the Ny Batteri EP--those songs being the final two, Bíum bíum bambaló and Death Announcements and Funerals. Furthermore, the songs Sigur contributed weren't even penned by the band. Bíum is an old Icelandic lullably, while Announcements is a song that is played one Icelandic radio whenever deaths of funeral arrangements are announced. Sigur simply remixed the songs about, and made them feel more modern.
With that out of the way, this album is still fantastic. I'd never heard Hilmarsson's work before this album, and it's safe to say I rank him as one of the more talented musical minds around today. There must be something about Iceland that allows its inhabitants to produce such beautiful art, because all the music I've heard from over there--Sigur Ros, Mum, Bjork, Hilmarsson--is unspeakably beautiful. Hilmarsson wrote this album fusing several styles together: there are strong elements of classical music (the Russian composers in particular), background ambience and effects with an electronic touch reminiscent of Sigur Ros or Mum, and finally repeating melodies almost like that of godspeed you! black emperor. I say almost because gy!be uses repetition to slowly lift you up and then throw you, while Hilmarsson uses it almost like a painter would use the same color over and over on his canvas. In the first four or five songs, there is a repeating tune that goes over and over, with slight variations each time in pattern, rhythm, background, etc. Around track six, that tune twist a bit and almost feels like it corrupts or decays. It becomes surreal and haunting. It builds in volume and intensity--again, very similar to gy!be, but not quite the same--until track eight, which completes the first half of the album. The second half has its own common features, even elements from the first half, but seems twisted somehow and otherworldly. There's a lot of fierce, distorted noise towards the end like in tracks eleven or twelve. It gets angrier and angrier until it seems to sort of die. The last tracks before Sigur's work are very soft and mournful, almost wind-like.
Cue Sigur Ros. I'm a huge fan of Jonsi and the gang, don't get me wrong, but...they hardly fit at the end. Hilmarsson's work is rather unique, it's his own, and you can tell yourself that the last two tracks were implanted by someone else. Maybe in the context of the film the last two songs make more sense, but not here. While they're good songs, more great work from Sigur complete with the signature haunting vocals and reverberations in the background, they don't fit on this album. I'd have preferred Hilmarsson to have finished the disc himself, or even by ending it at Te Morituri. While this is a phenomenal disc, and Hilmarsson definitely deserves five stars and due credit for the music HE wrote, the misplaced elements at the end made me bring it down to a three. Hilmarsson also has another CD out entitled 'Children of Nature,' but I've had no luck in finding it...shame this guy isn't better-known. He definitely deserves it, for the beauty of his work.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A hidden jewel..., December 30, 2001
Sigur Ros fans as well of lovers of good music will find this musical jewel from Iceland deeply enjoyable, as it blends the now-more-popular sound of the band Sigur Ros (two songs toward the end of the album) along with compositions of Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson, also responsible for the music of "Children Of Nature" (I haven't heard this one yet, but those who know this musician's work are of the opinion that "Children..." is considerably better than "Angels..." since it better stands out as a musical piece without the need for the visuals in the movie it serves as a soundtrack for.) This soundtrack to the movie "Angels of the Universe" is up to the challenge of moving the most careless listener, reminding me at times of Pink Floyd's work for the movie "More" in 1969, without much of the psychedelic gear, but I have to admit I liked a lot more the work that Sigur Ros contributed to the soundtrack than that of Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson. Still the album as a whole is a musical jewel. Not for the average pop-music listener, but it will certainly be appreciated by those who love good music.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lush, Haunting, February 23, 2002
Given to me by a friend for my birthday, "Angels of the Universe" is my current favorite for contemplation/crashing out. Being a soundtrack, many of the songs seem like snippets rather than resolved pieces, yet this somehow doesn't diminish the power of this sublime record. Angels is mostly comprised of sparse orchestral arrangements, with conflicting and meshing sound elements bringing out either the tensions or unions in the imagined movie in your mind. Dreamlike, Lush and Beautiful.
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