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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Music To An Interior Film, January 27, 2003
This is probably the best electronic based album I've heard. No cheesy steady beats and barely-changing extremely repetitive tones present in so much techno/trance stuff today. But if you're reading this chances are you aren't one who's into that. While this certainly isn't Ulver's most experimental, (That goes to "Themes from William Blake's...") it remains their most solid work to date. This is much different from "Themes" Very melodic and calm songs, but not too calm to be labeled "Ambiant" like some of their other releases. Even though some parts are ambiant. There is a lot of electonic rhythms but they are never repetitive. The CD kicks off with "Lost in Moments" a nice beat which suddenly turns into a soft piano and saxophone harmony and keeps switching and mixing back and forth. When you hear the word Saxophone you might think it is incredibly cheesy, but Ulver know how to make it anything except that. This song also has some vocals, most of them near the end. They aren't very common, probably half the songs have vocals. Most songs have piano, a lot of electronic beats and a significant amount of real drumming, and a lot of melodic and not-so-melodic electronic sounds that drift in and out and in between the songs. Sometimes real guitars are used too. Some parts are just so groovy you cant help but tap your fingers... especially the last minute or so of "Porn Piece or the Scars of Cold Kisses." Songs change a lot and keep flowing brilliantly and most songs have an awesome climax somewhere. Some songs are a bit different. "We are the Dead" is a very eerie and slow with Garm whispering into your ear overlapping the subtle distorted radio frequencies. Following that is "Dead City Centres," the first part is the most ambiant on the CD with high frequency beeps and distant sounds. The second half is a freaky narration of some sort with crazy saxophones... kind of hard to explain, then fades out into a beautiful uplifting piano melody for a few seconds. The last song, "Nowhere/Catastrophe" is where the most vocals are found. While listening to this I always picture walking around in a big city with lots of neon lights at night. I should actually try to do that sometime, but I'd probably look like a moron and start taking steps in synch with the rhythm. I think of going into subways, glass buildings, all sorts of things. The photos inside kind of help that imagery along. This album probably makes the best introduction to Ulver's electronic works. It is experimental in its own way but not compared to a lot of their other stuff, and shouldnt be that hard if you have an open mind... For my conclusion I will quote the back of the cd case. "This is music for the stations before and after sleep. Headphones and darkness recommended." This is very true, if you listen to it with these two conditions it is more worthwhile.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding music, March 12, 2003
I'll preface this review by saying that I'm not normally a big fan of electronic music. At the risk of sounding like I'm lumping all of a vast genre together, most of the electronica I've heard, I've thought to be repetitive and uninteresting, with vocals used in ways that are more of an irritant than an enhancement. I picked up Perdition City because I was a fan of Ulver's black metal albums, and I love seeing what happens when a band strikes out in a new direction.That said, Perdition City is unbelievably good. None of my complaints about electronica in general apply in any way here. Songs that go for seven minutes or more are enthralling from beginning to end, and the vocals, rare as they are for most of the album, only add to the brilliantly constructed atmosphere. This is one of those albums where I can just lie back, close my eyes, and let the music weave its images in my mind. It's almost like being transported to some futuristic world that's interesting enough to make reality a disappointment. My favorite tracks are probably "Porn Piece..." and "Hallways of Always." There's a decidedly strange intermission in "We Are the Dead," with haunting noise in the background, and Garm whispering eerie lyrics. The low point in my opinion is the last track, "Nowhere/Catastrophe." With actual singing throughout the whole track, it just doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the album. It's not a bad song, but it strikes me as discontinuous. Perdition City proves beyond a doubt that Ulver's talent for writing excellent music extends well beyond the boundaries of metal. After hearing this, I really look forward to checking out the rest of Ulver's catalogue, and to seeing where they go in the future.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
To boldly go where other bands should go too, February 18, 2003
Treading new ground in new music is like a dark room. The dark room is always there. You either open the door and move on in or you dont. There's no two ways about it. If the dark room scares you or intimidates you you wont discover what might be in it.
Ulver have gone in.
What have they found? They've found "more" music. Huh? What's that? It's what i said: more music.
While people are desperately (and increasingly) looking into the electronic scene to find some musical oxygen to breathe they tend to look into the wrong places. Massive Attack. Dj Krush. Bohren and the Club of Gore. But they miss out on people like Ulver.
"Perdition" is nothing short of a monumental album. It doesnt matter how "experienced" your ears are with music and it doesnt matter how perceptive you are or openminded. You will find that listening to this album will take a while for it to reveal to you all its secrets and all its angles. It's that rich. The catch? It's rich while being subtle.
Ulver dont shove their sounds down anybody's throats by being pompous or overproduced. When they used effects it's not because they're trying to disguise the nakedness of their music but to enhance it. When they use vocals it's not because they "have to" but to add mystification. And when they make their choices on instruments it's not based on what's "acceptable" but on what serves their puprose.
I've bought this album some months now and i'm still discovering it. I'm thinking that it could very well be one of the most undiscovered LPs of the pst 5 years if the term "most undiscovered" is accurate.
How is it then musically: well, it's one of those where it may be vain to try and describe it in words. It doesnt have any orthodoxy about it. It moves effortlessly like water from one scape to another. It's elecronic but it has classical elements. It's that but it's experimental. It's experimental but also mental. It's mental but also accesible if you let access you.
And once you allow it to access you you are bound to treasure it.
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