Ulver Flowers Of Evil

It is true, indeed, Wolves evolve constantly, and jumping nicely from one difficult genre to the other (no matter if they choose to play black metal or avant-garde) and one thing is for sure, they like to test their fans’ taste the hard way. The same happened with the previous album, “The Assassination of Julius Caesar”, when they turned into synth pop! But now, three years later, the waiting’s over and the successor to their  most poppy (and obviously their most accessible) release has just arrived.

On “Flowers of Evil” Ulver decided not to change drastically, they kept the same music formula but they managed to master it, although it’s less theatrical than its predecessor. Yes, it has nothing to do with rock, so what? The old-school synth pop of Ulver is perfectly crafted with attention to the very last detail and although the final result may sound easy to the ear, but in reality this is a solid great work of art in every aspect.

Kristoffer Rygg’s vocals set the tone, while the lyrics go through a variety of themes (love, religion, decadence, war, childhood) with many literature and movie references. The production by Martin Glover is top class highlighting every corner of the new album. But what about the music? Can the low-key guitars, simple drumming and synth layers create something unique? Yes, they can! The album has a good variety of compositions, from the great opener “One Last Dance” to the catchy pop hit “Machine Guns and Peacock Feathers”, from the slow and dark “Hour Of The Wolf” until the beautiful (and personal favourite) “A Thousand Cuts” that closes an album rich and full of emotions.