Metal Milestones: Ulver "Nattens Madrigal"

[@EduardoMoroni-uq9ht]

This album is really a milestone. I love how the first song really set the tone for the album, extremely raw and agressive but also very beautiful.

[@wristofkings]

Awesome pick for a review. Ulver's black metal trilogy is some of the finest that genre has to offer. No inverted crosses, no tabloid controversies, no cod-classical symphonic pretense, no studded leather posing with cheap stainless steel battleaxes. Just pure fucking art. Nattens Madrigal is one of the few black metal albums I can think of where the low fidelity greatly enhances the experience (sorry, Darkthrone). The super-trebly guitars are right in your face and sound so crackly and raw instead of flat and poorly mixed, and you can even clearly hear bass guitar a lot of the time which is a rarity in so many "tR00 kVlt" albums I've heard.

[@halyomorpha]

So glad you talked about this album, Nattens Madrigal is an incredible work; 23 years old today. Great stuff.

[@BogWitchGrindset]

Might be my favorite black metal album - just absolutely raw and brutal

[@deadspacevet]

Thanks for the recommendation. I listened to this album for my morning commute. I totally got lost in it. It’s so enveloping and deep. Can see myself listening to it a lot more.

[@stankosupreme3249]

Actually just bought this album three days ago, had no idea it had an anniversary. Maybe my favorite black metal album ever

[@barbarianblood2316]

I love this album. Your breakdown was perfect.

[@PennisDrager]

An absolute favorite. After acclimating to the production, as you described, it’s pure beautifully melodic white noise.

[@HaienTwitch]

This was my introduction to BM. I had never heard about black metal before and bought this album on a whim because of the interesting cover art. I must have been 13 or 14 years old because I remember buying Darkthrone - Under a Funeral Moon shortly after listening to this album asking the guy in the record store for stuff that sounded like this ("Nattens Madrigal"). + I could not agree with you more. Yes the three first Ulver albums are absolute BM legends, but people should absolutely be checking out the rest of their discography. The Assassination of Julius Caesar is still climbing up and up on my "charts" ever since 2017. People need to get of their pretentious black metal elitist horse and just liiiiiisten. There is so much more out there.

[@manuelplatino1926]

Totally agree, beyond the stupid story about the recording of this disc, the riffs and melodies are amazing. To me it is the greatest black metal record ever

[@Lastiri2004]

👋 Plati. Como andas tanto tiempo?

[@manuelplatino1926]

@@Lastiri2004 Hey qué contás Mariano!

[@Lastiri2004]

@@manuelplatino1926 y bancando temas de salud serios. Me operé hace unas semanas y me vuelvo a operar hoy. Vi que estas haciendo algunos proyectos con Fer Diéguez. Espero que lo levante de la tumba de la depresión que tenía

[@kol9495]

Este y los 2 primeros de Emperor de lo mejor del Black

[@isaacstamper7798]

One of my fav black metal albums

[@asmrmetalman1061]

Melodic yet raw af. Very interesting duality.

[@thinkpad20]

Absolutely legendary album. This was a great breakdown and an enjoyable listen. You're spot on! My personal favorite is track 6 -- the opening riff, with its major key tonality (practically unheard of in black metal then and now), is such a stunning surprise in juxtaposition to the extremely dark character of the riffs that surround it. You really captured the mystique and the genius of this album, great work.

[@jeromeaubertier152]

yup, beauty and the beast indeed, still my favourite BM album after listening to it for 15 years.

[@steinafl]

just started rewatching the sopranos and i noticed the kid has an Ulver poster in his room so i better check em out then. After all the first "black" vocals i got into was Finntroll and thats folk

[@Targon999]

what a nice review. I can remember when I first listened to the album... I got it at a store where you could listen to Cds before buying them... I didn't know Ulver back then, I think I just liked the cover... and then I was completely blown away. I discovered Nattens madrigal first, then bergtatt and then kveldssanger. all three of them are very unique, but I think I like kveldssanger most. so soothing.

[@youthproblem671]

Hard agree with everything. This record has grown on me so much over the years.

[@Peststurmtief]

Very interesting perspectives you are giving to us. Thanks a lot! 🙂

[@GeorgeAllynBrenneman]

I really appreciated this video. Thanks Myke ~

[@cliffevans2315]

All-time classic. I think I bought my copy at Tower Records too, and listened to it, had my head blown off, and then went to Usenet to tell everyone on alt.rock-n-roll.metal.death what the deal was. Haven't always been on board with where they went after that, but Bergtatt and Nattens Madrigal are still two of my favorite black metal albums.

[@yggdrasi]

My favorite ongoing story about this album is that it gives you tinnitus if you listen to it. Such a killer record.

[@nykterion7]

Awesome review man! Legendary shit!!!

[@1Darknezzy]

Totally agree man, this is one of my favorite black metal albums

[@shawnbrucker1697]

Possibly my favorite black metal album. Hope you're doing good C Town. Ready for some more Is the Mic Still On today at work

[@Mrmemphisbones]

Amazing review !!! They used the infamous BOSS MT-2 Metal Zone for the guitar tone on this masterpiece album. The pedal everybody loves to hate, but actually kicks ass if you know how to dial it. So did At the gates, Immortal , Dissection, Cannibal Corpse and Crowbar, to name a few other MT-2 users.

[@SeedOilFitnessOfficial]

Its the best Earrape album of all time

[@vincentstephen3716]

Back in 2010 I was studying Norwegian in Oslo (I live in Tromsø now) and I spent weeks listening almost exclusively to Ulver and Darkthrone. I was lucky enough to see them play the Oslo opera house on that trip. The Eos record had recently come out. They have so many different styles that I really can’t choose a favorite album by them. I love The Blood Inside, Perdition City and Messe a lot. But Nattens Madrigal and Bergtatt are both amazing too. I actually wrote a novel - never published - where one of the chatacters was completely obsessed with Nattens Madrigal and believed all the stories about how it was made were 100% true.

[@doodman3070]

Yes! Now you have to do Bergtatt!

[@thomasche]

Ulver is an incredible band.

[@broquestwarsneeder7617]

great album

[@glts8146]

Liked before I even watched it. Fuck yea

[@hellbach6268]

Nattens Madrigal, transylvanian hunger, and under the sign of hell. I hold those as kind of the holy trinity of mid 90s second wave lps that all black metal should strive to hold as templates to what the "true BM" should be (sound, production, song structure, riffs, band image). And maybe, just maybe can add secrets of the black arts to those, but the production on that album was waaay more hi fi compared to the other 3.

[@joshuacottton6985]

Really underrated album, some people say it’s a step back and a generic raw black metal album. Which is wrong, it’s raw and nasty but the melodies are beautiful and still maybe the best in the entire genre

[@mykectown]

Anyone saying it's "generic" has no clue what they're talking about. How could something be generic when nothing at the time sounded like it? Ugh. It's probably some 20 year old that said that. Yeah I'm having an old man "get off my lawn" moment. So what? Haha. But yeah, the melodies and riffs are just so damn good.

[@joshuacottton6985]

Yeah lots of 20 year old metal fans I know, not myself though. I think there’s a tendency to see this as a regression from Bergtatt which is seminal in starting atmosblack. But this album has so much going on than people realise, the wolf and man theme is fascinating, the haunting ambience between tracks and the folkish melodies. It’s as intelligent and fully realised as the rest of their work rather than some kind of raw Darkthrone worship idiots make it out to be

[@TheClever69]

@@joshuacottton6985 I'm not really a fan of this album personally but I don't see how people could consider it a regression from Bergtatt, if anything it was a progression. Same as how the second album expanded on the acoustic folk side of Bergtatt, this one goes balls to the wall heavy on the raw black metal side. It's definitely a progression in my eyes

[@___M99]

Tunnelsnakes Rule Lol this is a really popular album, definitely not underrated. It is fantastic though.

[@joshuacottton6985]

It is quite popular but it’s not put on the same pedestal of Bergtatt and loads of other Norwegian albums when it should be

[@Gerd0]

I LOVE this album. It's ridiculously low-fi production did put me off a bit first, but it's part of it's charm. This is probably my favorite Ulver album. The first three are all masterpieces.

[@that-matt-guy]

First time I heard Nattens, I thought it sounded worse than Mayhem's Dawn of the Black Hearts, which I thought was impossible up to that point. Over the years, Nattens became one of my favorite Ulver albums. However, I still prefer Perdition City and Blood Inside. Those are my go-to Ulver albums. I did really like the Julius Caesar pop album too.

[@dominichowell6896]

Hey, extension chords maybe but howd they get the piano out in the woods? Legends are cool!

[@derfgerps4016]

Dødheimsgard’s debut and Satanic Art ep are transcendent true Norwegian metal works of art that are far too often forgot about.

[@BadBlueBoysBorovje]

Track 4 at 1:18 has best riff on whole album imo

[@exit2262]

My favorite black metal album.

[@dominichowell6896]

Favorite band, Favorite album. They perfected black metal and were like, ok, there's no topping that. Moving on. It's their humor too. Recieving a huge budget to record a true cult black metal album, well that costs only 666 dollars. Silly Century Media Fools! Come on boys, let's get high and go shopping

[@Lastiri2004]

I think this and the 1est borknagar récord were the pick from Garm in the black metal development. Yeah. You had the arcturus album, but i don t not how you can t approach better those records.

[@ErinWi]

I love the stories I've heard about people blowing out their eardrums trying to turn up the album so they can actually hear it. I love Nattens Madrigal but listening to it always gives me a massive headache haha.

[@eminemfan50098]

I don't believe that

[@ErinWi]

@@eminemfan50098 It's always jarring to hear stories that aren't true, I agree.

[@tommyvercetti6035]

It was hugo boss suits by the way...

[@creativeperson5858]

I would love to see you review beneath the remains by Sepultura

[@jacobharron]

Ulver was one of my early introductions to black metal. I loved Bergtatt instantly, and fell in love with this one soon afterwards. For all the talk of it being harsh or painful to listen to, I think its atmosphere is one of the more beautiful and mystical - for lack of a better word - in the genre. I wouldn't describe it as aggressive so much as dreamlike. It makes you feel as though you're creeping through those cold, dark woods, listening to a story of men turning into wolves. I keep meaning to get into the band's later albums. Any recommendations?

[@0909shaggy]

Shadows of the Sun is INCREDIBLE. It's a huge step away from their black metal days but it's one of the most beautiful and haunting albums I've ever heard, the first side is absolute perfection

[@owenphillips6421]

Perdition City. Really good when you’re driving around on a foggy, rainy day.

[@CaligariRecords]

I did not understand t. Bought it based on a Metal Maniacs review and when I listened to it I thought it was garbage, Then...later, i understood.

[@mykectown]

I think I was lucky in that I was listening to a lot of underproduced punk and hardcore at the time so the super shitty quality didn't bother me that much. I liked it on first hearing it...but, like you, I think I truly understood it later on.

[@eleganteggnog240]

Sometimes rumors are more interesting than facts. King Diamond living in a castle lit only by candles or living in a suburb of Dallas, Texas?

[@puffinpatrol]

Cool, thanks for pushing me back to this album. I'd given it a shot before but was put off then. Definitely feeling it more now.

[@jsebastian9547]

This is such a hard album to get acclimated to... I'm still blown away by bergtatt all these years later, yet this one just punishes me every chance I give it.

[@21stCenturyNabokov]

Bergtatt is a fine masterpiece

[@___M99]

Haven’t listened to this in a long time since I’ve mostly moved past the Norwegian scene, with the exception of Darkthrone. Definitely still an excellent album and I prefer it to Bergdatt.

[@zigotina]

Do you like Forgotten Woods/Joyless?

[@esak.6245]

I've been meaning to get into Ulver for some time. Is this a good album to start with?

[@kameron5979]

No def start with their first album then the second album, the production might turn you right off

[@johanliebertofficial8750]

just start from the beginning with Bergtatt, then just move on up from there

[@wristofkings]

As stated, buy them in order of release. It's a great pathway into black metal as a whole.

[@shanner]

awesome album, Ulver's two black metal albums are true 10/10s imo

[@johan4461]

Thoughts on Russian Doll?

[@mistdrinker6479]

I would say that out of the original Norwegian scene this album has the most absurd production with them basically cutting all bass frequencies from the mix, the only other record that comes close is Filosofem. That being said I love Nattens Madrigal, I usually lean towards Bergtatt I think just because it's the first Ulver record I heard but they are both master works. What you said about this being able to be a beautiful folk album if it was reworked acoustically I completely agree with, and honestly I think that that's true about a huge portion of the best black metal.

[@-k-b-]

You have the most diverse taste in music, damn dude 😂 love these guys, and I gave this album a chance because I had heard some of it before but thought it sounded bad. Listening back honestly the performances and everything well make up for the tinny sound. The bass is actually really sick and saves this album from sounding completely transparent

[@PawelSorinsky]

There's been an official remaster of this... Released last year.

[@mykectown]

I heard but I havene't checked it out. Maybe I will today. I'm just so used to the production and actually like that part about it.

[@PawelSorinsky]

@@mykectown It's too shriek.

[@MysticKenji2]

This and Themes from William Blake are Ulver's best albums imo

[@seanjones6743]

If you like ULVER that much have you ever given KVIST "for kunsten maa evik vike

[@seanjones6743]

A good listen ?another classic beautifully executed BM album .One ov the best Norwegian Black Metal albums

[@imdartson3679]

I thought it sounded like just another black metal album. Its a good album, but Bergtatt is still the best.

[@mykectown]

You thought it sounded like just another black metal album in 97?

[@red.5475]

Seriously.

[@TheClever69]

I'll be honest, this is the only Ulver album I can't get into. The recording is just way too rough for me. Plus I've never really been the biggest fan of black metal on its own, I've always preferred when artists incorporate other sounds into the formula such as Ulver's Bergtatt album, Myrkur, Liturgy, very early Opeth and Leprous etc. But the album definitely had a huge impact on the scene, especially when you consider Ulver's complete shift away from the genre afterwards

[@larsblikstadgalaaen8675]

Try the vinyl version!

[@8523wsxc]

Post Nattens Madrigal Ulver is so overrated and dull.