Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
| Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell | ||||
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| Studio album by Ulver | ||||
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Publication |
1998 |
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admission |
1997-1998 |
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| Label (s) | Jester Records | |||
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Format (s) |
Double CD and LP |
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Title (number) |
19th |
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running time |
101: 09 |
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| occupation | ||||
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Trickster G. |
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Studio (s) |
Jester Studios Beep Jam Studios |
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Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is the fourth studio album by the Norwegian band Ulver . It is a setting of William Blake's prophetic prose poem The Marriage of Heaven and Hell , released as a double album on Jester Records in 1998 and distributed by Voices Music & Entertainment AS .
Creation and publication
After Natten's madrigal - Aatte hymn Til Ulven i Manden , guitarist Torbjørn “Aismal” Pedersen left the band and was replaced by Arcturus' Knut Magne Valle for a new album . In addition, Tore Ylwizaker became a new member of the band. Stine Grytøyr, Ihsahn , Samoth , Fenriz (all vocals) and Falch (scratching) also took part in the recordings for Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell . The album was recorded at Jester and Beep Jam Studios from late 1997 to early 1998, mixed by Børge Finstad and Tore Ylwizaker, and mastered by Audhild Johanne Rype at Strype Audio. Kristoffer Rygg was the producer, Ylwizaker and Valle the co-producers.
The double album was released on CD at the end of 1998 as the first release by Rygg's record label Jester Records, which was founded in the same year. In 2012 it was re-released on LP in a limited edition; Here, several minutes of silence before the last piece were cut out on the fourth page and the order of two pieces ( Plates 21–22 and A Memorable Fancy Plates 22–24 ) was accidentally reversed.
Track list
This is Ulver's first English-language album because the lyrics are from the original lyrics of Williams Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell . The titles of the pieces follow Blake's division of his work into sections or on printing plates.
CD 1
- The Argument Plate 2 - 4:03
- Plate 3 - 2:48
- Plate 3 - 1:33
- The Voice of the Devil Plate 4 - 2:49
- Plates 5–6 - 2:31
- A Memorable Fancy Plates 6-7-4 :24
- Proverbs of Hell Plates 7-10-9:06
- Plate 11 - 2:01
- Intro - 3:26
- A Memorable Fancy Plates 12-13-5 : 59
- Plate 14 - 2:08
- A Memorable Fancy Plate 15 - 4:51
- Plates 16-17 - 3:17
CD 2
- A Memorable Fancy Plates 17-20-11 :23
- Intro - 2:27
- Plates 21-22-3 :11
- A Memorable Fancy Plates 22-24-4 :50
- Intro - 3:59
- A Song of Liberty Plates 25-27 / Chorus - 26:23
style
After the trilogy from Bergtatt - Et Eeventyr i 5 Capitler , Kveldssanger and Nattens Madrigal , rooted in folk and black metal , Ulver began to explore the limits of their genre at the end of the 1990s (as did other Norwegian bands with Arcturus , Solefald and Dødheimsgard at that time) exceed. Composition, instrumentation and singing on Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell are very varied. There are spherical, catchy and aggressive passages with sound surfaces, electronic effects, distorted guitars or drum loops, with choirs, whispers, spoken chants or electronically alienated voices. There are influences from folk, psychedelic rock , progressive rock , industrial metal , big beat , trip-hop and ambient .
reception
The reactions of the press to the album were mostly very positive, for example it was album of the month January 1999 in the German Metal Hammer . Captain Chaos from vampster thinks it is “a bit disheveled”, but also praises it as “groundbreaking” and compares it to La Masquerade Infernale by Arcturus. On metal.de it is also stated that "if you liked 'La Masquerade Infernale' in its complexity, you can also access it without hesitation".
For Gunnar Claussen from Babyblauen Seiten , Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is “a one and a half hour rollercoaster ride through moods, ideas, styles and set pieces, so wonderfully modern and wacky and at the same time so inviting and melodious”. Wolf-Rüdiger Mühlmann from Rock Hard describes the album as "a discovery that has not existed in ages, perhaps not since Pink Floyd ".
After Themes ... was part of a gift package for Haakon of Norway's wedding to Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby in 2001 , Ulver hit the headlines because of their allegedly satanic background.
Web links
- Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell at Allmusic (English)
- Reviews of Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell on the Babyblauen Seiten
Individual evidence
- ^ Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell at Discogs , accessed on October 26, 2012.
- ^ History , accessed October 26, 2012.
- ↑ a b Baby Blue Prog Reviews: Ulver: Themes From William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell , Baby Blue Pages , accessed October 26, 2012.
- ^ Jason Hundey: Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell at Allmusic , accessed October 26, 2012.
- ↑ a b Wolf Rüdiger Mühlmann: Ulver. Themes From William Blake's The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell , Rock Hard # 141, accessed October 26, 2012.
- ↑ Captain Chaos: ULVER: Wolves Evolve - The Discography , vampster , accessed October 26, 2012.
- ↑ Ulver - Themes From William Blakes… , metal.de , accessed on October 26, 2012.
- ^ News 2001 , accessed February 23, 2015.