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Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

 
Album Review: Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven & Hell

  • Artist: Ulver
  • Rating: StarStar
  • Release Date: 1998
  • Type: Lyrics are included with the album
  • Genre: Rock

Review

Ulver never fails to amaze, or at least cause controversy. Every single album they put out is almost a complete 180 from the last, which, although strange, is a very admirable quality to this band, and Marriage is no different. Following the route taken by Garm's other offbeat (but godly!) project Arcturus, Ulver has become a strange mix of metal, electronic, folk, and utter strangeness. 1999 proved to be the year of bizarre metallic releases, from Dødheimsgard and Solefald to the new Arcturus. It must have been a long cold winter in Norway (no glam puns intended) because Ulver wants its piece of the madness too. Parts of the album are nothing more than spoken dialogue from the novel mixed with ambient music. Then, suddenly Garm gets bored and begins to wail and scream loudly as the churning industrial madness begins underneath his tormented vocals. A few songs are almost solely instrumental, while others contain dark female vocals (or speaking). Similar to a jarring movie that leaves your stomach in knots, this album is unsettling. Between the eerie music, awkward vocals, and mysterious religious lyrics, this album has everything for the eccentric fans out in metal-land. As a side note, the album is graced by a few guests, most notably Fenriz of Darkthrone and two guys named Samoth and Insahn from some band called Emperor (hmm, never heard 'em). Recommended to those seeking a musical purging, all others beware. ~ Jason Hundey, All Music Guide

Tracks



CD 1

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Ulver (4:03)
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Ulver (2:48)
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Ulver (1:33)
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Ulver (2:49)
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Ulver (2:31)
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Ulver (4:24)
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Ulver (9:06)
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Ulver (2:01)
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Ulver (3:26)
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Ulver (5:59)
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Ulver (2:08)
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Ulver (4:51)
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Ulver (3:17)


CD 2

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Ulver (11:23)
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Ulver (2:27)
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Ulver (3:11)
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Ulver (4:50)
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Ulver (3:59)
A Song of Liberty Ihsahn (26:23)

Credits

Ihsahn (Spoken Word), Tore Ylwizaker (Mixing), Tore Ylwizaker (Programming), Berge Finstad (Mixing), Tore Ylwizaker (Engineer), Fenriz (Spoken Word), Samoth (Spoken Word), Tore Ylwizaker (Producer)
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Wikipedia: Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
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Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Slipcase cover
Studio album by Ulver
Released December 17, 1998 (1998-12-17)
Genre Experimental
Avant-garde metal
Length 101:09
Label Jester
Professional reviews
Ulver chronology
The Trilogie - Three Journeyes through the Norwegian Netherworlde
(1998)
Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
(1998)
Metamorphosis
(1999)

Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is the fourth album by Norwegian experimental band Ulver. It is a musical setting of William Blake's book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, featuring guest vocals. The actual CD booklet contains the plates of Blake's scriptures, which are contained in the lyrics.

The album is a drastic change in sound to that of its predecessors, the title alone being a loud signal that Ulver had changed somewhat. The album and the band in general got a great deal of back-lash from the black metal community for abruptly changing musical styles, though the band expressly claimed to not be part of the "so-called black metal scene" in the liner notes of the booklet.

The music on this double album consists of elements from drum and bass, progressive rock, spoken word, industrial music, and black metal, fused into a somewhat ambient new style.

Track listing

Disc one

  1. "The Argument, Plate 2" – 4:03
  2. "Plate 3" – 2:48
  3. "Plate 3, Following" – 1:33
  4. "The Voice of the Devil, Plate 4" – 2:49
  5. "Plates 5-6" – 2:31
  6. "A Memorable Fancy, Plates 6-7" – 4:24
  7. "Proverbs of Hell, Plates 7-10" – 9:06
  8. "Plate 11" – 2:01
  9. "Intro" – 3:26
  10. "A Memorable Fancy, Plates 12-13" – 5:59
  11. "Plate 14" – 2:08
  12. "A Memorable Fancy, Plate 15" – 4:51
  13. "Plates 16-17" – 3:17

Disc two

  1. "A Memorable Fancy, Plates 17-20" – 11:23
  2. "Intro" – 2:27
  3. "Plates 21-22" – 3:11
  4. "A Memorable Fancy, Plates 22-24" – 4:50
  5. "Intro" – 3:59
  6. "A Song of Liberty, Plates 25-27" – 26:23

The last track contains roughly 20 minutes of silence, as well as vocal appearances from Emperor's Ihsahn and Samoth and Darkthrone's Fenriz.


 
 

 

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Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" Read more