SHADOWS OF THE SUN

Ulver

Post Rock/Math rock

4.09 | 298 ratings

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Negoba
Prog Reviewer

Great Dark, Ambient Mood Music

Ulver has covered a massive amount of musical terrain during their career, and with Shadows of the Sun they produce what may have been coming for awhile - a purely ambient album. For lovers of dark chillout sounds, this album is superb. I really enjoy the variety of sonic colors, Garm's great low vocals, and the slow grooves (the Black Sabbath cover Solitude stands out in that regard). The production is very well done, big reverbs but good separation, good layering of vocals and keyboard pads, effective use of silence.

At the same time, it is an enormous stretch to call this progressive. There is nothing here that's not already part of the playbook of the modern soundtrack musician, and in fact there are many other great ambient works that at least rival this album.

I must admit that I play this album a lot. The combination of calm and dark, though not unique, is very well done here. The lyric themes are quite dark, dealing with death and loss, but there is also a warmth to the music that comes from the fullness of the key sounds and of course Garm's voice. It is both a good music to play in the background and to immerse yourself in - you can still enjoy it with full or divided attention (not the usual for prog).

I definitely have no problem recommending this album if the buyer knows what they're getting. But proggies looking for a innovative post-rock masterpiece, this is probably not the album to buy. Instead, get Blood Inside, which displays a much broader array of emotion and instrumentation. This one is for those times you want ambient solitude. A great album for what it is, just not prog.

Negoba | 3/5 | 2009-3-25

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