Review Summary: Easy listening Black Metal
In 1995, after most of the original Black Metal bands had already defined the genre and reached their creative peaks, Ulver tried to offer a somewhat different vision of Black Metal with a folky spin. The inclusion of folk elements wasn't exaclty a new idea, although they had never been as dominant and obvious as on this offering. This folk influence manifests both in their utilization of acoustic instruments and occasional reliance on clean vocals as well as their choice of melody. All of this results in a rather soothing listening experience for a Black Metal record, that ultimately fails to communicate its ideas in a coherent fashion.
On a purely superficial level, Ulver did a lot of things right. The production on this record is stellar, offering clarity as well as an atmospheric, roomly distant sound. The musicianship is thoroughly solid, although not particularly showy or self-idulgent. This allows the melodic guitar playing and singing to really shine and conjure up some beautiful images inspired by nature and ancient pagan life. The mellow sections are in contrast to the more aggressive segments, which are typically underlined by blast beats and raspy vocals, that are somewhat reminiscent Darkthrone. The same can be said for the riffing style, which appears to be inspired by Transilvanian Hunger in how it utilizes tremolo picked, harmonized minor key melodies and consequent repition. The imagery of nature and ancient nordic life had already been stylized by other bands, predominantly by Enslaved, who also used folk-inspired melody and keyboards as a substitute for actual acoustic instruments. But where Enslaved and Darkthrone created not only distinctive, but also highly cohesive music, Ulver merely managed to package these elements into an album that is pleasant on the surface, but vacuous and disjointed in essence.
When the music abruptly goes from mellow and peaceful sections to fast and violent parts or vice-versa, it often appears as if these contrasts only exist for their own sake, as there is usually little to no connection between said parts and the placement of these shifts often seems rather arbitrary. It does not come as a surprise that the best track on here is probably the first one, since it avoids these stark contrasts in favour of a more unified approach, with its soothing melodies and beautiful guitar solos. While individual parts in most of the other songs are still well written, they don't add up to be anything more than merely their sum. Contrary to the best of Black Metal, which usually had some kind of underlying musical narrative, Bergtatt ends up sounding like more of a sound collage and that is its failure. At the end of the day it is an easily digestible Black Metal record with a sense of beauty and an apparent lack of organization.
As such, this is decent background music and might perhaps serve as a gateway album into Black Metal for some people, although it obviously does not offer a very accurate representation of the genre, neither aesthetically nor ideologically. It is, however, immediately enjoyable, while a lot of other Black Metal classics need a bit of time until you can truly appreciate them. That is probably also the reason for Bergtatt's ongoing popularity: immediate, superficial appeal rather than exceptional composition.
