Album review: Ulver – Liminal Animals

Ulver have spent the last 12 months quietly releasing new songs into the world in ones and twos. Liminal Animals is the culmination of this process, compiling the whole series along with one brand-new track.

Since first emerging as part of the early ’90s wave of Norwegian black metal, Kristoffer Rygg and his band have worked across a startling range of sounds, including (but not limited to) trip-hop, psychedelic rock and drone. Recent years have seen this persistent shapeshifting solidify into a sophisticated version of synth-pop, closer in feel to Tears For Fears than to anything onetime contemporaries Emperor or Darkthrone have ever created.

Despite the diffuse nature of their original release, these songs are consistent in mood and tone, delivered with a calm melancholy that sometimes sits at odds with lyrics invoking war, violence and a world aflame. The recent death of synth player Tore Ylwizaker casts a shadow on proceedings despite the timings not matching up: Forgive Us, a lament for the trickster god Pan, feels particularly resonant, but was originally released months before Tore’s unexpected passing.

This is a very European-sounding collection. Even Hollywood Babylon, the tune here which sounds most like a hit, is looking at America from the outside, while songs like The Red Light glower with a sonic tension that evokes Cold War-era Berlin. The previously unreleased Helian (Trakl) is a remarkable closer, eleven atmospheric minutes of nocturnal mood-rock accompanied by a spoken word performance from Kristoffer Rygg.

Sonically, Liminal Animals might be a logical progression from 2020’s Flowers Of Evil, but Ulver remain an outfit likely to wrongfoot the listener. These slick, classy pieces retain a sense of uncertainty, a feeling that this band still operate on shifting sands – and most certainly always will.

Verdict: 3/5

For fans of: Perturbator, Coil, Depeche Mode

Liminal Animals is released on November 29 via House of Mythology