Kscope

Ulver – War of the Roses Review

Ulver – War of the Roses Review

Ulver is one of the greatest metal bands ever. If there were a “Big 4” for 90s metal, Ulver would be one of them because those first three records, Bergtatt, Kveldssanger and Nattens Madrigal (for the uninitiated) are absolutely essential Norwegian black metal records (obviously Kveldssanger isn’t black metal per se, but it is still an awesome record). But, of course, that same experimental drive that pushed the band into black metal also pushed them out of it, and Garm has been very critical of the scene since leaving it. That said, Ulver is also like Katatonia or Anathema in that their post-(extreme) metal music has been widely accepted by metalheads largely because of the already existing cred. But I get the feeling that War of the Roses will try that patience.

Anathema – We’re Here Because We’re Here Review

Anathema – We’re Here Because We’re Here Review

Where the hell does one even start with Anathema. The band has been in a state of flux for quite a while. The last thing they put out was Hindsight which, quite obviously, was not technically considered a standard release (despite it being my top record of 2008, a very dry year for metal in this Angry Metal Guy’s opinion). That means it’s been five years since A Natural Disaster an album that I found to be remarkably underwhelming, as it followed up one of the finest albums of the entire 2000s: A Fine Day to Exit. But it has, indeed, been 9 years since Anathema released a new album that I was super excited about. Everyone keeps asking “was 7 years worth it?” Well, for me it’s more like “was 9 years worth it?”