Perdition City by Ulver

Perdition City is like a cityscape. Its like a futuristic cityscape. Its a futuristic because Ulver is so innovative in its musical orchestration of sounds - a soundtrack of sounds typically not found together - rock drums and industrial, saxophones and trip hop - that this music is something new to hear and something hard to fathom besides to those hardened fans of DJ mixed, ant-dance and sci-fi soundtracks. But this futuristic city is not a friendly city. With the urban pulse there reveals an urban decadence. Besides the purr of beats and melancholy jazz, there are mysterious sounds, whispers, and dramatic themes that evolve suddenly as if there was something going on in the subways and in back alleys. Find places that are stark and hopeless, there are things animated that shouldn’t be. The poetry of Ulver casts shadows to the imagination. The piano music lingers at the pace of nighttime loneliness. The singing fades in and out without actually fading in and out.

Plainly this album is one of those spectacular pieces of music as art - dark art. Think dark movies of dark city themes: Dark City, Blade Runner, The Matrix; or dark stories of an urban future replete: Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere or the anime of Battle Angle Alita and Demon City Shinjuku. Its a nightmare of exquisite, futuristic detail and something to behold when not going to bed. Its something not of my own personal preferences but I can admire it for what it is and its design.

score 4/5. by Alzn