A couple of guys from Canada’s British Columbia make up Ulvik, where the emphasis is very much on atmosphere. They themselves capture their work as “an audio/visual project, drawing influence from folklore, esotericism, history and the dramatic Cascadian landscapes”. To their credit, the duo donate a substantial proportion of their sales as support for the Indian Residential School Survivors Society, something I learnt about after evidence came out about mistreatment and the discovery of bodies by one of the schools for indigenous people in Kamloops, a place I happen to know.
“Cascade” is most certainly an atmospheric concoction. It is dark, ranging from haunting passages to sweeping epic black metal style sections, accompanied by mystical sounds and roars. “Nokhur” is more along the lines of violent black metal. It is turbulent and it is as if a cold wind is sweeping through the dark and heavy soundscape. From this a chilling, echoing loneliness emerges, and expands into more sweeping majesty and melancholy. “Huis Clos” starts in sinister fashion. Always there is a surrounding sonic menace, and this adds a layer to the already penetrating force. The tempo changes, but the atmosphere of foreboding doesn’t. The atmosphere intensifies and becomes increasingly dark and menacing, with human screams of suffering running through it like an icy cold wind, and heavy as lead drum work pounding through the piece. The strained tones of the violin bring us through to “Allmachtiger” as the atmosphere becomes more tense, rising into measured swathes of black post metal imperiousness. The drum beats tribally, the guitar is solemn while all the while there are the noises of dark forces hauntingly and mystically swirling around. It’s those noises that make this so frightening. A frisson of spoken word, choristry and sonic waves provide a powerful aura. It’s a dark and misty scene. The tones of a bouzouki give a further exotic and melancholic twist as “Salt of the Earth” treads its dark path. In the style of post metal, the sound intensifies once more and quietly explodes into roaring majesty before falling back on symphonic reflection and then expanding into a soundscape of ringing and epic gloom.
This is an absorbing album. Dark and pessimistic, it is powerful and surrounded by ghosts which stand in the background and add to the sonic mists and majesty. Yes, “Cascade” is a deep and atmospheric work.
(8.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
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