Review by Jack on March 7, 2002.

The scary thing about this contemporary, mechanical neo-Ulver is that straight from the word go I could successfully distinguish that this was in fact Ulver, the new non-black metal Ulver. While this may seem like an absurd and weird statement; the overall and uncompromising realisation for all of us is that Ulver as what we knew a few years ago is dead and buried and we must embrace the ideals of Ulver (present day) or be forever consumed by the cyberness of Ulver-urban style...

“Silence Teaches You How to Sing” picks up where “Perdition City” left off, being the second part of the trilogy of “Perdition City”, “Silence Teaches You How to Sing” and “Silencing the Singing”. Mechanistic and calculated in its inception the trilogy navigates the weird and wonderful world that is firmly locked away in the creative brains of a few famous musical oddities; Garm being one such oddity.

Whilst not titled anywhere on the single from Ulver, there is only one song and one must assume the title refers to the single track. A lengthy affair of a shade under 25 minutes, 'Silence Teaches You How to Sing' once again delves into the night music of “Perdition City”. Through seedy jazz bars and dark metropolitan alleyways Garm and Co. one again give realisation to the fact that there is a world besides metal. A whirring transition of beeps and whistles similar to that of skipping or fastforwarding tracks on the latest CD your dad purchased you or perhaps changing the channels on the television. In combination with more prominent mood sections of “Perdition City”, “Silence Teaches You How to Sing” once again opens the door to the realm of lounge music.

All is well if you are a fan of present day Ulver, one should definitely grab this lovely masterpiece, if however you are not a fan of what Ulver had to offer on “Perdition City” then perhaps a large step in the opposite direction may be a wise move.

Bottom Line: Appealing to present day Ulver junkies (like me), “Silence Teaches You How to Sing” is a specialist album that is crafty as it is intelligent. Definitely an acquired “Perdition City” taste.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Originality: 7
Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 10
Production: 9
Overall: 9

Rating: 8.8 out of 10

Review by Denis on April 29, 2003.

Let's pretend for a while that I'm an art critic and you are a class of art students or just a bunch of art fanatics ok? Today we'll talk about some abstract painting or something like Picasso's work. You'll see the similarity to this CD if I say that we have a piece of art with a title that most of us (if not all of us) don't understand; made of ten songs that have no titles besides 'Theme' and are all actually instrumentals. Pretty abstract isn't it?

"Lyckantropen Themes" is a soundtrack for a short film from Sweden being produced and directed by Steve Ericsson. The themes themselves are improvisations done over three chords and are as far away as it could be from metal. Relaxing, ambient, and twisted to the very end. The atmosphere can get pretty dark or mysterious in most of the recording time but when it comes to the last three 'Themes' out of whack is the best way to describe the mood. The electronics used to create the sonic scenery are not without reminding us of past work from legendary keyboard wiz like Tangerine Dream or Pink Floyd. The more experimental segments are kind of a mixture between Zappa and avant-garde. Being a big fan of Mr. Zappa and craving for avant-garde, I specially enjoyed the last three themes. The relaxing stuff is kind of cool too.

Bottom Line: A different breed of cat and different is good.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 7.5
Atmosphere: 8
Originality: 8
Production: 8.5
Overall: 7.5

Rating: 7.9 out of 10

Review by Jack on March 3, 2003.

Let me say that I think I have approached "Lyckantropen Themes" in completely the wrong frame of mind. For me I have been expecting "Lyckantropen Themes" to be the follow up to the much acclaimed "Perdition City". I was expecting to be blown away by an awesome follow up to 2001’s interstellar album, but unfortunately for me I was delivered anything like what I was hoping for.

"Lyckantropen Themes" whilst being in a similar vein of music to "Perdition City" is clearly on a different plane of musical impact. Whereas "Perdition City" was a bit more upfront and personal, "Lyckantropen Themes" is decisively more subtle and more of a soundtrack. I guess this is up to each discerning individual to decide whether this is a good or bad thing. But for me, Ulver are at their best when they have the flexibility to create what they really want to create, to build what they truly believe in. I can’t help but think that "Lyckantropen Themes" was hampered somewhat with a strong correlation to the movie it is going to be for, that Ulver perhaps didn’t have the freedom to create what they are truly capable of. I am obviously speculating here, but I don’t feel "Lyckantropen Themes" measures quite up to the lofty Ulver standards set through their last three discs.

Bottom Line: A decent album, sure, but I do feel a bit let down. Worth a look in any event.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 7
Atmosphere: 6
Production: 7.5
Originality: 7
Overall: 5.5

Rating: 6.6 out of 10