ULVER Vargnatt (30th Anniv.) LP Vinyl

Ulver released Vargnatt in 1993 as a demo, then spent the next thirty years becoming one of the most genuinely unclassifiable bands on earth. The demo, though, is pure Norwegian black metal, raw and forest-drenched in a way that their later ambient and electronica work never tried to be again.

There's something interesting about revisiting where Ulver started now that we know where they ended up. Vargnatt doesn't sound like a band hedging their bets or finding their feet, it sounds like a band fully committed to a specific, cold, atmospheric vision, which makes the trajectory that followed all the more strange and impressive. The oxblood pressing for the 30th anniversary is a fitting format for a record that sits at the origin point of one of black metal's most singular careers. For collectors working through the Norwegian black metal canon alongside Burzum's early recordings, Darkthrone's Transilvanian Hunger era, or Enslaved's debut, this fills in a crucial gap.

12" vinyl LP, limited edition oxblood pressing, 30th Anniversary edition. Origin: Norway.

Fans of: early Enslaved, Burzum, Darkthrone, Mortiis