Terrestrials | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | February 3, 2014 | |||
Recorded | 2008–2012 | |||
Studio | Crystal Canyon, Oslo, Norway | |||
Genre | Experimental metal, [1] post-black metal [2] | |||
Length | 35:13 | |||
Label | Southern Lord | |||
Producer | Stephen O'Malley, Kristoffer Rygg | |||
Sunn O))) chronology | ||||
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Ulver chronology | ||||
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Terrestrials is a collaborative studio album by American drone metal band Sunn O))) and Norwegian experimental music group Ulver. Produced by Stephen O'Malley and Kristoffer Rygg, it was released on February 3, 2014, via Southern Lord Records. [3] [4] It has been described as "three live improvisation pieces". [5]
On December 10, 2013, a sample from the closing track, "Eternal Return", was released for streaming. [6] [5] It was also streamed on Pitchfork Advance on the day it was released until February 10, 2014. [7]
The relationship between Ulver and Sunn O))) extends to the mid-1990s, when Stephen O'Malley interviewed Kristoffer Rygg for various magazines. [8] Ulver produced a track on Sunn O)))'s White1 and O'Malley played with Rygg and Daniel O'Sullivan, also of Ulver, in the ambient/noise [9] band, Aethenor. [8] Sunn O))) was invited to perform at the Øya festival in Oslo, at which time Rygg proposed that the band remain in the country for several additional days in order to collaborate. [8] The bands created "the foundations for a bunch of tracks" at Ulver's studio, Crystal Canyon, and then Ulver prepared the preliminary arrangements and mix. [8] The bands collaborated on the production, which, as O'Malley explained,
took a while because we don't live in the same country and everyone's just really busy. I got to be honest, for a while it wasn't a priority. It was something we were doing because we enjoyed each other’s company and we enjoyed the music but it wasn't like the new album of either band. It didn't have that urgency to it. Also, I think the music, the pacing and the feeling of the music itself kind of suggests that too. [8]
As O'Malley explained of the three "live improvisation pieces" comprising the album, "I remember the vibe in the room back then was more rāga than it was rock. And despite the fact that the walls were literally shaking from volume, it was actually quite a blissed out, psychedelic session. I wanted to preserve that vibe in the final mix". [5]
Aggregate scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 77/100 [10] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
About.com | [11] |
Allmusic | [12] |
Blabbermouth | 8.5/10 [13] |
Consequence of Sound | B− [1] |
Drowned in Sound | 7/10 [14] |
The Guardian | [15] |
NME | 8/10 [16] |
Pitchfork | 6.9/10 [17] |
The Quietus | favorable [18] |
Sputnikmusic | [19] |
Upon its release, Terrestrials received positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 77, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 18 reviews. [10] Tristan Bath, writing for The Quietus, described the collaboration as "a meeting of chameleonic polyglots, and the result is most unexpectedly beautiful and luminescent". [17] The Guardian's Jamie Thomson noted that the interaction between Ulver and Sunn O))) "isn't just greater than the sum of its parts; it's a distinct journey between two disparate musical camps" that is "long, languorous and wonderful in its invention, with Ulver lending emotional heft to Sunn O)))'s wall of tone". [15] Writing for Allmusic, Thom Jurek lauded the album, as "it perfectly reflects both Sunn O)))'s impenetrably emotional dark heart and Ulver's expertly crafted senses of drama and dynamic". [12] Ray Van Horn Jr., writing for Blabbermouth, described the album as "one of the most fascinating albums in either act's careers." [13]
However, the album did receive some qualified criticism, with Consequence of Sound's Adam Kivel suggesting that the "collaboration doesn't quite rival the strongest albums of either band's catalog, but Sunn O))) and Ulver have produced an ecstatic, beautiful piece of experimental metal that celebrates the strengths of both bands". [1] Grayson Currin of Pitchfork also indicated that the impact of the songs proved fleeting: "After the sun rises on these meditations, then, you can simply go about your daily routine, somewhat elevated but mostly unaltered". [17]
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Let There Be Light" | 11:27 |
2. | "Western Horn" | 9:37 |
3. | "Eternal Return" | 14:09 |
Total length: | 35:13 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Eternal Return (Rough 2009)" | 14:05 |
2. | "Fidelio (Experiment 2009 feat. Attila Csihar)" | 11:42 |
Sunn O)))
Ulver
Additional musicians
Production
Chart (2014) | Peak position |
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Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) [20] | 47 |
Ulver is a Norwegian experimental electronica band founded in 1993, by vocalist Kristoffer Rygg. Their early works, such as debut album Bergtatt, were categorised as folklore-influenced black metal, but the band has since evolved a fluid and increasingly eclectic musical style, blending genres such as experimental rock, electronica, ambient, trip hop, symphonic and chamber traditions, noise, progressive and experimental music into their oeuvre. 1997 marked their international debut with the release of their third album Nattens madrigal through German label Century Media. However, following discord with the label, Rygg formed his own imprint, Jester Records, in 1998.
Sunn O))) is an American drone metal band formed in 1998 in Seattle, Washington. The band is known for their distinctive visual style and slow, heavy sound, which blends diverse genres including doom metal, drone, black metal, dark ambient, and noise rock, as well as for their extremely loud live performances.
Nattens Madrigal – Aatte Hymne Til Ulven I Manden is the third studio album by Norwegian band Ulver, issued on 3 March 1997 via Century Media. Composed and arranged during the first half of 1995, Nattens is a concept album about wolves, the night, the moon, and the dark side of mankind.
Stephen O'Malley is an American guitarist, producer, composer, and visual artist from Seattle, Washington, who has conceptualized and participated in numerous drone metal, doom metal, and experimental music bands, most notably Sunn O))).
Perdition City is the fifth studio album by Norwegian experimental electronica band Ulver, issued in March 2000, via Jester Records. The album was recorded and produced by Kristoffer Rygg and Tore Ylwizaker, mixed by Ylwizaker at Beep Jam Studio and mastered by Audun Strype at Strype Audio.
Kristoffer Rygg, also known as Garm, Trickster G. Rex and God Head, is a Norwegian vocalist, musician and producer known primarily for his work with Ulver, Arcturus, and Borknagar.
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Altar is a collaborative album by Japanese experimental music group Boris and American drone metal band Sunn O))), released on October 31, 2006 through Southern Lord Records (SUNN62). A limited two-CD edition was released on October 23 via Southern Lord with a 28-minute bonus track with Sunn O))), Boris, and Dylan Carlson, titled "Her Lips Were Wet with Venom". Inoxia Records released their own two-CD version in 2006 which features a bonus track on the first disc, "The Sinking Belle ", and also features "Her Lips Were Wet with Venom" on disc 2. The triple-vinyl edition by Southern Lord contains all of the songs from their two-CD edition, additional pictures, and liner notes by Kim Thayil. The Daymare 3LP version was released March 23, 2007 and features a bonus track not found on any other version of this release: "The Sinking Belle ".
Daniel O'Sullivan is a British musician and composer from Manchester, best known for playing in experimental art-rock bands Grumbling Fur, Guapo, Miasma & the Carousel of Headless Horses, Ulver, Sunn O))), Æthenor, Laniakea, Miracle, Mothlite, and This Is Not This Heat. He's also released solo work under his own name.
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Wars of the Roses is the eighth studio album by the Norwegian experimental electronica band Ulver. The album was produced by Ulver, with John Fryer and Jaime Gomez Arellano, and issued in the UK on 25 April 2011 via Jester Records and Kscope, preceded by a single, "February MMX", in February. The album was released in the U.S. on 3 May 2011. Wars of the Roses is the first album to feature new member, British composer and multi-instrumentalist Daniel O'Sullivan.
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