Ulv! Ulv!
Apollon, 2022
8/10
The 5th album from the Oslo, Norway post-punkers Ym:Stammen, Ulv! Ulv! was originally released in 1994, and includes some of the band’s most known songs. Now available on vinyl for the first time ever, the album is also remastered for this well done reissue.
“Bubringere" starts the listen with some cryptic atmosphere before quickly strummed acoustic guitar enters the brass friendly and cultured climate, and “(Vi Blir) Fisk” follows with a festive spirit of warm organ and plenty of rhythm.
In the middle, the title track recruits a chanting quality to the spiritual angle of the busy landscape, while “Det Springende Punkt” flows with a call and response approach that’s full of melody but with some grit, too.
Advancing towards the end, “Hevner-Kvadet” offers a musically bare but vocally powerful group effort, and “Solbeven” exits the listen with an agile buzzing of slow grooves and world music ideas that you can’t help but admire.
A very unique record that embraces a Nordic pagan stance, it’s easy to see why Ym:Stammen are such an influence on the Norwegian black metal scene, and the world music and Iron Age-punk nods are certainly also part of the allure.
Travels well with: YM:Stammen- Guden-i-Steinen; Tusmørke- Nordisk Krim