''Bergtatt – Et eeventyr i 5 capitler'' (translated as "''Spellbound – A Fairy Tale in 5 Chapters''") is the debut studio album by the Norwegian band

Ulver Ulver (Norwegian for "wolves") 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 ha ...

, issued on February 1995 via Head Not Found. The album was recorded at Endless Lydstudio in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

in November and December 1994 with Kristian Romsøe as engineer and co-producer. The album was praised for its unique atmosphere and was described as "mysterious, melancholic, eerie, and oddly tranquil". The archaic

Dano-Norwegian Dano-Norwegian ( Danish and no, dansk-norsk) was a koiné/mixed language that evolved among the urban elite in Norwegian cities during the later years of the union between the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway (1536/1537–1814). It is from thi ...

lyrics were greatly influenced by Scandinavian folktales and inspired by Baroque poets such as

Ludvig Holberg Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg (3 December 1684 – 28 January 1754) was a writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright born in Bergen, Norway, during the time of the Dano-Norwegian dual monarchy. He was influenced by Humanism, ...

and the hymn-writer Thomas Kingo.

Background

''Bergtatt'', the first part of what has become known as "'' The Trilogie – Three Journeyes Through the Norwegian Netherworlde''", was released during the rise of the

Norwegian black metal Much has been learned about early music in Norway from physical artifacts found during archaeological digs. These include instruments such as the lur. Viking and medieval sagas also describe musical activity, as do the accounts of priests and pil ...

subculture in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

in the early 1990s. Separated from the more straightforward

black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw ( lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an em ...

sound of their contemporaries, Ulver incorporated elements of Norwegian

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

, utilizing

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

s, droning low choirs, flutes, melody-focused songwriting and

clean vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

together with fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted

guitars The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

blast beat A blast beat is a type of drum beat that originated in hardcore punk and grindcore, and is often associated with certain styles of extreme metal, namely black metal and death metal,Adam MacGregor, '' PCP Torpedo'' by Agoraphobic Noseblee ...

drumming, raw (

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...

) recording and unconventional song structures. This earned them the label "

folk metal Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for examp ...

". ''Bergtatt'' is notable in that its lyrical content deviates substantially from that of other second-wave

albums. While it is heavily rooted in Norwegian

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, r ...

, it features no anti-Christian themes, unlike the music of many of Ulver's contemporaries, particularly

Burzum Burzum (; ) was a Norwegian music project founded by Varg Vikernes in 1991. Although Burzum never played live performances, it became a part of the early Norwegian black metal scene and is considered one of the most influential acts in black m ...

and

Darkthrone Darkthrone is a Norwegian extreme metal band from Kolbotn, Akershus. Formed in 1986 as a death metal band named Black Death, in 1991 Darkthrone embraced a black metal style influenced by Bathory and Celtic Frost and became one of the leading ba ...

. The folk-like acoustic elements of ''Bergtatt'' were isolated and expanded upon for their second album '' Kveldssanger'', incorporating classical guitars,

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

and choral chamber chants overlaid with subtle orchestral landscapes. The band's third album, '' Nattens madrigal'', abandoned these acoustic and atmospheric elements, and was recorded with an intentionally underproduced, "raw and grim black metal" sound. In an interview with Rob Hughes for ''Unrestrained Magazine'' in 2007, Kristoffer Rygg reflected, "We were influenced by a period known as the Kingdom of Denmark–Norway (1536–1814)—the language and literature of that era combined with the superstition and folklore of the Middle Ages. It was the kind of stuff we were learning about in school at the time. When it comes to music, we were already listening to a whole slew of other things, and already had our two next records in mind, so by the time '' Nattens madrigal'' (1997) was released, we had developed a strong urge to explore something else. We had also acquired the knowledge of how to do so in the meantime."

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

praised the album, writing, "''Bergtatt'' is not the heaviest or most aggressive black metal around by a long shot; nor is it the most evil or blasphemous. What makes the album stand out, along with the varied vocal styles and the excellent songwriting, is its unique atmosphere—mysterious, melancholic, eerie and oddly tranquil." Angry Metal Guy stated: "Musically, the album is focused on melody and atmosphere, it blends black metal with acoustics, reverb, and gorgeous, melancholic songwriting. It even eschews Satanism in text and imagery. Except Ulver was right there when it all went down; outsiders to a scene of outsiders." Going on to acknowledge ''Bergtatt''s influence on

Agalloch Agalloch () was an American extreme metal band from Portland, Oregon. Formed in 1995 by frontman John Haughm, they released five full-length albums, four EPs, two singles, one split single, two demos, four compilation albums and one live video ...

, Cormorant,

Alcest Alcest is a French post-black metal band from Bagnols-sur-Cèze, founded and led by Neige (Stéphane Paut). It began in 2000 as a black metal solo project by Neige, soon a trio, but following the release of their first demo in 2001, band memb ...

and October Falls; the reviewer goes on to reflect "''Bergtatt'' is the work of kids. These guys weren't old, they weren't seasoned; they were 16 and 17 when they started this band, and 18/19 when ''Bergtatt'' dropped on the famous Head Not Found label 2 years later. They were—from Garm's own mouth—not super mature or sophisticated."

Track listing

Personnel

;Ulver * Kristoffer Rygg -

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer ...

* Håvard Jørgensen -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

*Torbjørn "Aismal" Pedersen - guitar * Hugh Mingay -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

*Erik Olivier "AiwarikiaR" Lancelot -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

;Additional Musicians * Sverd - piano *Lill Kathrine Stensrud - additional vocals, flute ;Other Credits *Kristian Romsøe - co-producer, engineer, mixing *Craig Morris - mastering * Tania "Nacht" Stene - album cover design

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bergtatt - Et eeventyr i 5 capitler Ulver albums 1995 debut albums Head Not Found albums