The Summary Judgment Review:
Title: 1993-2003: 1st Decade in the Machines
Artist: Ulver
Label: Jester Records
Release Date: 5/20/03

Rating: 3 Skulls
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    • Reviewed by Goatwhore (10/1/04):
    Ulver, led by Garm (well, his given name is Kristoffer Rygg, who now goes by Trickster G, but he'll always be good 'ol Garm to me), can certainly be described as an act that pays no attention to blind allegiance to scene ethics. For those who feel that bands like Slayer, Morbid Angel or Mayhem have veered off course too much, as much as they've all changed, it's safe to say that their changes look to be nothing but pure stasis in comparison to the development of Ulver.

    It can easily be argued that Ulver is now an entirely different band altogether. Actually, the spirit of Ulver is the same: forward thinking, brave and experimental. Their chosen medium is now completely different, but the structure of their message is identical to its original face (kult black metal).

    Through Nattens Madrigal, the band carried its black metal casing until they released Themes from William Blake's the Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Since then, the band has careened its way onto a canvas that's splashed with all colors having to do with electronics, trip-hop, pseudo-noise (if you will), and ambient experimentalism.

    Though they aren't as potent or well-versed as they were in their former black metal lives, Ulver does surprisingly venture into this territory with fortitude, above par competency and success.

    1993-2003: 1st Decade in the Machines is a remix release featuring audio manipulations of Ulver's material courtesy of their current contemporaries (Alexander Rishaug, Information, Third Eye Foundation, Upland, Bogdan Raczynski, Martin Horntveth, Neotropic, Stars of the Lid, Fennesz, Pita, Jazzkammer, VVm, Merzbow and Ulver themselves contribute to the project). As you'd expect, Japan's vicious, mind-warping Merzbow offers the most violent interpretation of Ulver's material.

    The diversity of the material creates a thoroughly enjoying listening experience that barely compensates for the filler passages that some of the songs include. As good as this release is overall, the ambition and genre-defying heart of Ulver isn't beating in the chests of every band on this release. So (much like, but not as severe as, Laibach's somewhat restrained remix of Morbid Angel) at the end of the day, you're going to want more out of this release.
    3 out of 5

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