Review Summary: Ulver: Now with bass!
I had a review queue’d up in my head where I was going to say how Tagefolket’s lone EP “Lad asketid begynde” was like a modern rendition of Ulver’s ultra lo-fi classic “Nattens Madrigal”, and how the opening melody to “Del I” was an obvious tribute to one of the songs from that aforementioned album. I was going to do that, until I couldn’t actually find which song it so clearly reminded me of, and realized it was actually Darkthrone’s
Transilvanian Hunger I'd been thinking of the whole time. Review shtick promptly thrown in the trash. So instead I’ll compare Tagefolket to those
two albums instead. Review saved, Fenriz be praised.
So Tagelfolket is a side project of Danish musician Ynleborgaz (better known as “the Make a Change... Kill Yourself guy) formed in 1996 that only ever released the two-track, ~16-minute “Lad asketid begynde” EP in 2004. While this EP has remained very obscure to most, it features a straightforward style ripped almost directly from the classic mid-90s Norwegian black metal sounds specifically of Darkthrone and Ulver, but with an eye toward a more modern, less icy production style. The lead guitar melodies might be cold, but they’re pushed forward by a thumpy drum sound and very prominent bass work that provide much more rhythmic oomph than ‘Madrigal or ‘Hunger ever had. While it’s clearly not inventive, it does put a nice organic spin on the tried and true minimalist norsecore shtick, and definitely never wears out its welcome with such a short runtime.
