History Music / Ulver

** ''Childhood's End'' has a loose concept about the cultural loss of innocence that occurred in the 1960's, which the band tried to express through the songs they selected for the album.

* GenreRoulette: One of music's most extreme practitioners of this trope.

* HorribleHistoryMetal: ''The Assassination of Julius Caesar'' is Horrible History SynthPop. The opening track "Nemoralia" is about an ancient Roman religious festival and mentions Nero's burnings of Christians, "Transverberation" is about the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II, and "1969" contains a series of references to events that happened in that year, such as the Moon Landing and the film ''Film/RosemarysBaby''. ''Childhood's End'' could also qualify, being a CoverAlbum dedicated to protest songs from UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar.

* HorribleHistoryMetal: ''The Assassination of Julius Caesar'' is Horrible History SynthPop. The opening track "Nemoralia" is about an ancient Roman religious festival and mentions Nero's burnings of Christians, "Transverberation" is about the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II, and "1969" contains a series of references to events that happened in that year, such as the Moon Landing and the film ''Film/RosemarysBaby''. ''Childhood's End'' could also qualify, being a CoverAlbum dedicated to protest songs from UsefulNote/TheVietnamWar.

* SongStyleShift: Perhaps most notably in "Rolling Stone". The first half is pretty straightforward (and [[EarWorm extremely catchy]]) SynthPop. The second half delves into [[Avant-Garde AvantGardeMusic]] ProgressiveRock, and it also employs a blast beat for most of its climax, which arguably makes it the closest Ulver have come to performing BlackMetal in over twenty years.

* ConceptAlbum: ''Perdition City'' is meant to be "Music to an Interior Film" (as it says on the cover). ''The Blake Album'' as well, see AudioAdaptation above. ''Bergtatt'' and ''Nattens madrigal'' are also concept albums, the first being inspired by Norwegian folklore about trolls taking maidens into the mountains and the second being about lycanthropy. Finally, ''The Assassination of Julius Caesar'', as no doubt suggested by its title, is a loose one centring around ancient Rome.

* RearrangeTheSong: They were planning to make an orchestral version of ''Nattens madrigal,'' but Garm revealed about ten years back that the project "[[DevelopmentHell is in a state of total dormancy]]" and little has been heard since. As for completed work, a few of the songs on ''ATGCLVLSSCAP'' rework previous compositions ("Nowhere (Sweet Sixteen)" is based off of "Nowhere / Catastrophe," for example). Additionally, there's the remix album ''1st Decade in the Machines'' and the song "Eitttlane," which, as discussed below under SignificantAnagram, is based on "Nattleite."
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The song title "As Syrians Pour In, Lebanon Grapples with Ghosts of a Bloody Past", which is an ''actual headline''.
* RockMeAmadeus: "It is Not Sound" features a lengthy quotation from Music/JohannSebastianBach's Music/ToccataAndFugueInDMinor in its coda.

* AltumVidetur: ''Sic transit gloria mundi'', a companion EP to ''The Assassination of Julius Caesar'', bears as its title a Latin title meaning ''Thus Passes the Glory of the World''.

* ConceptAlbum: ''Perdition City'' is meant to be "Music to an Interior Film" (as it says on the cover). ''The Blake Album'' as well, see AudioAdaptation above. ''Bergtatt'' and ''Nattens madrigal'' are also concept albums.

* AsTheGoodBookSays: As one might infer from the title, "Ecclesiastes (A Verbal Catnap)" derives a significant portion of its lyrics from the Book of Ecclesiastes.

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: ''Nattens madrigal'''s full title translates to "The Madrigal of the Night - Eight Hymns to the Wolf in Man," and its eight songs, numbered "Hymn I" through "Hymn VIII," in a ConceptAlbum about... Well...

* LighterAndSofter: ''Kveldssanger'' and nearly anything they released after ''Nattens madrigal''. ''1st Decade in the Machines'' subverts it by initially being this trope, but eventually becoming heavier than anything the band did during their metal phase. (Hiring Music/{{Merzbow}} to remix your material will usually have that effect).

* LiveAlbum: ''The Norwegian National Opera'' (Recorded at... Well... Guess) and ''Live at Roadburn'' provide two different takes on the trope, with the former presenting mostly reinterpretations of the band's old material, while the latter provides live renditions of ''Childhood's End'' material and one closing improvisation.

* TropeCodifier: ''Bergtatt'' arguably started the subgenre of folk influenced atmospheric black metal that later bands like Music/{{Agalloch}}, Music/{{Drudkh}}, and Music/{{Alcest}} would expand upon.

* UrbanLegends: The reason why ''Nattens madrigal'' is so under produced is either because they recorded the album in the woods at night or because they stole all the money their label gave them to buy Armani suits, cocaine, and a new car. WordOfGod dismissed the former as impossible but said the band did have rather expensive tastes when asked about the latter, though they also denied buying a new car, saying there wasn't enough money. (Note that Black Metal band When Bitter Spring Sleeps ''did'' later record their albums in a forest, though; you can even hear the nature sounds on their recordings).

** There's also "A Little Wiser Than the Monkey, Much Wiser Than Seven Men", a remix by Alexander Rishaug from ''1st Decade in the Machines''. Runners-up include "Limbo Central (Theme from Perdition City)", "Porn Piece or the Scars of Cold Kisses", "Bog's Basil & Curry Powder Potatoes Recipe", "I Love You, but I Prefer Trondheim (parts 1-4)", "Only the Poor Have Time to Travel", "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)", "The Spirits That Lend Strength Are Invisible", "Idle Hands Are the Devil's Playthings", and most of the titles from ''Bergtatt''.

* LongTitle: In addition to the album titles seen above, there is also the song title "As Syrians Pour In, Lebanon Grapples with Ghosts of a Bloody Past", which is taken verbatim from an actual news headline from Reuters concerning the refugee crisis caused by the ongoing Syrian Civil War. Kristoffer Rygg called the piece "an indication of concern" and stated, "we have no ideology for sale. Only our sadness".

** Italian: "Ante andante", literally meaning "Before Walking".

** Greek: "Gnosis" ("Γνώσης"), meaning "knowledge"; "Catalept" ("Κατάλεπτ"), meaning "falling"; "Eos" ("Έως"), meaning "until". Also, "Ecclesiastes (A Vernal Catnap)" refers to a book of the Bible/Tanakh, but according to ThatOtherWiki, in Greek the word ("Ἐκκλησιαστής") means roughly "one who convenes or addresses an assembly". Finally, "Cromagnosis" looks like a word of Greek origin (in the Greek alphabet it could be written as either "Κρομαγνωσης" or "Χρομαγνωσης"), but there don't appear to be any cases of it being used as a single word in Greek script; it may be a pun invented by the band, and it appears to be intended to mean something like "Colour of Knowledge" or "Cry of Knowledge", depending upon which spelling was intended ("χρώμα" matches with "colour").

** Greek: "Gnosis" ("Γνώσης"), meaning "knowledge"; "Catalept" ("Κατάλεπτ"), meaning "falling"; "Eos" ("Έως"), meaning "until". Also, "Ecclesiastes (A Vernal Catnap)" refers to a book of the Bible/Tanakh, but according to ThatOtherWiki, in Greek the word ("Ἐκκλησιαστής") means roughly "one who convenes or addresses an assembly". Finally, "Cromagnosis" looks like a word of Greek origin (in the Greek alphabet it could be written as either "Κρομαγνωσης" or "Χρομαγνωσης"), but there don't appear to be any cases of it being used as a single word in Greek script; it may be a pun invented by the band, and it appears to be intended to mean something like "Colour of Knowledge".

** Greek: "Gnosis" ("Γνώσης"), meaning "knowledge"; "Catalept" ("Κατάλεπτ"), meaning "falling"; "Eos" ("Έως"), meaning "until"; "Cromagnosis" ("Κρομαγνωσης"), meaning "classification". Also, "Ecclesiastes (A Vernal Catnap)" refers to a book of the Bible/Tanakh, but according to ThatOtherWiki, in Greek the word ("Ἐκκλησιαστής") means roughly "one who convenes or addresses an assembly".

** Latin: "Somnam", meaning "dream"; "Funebre", meaning "Funeral Rites"; "Angelus novus", meaning "New Angel".

* FadingIntoTheNextSong: The compositions on ''ATGCLVLSSCAP'' do this a lot. Generally the only gaps in the first half of the album are for LP side breaks. There are more gaps in the second half of the album. Their film soundtracks also mostly use either this or SiameseTwinSongs for transitions between songs.

* FracturedFairyTale: ''Bergtatt'' tells a FairyTale type story based on old Norwegian folk legends about trolls kidnapping young maidens.

* PopStarComposer: They scored the films ''Lyckantropen'' and ''Svidd neger'' in their entirety, and contributed additional songs to the soundtrack of the film ''Uno.''

!!This artist provides examples of:

* FunWithAcronyms[=/=]GeniusBonus: The title of ''ATGCLVLSSCAP'' refers to the constellations on the ecliptic line in their respective order, starting from the vernal equinox.[[note]]Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces[[/note]] They also happen to be the signs of the Zodiac.

* LiveAlbum: ''The Norwegian National Opera'' (recorded at... well... guess) and ''Live at Roadburn'' provide two different takes on the trope, with the former presenting mostly reinterpretations of the band's old material, while the latter provides live renditions of ''Childhood's End'' material and one closing improvisation.

* RockMeAmadeus: "It Is Not Sound" features a lengthy quotation from Music/JohannSebastianBach's Music/ToccataAndFugueInDMinor in its coda.

* 2014 - ''Terrestrials'' (collaboration with [[Music/SunnO Sunn O)))]]; [[{{Ambient}} Dark Ambient]], Drone)

* CoverVersion: The band covered Music/BlackSabbath's "Solitude" on ''Shadows of the Sun'' and {{Prince}}'s "Thieves" for a tribute album. Furthermore, ''[[CoverAlbum Childhood's End]]'' consists entirely of covers of material from the late sixties, mostly quite obscure (JeffersonAirplane's "Today" is by far the best known song covered).

* {{Improv}}: The compositions on ''ATGCLVLSSCAP'' were constructed over live recordings of improvisations the band did from twelve shows. They're far from typical improv fare, though, as the band has composed tightly structured pieces over them. Naturally, some of the band's live performances have played this trope straighter. Despite some of the material having been recorded live, ''ATGCLVLSSCAP'' is considered a studio album due to the large amounts of studio overdubbing.

* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition: There have been two versions of this for the band's "black metal Trilogie". One, released in 1997, was called ''The Trilogie: Three Journeyes Through the Norwegian Netherworlde'', which was a box set with three picture [=LPs=] and a bunch of {{Feelies}}. The second, released in 2014, was called ''Trolsk sortmetall 1993-1997'' and included either five [=CDs=] or four [=LPs=] and a cassette along with the requisite {{Feelies}}, which were different this time around (also, unlike ''The Trilogie'', this included the band's demo ''Vargnatt'' and a rehearsal of four ''Nattens madrigal'' tracks). The material was also remastered for ''Trolsk sortmetall''.

* TheStinger: After the final track of ''Bergtatt'' has finished fading out, there is a lengthy silence and then a hidden track consisting of uplifting, instrumental neofolk.

* PrecisionFStrike: In "For the Love of God" and "Norwegian Gothic."

* EpicRocking: Quite a few songs. Perhaps the best examples are "Silence Teaches You How to Sing" from the EP of the same name (the band's longest composition at just over twenty-four minutes in length), every song on its companion EP ''Silencing the Singing'', "Ulvsblakk" from ''Kveldssanger'', "Proverbs of Hell, Plates 7-10" and "A Memorable Fancy, Plates 17-20" from the Blake album, "Providence" and "Stone Angels" from ''Wars of the Roses'', most of ''Bergtatt'', and about half of ''Perdition City'', ''Messe I.X-VI.X'', and ''ATGCLVLSSCAP''. ''Terrestrials'' consists of this too, although not so much the rocking part.
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: ''Nattens madrigal'''s full title translates to "The Madrigal of the Night - Eight Hymns to the Wolf in Man", and its eight songs, numbered "Hymn I" through "Hymn VIII", in a ConceptAlbum about... well...