Along with Flowers of Evi l comes Wolves Evolve: The Ulver Story, a 336-page book, reflecting on over 25 years of Ulver history.

I Flowers of Evil HOM 023 II Wolves Evolve: The Ulver Story, edited by Tore Engelsen Espedal with Ulver House of Mythology 2020.

A lion sinks its teeth into the fire-breathing monsters chest.

This sacred grove, near Bomarzo in Lazio, Italy, reveals the nightmare vision of Vicino Orsini, a sixteenth century nobleman.

Its a forest of symbols, suggesting a civilisation overrun by the beasts, demons and monsters of the primordial world.

Soon after Orsinis death, trees began to close in on these many peculiar beings, and green moss would eventually seize them.

Flowers of Evil, the new studio album from Ulver, finds the wolf pack exploring the fear and wonder of mankinds fall from redemption.

Have Ulver discovered new pastures under the sun Or scoured the ruins of their own moonlit past The truth is, theyre closer to their previous purlieu than perhaps ever before.

Doom dance, someone dubbed their last studio album, the critically acclaimed, Impala Award-winning The Assassination of Julius Caesar (2017).

Flowers of Evil comes across as an unfeigned progression along the course set by that album, revealing a band moving deeper into beats and grooves, hooks and choruses, synths and guitars, yet sounding more stripped back, making room for the distinctive detail.

Once again Michael Rendall (The Orb) and legendary producer Martin Youth Glover have taken crystalline care of the mix.

As Caesar demonstrated, Ulver havent abandoned any of their obsessions, worries or nightmares as they enter the gilded palace of pop.

One last dance in this burning church, Kristoffer Rygg announces on the albums opening track, featuring old friend Christian Fennesz on guitar and electronics.

A slow build brings the music to the albums pulsing theme: WE ARE WOLVES UNDER THE MOON THIS IS OUR SONG WE HAVE LOVED AND WE HAVE LOST WE ARE READY TO GO With Flowers of Evil Ulver have fled a burning Rome, only to confront further crime and corruption.

Russian Doll, the albums first single, moves determinedly through the night, with a story of unfolding tragedy and misery.

Apocalypse 1993 reveals Ulver at their catchiest, its bounding-goat groove running hand in hand with a grand chorus depicting the catastrophic events at Waco, Texas, during the winter of that year the very same winter that saw the birth of Ulvers first incarnation.

From that thorny undergrowth, this is what they have become: an eclectic, many-headed beast, chanting the ecstasies of the spirit and the senses.

Flowers of Evil unfolds with the shattering second single, Little Boy.

Yorks ominous pipes melt into the softer, moodier Nostalgia, a 70s soul shuffle, and the heart-breaking Talk Talk-esque balladry of A Thousand Cuts.

Finally, the wolves are back in the palace of excess, waltzing the night away.

Yet around them, the wilderness rises, triumphant; grass will grow over your cities, as the Bible says.

II THE ULVER STORY As this silent spring comes to an end, its time to reveal more of what the fabled Oslo band has buried from view.

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