HOUSE OF MYTHOLOGY
★★★★
Its cover photograph of a brutal haircut suggests otherwise, but Oslo’s Ulver have come a long way from their mid-90s experimental black metal roots. Flowers Of Evil is instead an album of moodily restrained synth-pop that, at times, recalls Talk Talk’s early melodic twists, and at others, like One Last Dance, verges on an earnest, angry Erasure. Kristoffer Rygg’s Andy Bell-like vocals are most notable on the glistening Russian Doll, but titles like Machine Guns And Peacock Feathers, which offers industrial disco, indicate the dominant atmosphere.