One of the up-and-coming genres in modern progressive music is the new crossover between symphonic progressive rock, prog-metal, and death- and black-metal. They also borrow from so many other genres your head will spin - on any given crossover CD you could find influences from oriental to classical to pop; there could be bits of Celtic, folk, jazz, fusion, electronica, and even the occasional smattering of AOR. These bodies of work are usually complex and imaginative, rich in masterful musicianship, and they display strong compositions and involved structures. And above all, they are wonderfully unconventional. The very variety offered by breaking the bounds of genre offer the songwriter practically limitless creative opportunities.

This isn't a revolution. It's a gradual evolution, and it's fascinating to note that many of the fine artists who rule this crossover roost had their roots in black- or death-metal and graduated to this new sound over the course of several albums. Some of the masters of the crossover include Opeth (particularly with their newest CD), America's new masterful Subterranean Masquerade, Norway's Green Carnation, and so many others. Because of their roots, most of these crossover artists tend to be pigeon-holed as a subset of the 'metal' genre. Call it what you will - it's as much metal as anything else - you'll probably find more pushing of the envelope and more ground breaking innovation here than in any other genre of modern music.

This is important stuff, folks, and if we proggies and metal-heads want to avoid being stuck in the mire of the 1990s, this is the new growth area.

Ulver falls into this category - in fact their press-kit categorizes their style on Blood Inside as 'experimental rock'. It isn't perfect, but it's imaginative and - as my friend and Sea Of Tranquility colleague Yves would say -viva la difference! When the band was originally launched they were clearly a black-metal outfit, but even then there were hints of folk and symphonic rock. They released a trilogy of concept pieces followed by a series of EPs, they completed film scores, they received two Norwegian Emmy nominations, and now to mark a decade of their existence Ulver's newest release pushes the boundaries again.

Here's an example: Track no. 8, "Your Call", has a strong, insistent, rhythmic motif like Ravel's Bolero played on (sampled?) strings. There's a beautiful regular male and falsetto male chorus, and an infusion of ambient, spacey sound samples lending mood - along with an unanswered phone, a wailing violin line, & someone striding purposefully down a corridor.

You'd better enjoy the sounds of percussion and bass pedals because this whole record is underscored by very deep electronic bass tones and often overwhelming percussion. In fact the drumming on "Dressed In Black" builds a cacophony of cymbals that drowns the rest of the instruments. Some of the production choices are questionable - the vocals are far back in the mix, while the bass and percussion seem to be tripping over one another in competition for a limited amount of space. This contributes to an ambience that is consistent throughout the CD, causing a noticeable lack of variety from one piece to the next.

Another common sound - particularly on "Christmas" is an odd combination of an almost Beach-Boys-like falsetto male chorus held well back in the mix, with gloomy instrumentation underscored by deep bass tones, frantic percussion and lots of space-age synthesized electronic effects. In fact the album's overriding sound is deep, ambient electronic sounds - sometimes booming, sometimes spacey, always present and building the sombre mood common to black-metal. Track 5 "It Is Not Sound" bears testimony to Ulver's skill as composers with its Alan Parsons style vocals and its remarkably classical arrangement.

Blood Inside is a short 46 minute piece with nine tracks running from three minutes to about seven. There are no epics here, yet some tracks flow together almost forming a a single arrangement, with one track flowing into the next and with a certain consistency across them.

This is very progressive, fairly complex in parts, experimental and unconventional. It's Heavier than most prog-fans might want, and lighter than the metal that Ulver is known for. Still – the piece as a whole is an interesting study, and clearly a 'crossover' in its matching of rock, film-score, electronica, classical and space music.

And there's barely a note of metal, though people will file it under that category!