Ulver And The Dharma Of Impermanence
There is an order to the Universe (Number Five and otherwise) which dictates an amorphous existence. Nothing remains the exact same overtime. Finding peace within the immutable laws of impermanence can be the difference between an appreciated life well lived and a life spent yearning for, as Jello Biafra stated, “nostalgia for a time that never existed.” Remembering the good or the bad is fine, but assuming that your life is gonna unfold in a fixed trajectory based on the past is foolhardy. Somewhere between expectations and ramifications, life happens and you never know what is next. Look at a few metal bands: Sentenced and Amorphis started out as pretty straightforward death metal bands that eventually moved forward with creative ambitions and fleshed out more well-developed sounds. Their later stuff didn’t tarnish the greatness of their earlier work, it just took a different form and made something different. Then you have bands like Kataklysm and Metallica. They started out writing super ambitious music with lots of unexpected/unpredictable twists and turns before taking more simple one-dimensional paths in their later works. One of the greatest examples of the dharma of impermanence is Ulver. Comparing their first few albums and their last few, you’d completely fail to connect the dots that it was the same band. All of the sonic molecules from the past vanished and something completely new arose, and overtime they will no doubt further this dance. Life isn’t meant to be lived in a box with the same parameters dictating your actions/reactions. Life is to be boundless only inhibited by how far you can stretch yourself. Nothing stays exactly as is, unless you are Motorhead and Impaled Nazarene. They are frozen, like Han Solo, it would appear into a little formula they can beat to death and still find a creative way of utilizing it. Why sit when you can run? Why run when you can sit?
