Ved Buens Ende... (Norwegian for "at the end of the bow", referring to the mythological rainbow Bifröst; also seen as Ved Buens Ende..... and simply Ved Buens Ende on various album covers) is a Black Metal formation from Oslo, Norway. They are notoriously the Trope Makers for the avant-garde branch of black metal, exploring the genre years before bands such as Deathspell Omega, Blut aus Nord, and Dødheimsgard (the last of which in fact was founded by VbE's Vicotnik).
As if that didn't already give them a position of supreme importance in metal history, they're also one of the most convincing Ur-Examples of Black Metal/Post-Rock fusionsnote , with many of their quieter passages resembling the twisty, dynamic work of Slint. (And much like Slint, they've released very little material despite reuniting at least twice; a single album is responsible for the bulk of their reputation; and their band members have performed with numerous other bands, many of whom are extremely important in their own right.)
Formed in 1993 in Askim, Norway, under the name Manes (not to be confused with a much better-known group of the same name from Trondheim), they released two demos before changing their name to Ved Buens Ende... in 1994. They released the Those Who Caress the Pale demo the same year and the full-length album Written in Waters in 1995, which became highly acclaimed and influential. The band split up in 1997 and reunited twice; first in 2006 with promise of new material, only to split up again the following year without any new releasesnote ; then in 2019, still currently functioning and reportedly (again) working on new material.
Current lineup:
- Carl-Michael Eide - drums (1994-1997), guitars, vocals (clean) (1994-1997, 2006-2007, 2019-present)
- Skoll - bass (1994-1997, 2019-present), keyboards (1994-1997)
- Vicotnik - guitars, vocals (harsh) (1994-1997, 2006-2007, 2019-present)
- Øyvind Myrvoll - drums (2019-present)
Discography:
- Those Who Caress the Pale (demo, 1994)
- Written in Waters (full-length, 1995)
"...went away with my fathers, to gather the tropes."
- Black Metal: The Trope Maker for the dissonant avant-garde style.
- Career-Ending Injury: Downplayed. On March 26, 2005, Eide fell from a four-story building, badly injuring his legs, and needed to be hospitalized. This rendered him unable to play the drums, though he still does vocal and guitar duties.
- Design Student's Orgasm: The original cover of Written in Waters, pictured on the right.
- Epic Rocking: About half of their songs. The longest (fittingly, given the length of the book series it's named after) is "Remembrance of Things Past" at 8:55, followed closely by "Den saakaldte" at 8:50.
- Fading into the Next Song: Quite a few songs do this.
- Foreign Language Title: "Den saakaldte" apparently means "The So-Called" in Danish, though it's more commonly spelt "såkaldt". The band name, of course, is also an example.
- Genre Mashup: Combines elements of Black Metal, Avant-Garde Metal, Jazz, Post-Rock, and arguably more.
- Lead Bassist: Type A. Skoll is an adept and creative bassist, and his playing is given good prominence in the band's mixes.
- Lead Drummer: Eide's intricate, unconventional drumming style was central to the band's sound.
- Literary Allusion Title: "Remembrance of Things Past" is named after Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdù (In Search of Lost Time), which was first translated into English as Remembrance of Things Past; a massive literary work that is usually split into seven volumes.
- Rock Trio: They were one originally.
- Soprano and Gravel: Eide's eerie crooning vocals interlaced with Vicotnik's standard black metal shrieks.
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Spiritual Successor:- To an obscure band named Manes
(formed in Askim, Norway), which released two demos before it became Ved Buens Ende. This Manes should not be confused with the much better-known Manes (formed in Trondheim, Norway); seemingly just to compound the confusion, these two bands released a split record of old demo material in 2009. - Czral's band Virus was essentially the continuation of Ved Buens Ende, before being disbanded in favor of the former band's reunion. Songs intended for the aborted second album Ved Buens Ende intended to record during their first reunion wound up on Virus' The Black Flux instead.
- To an obscure band named Manes
- Stage Names: Skoll (real name Hugh Mingay) and Vicotnik (real name Yusaf Parvez). Carl-Michael Eide also goes by Czral and Aggressor in various bands.
- Supergroup: In a sense they were one of the first in Black Metal, although this didn't ultimately become clear until later. Skoll and Eide both played in Ulver (Skoll on Bergtatt through Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and Eide on Vargnatt), while Vicotnik is the only remaining founding member of Dødheimsgard. Ultimately, the three have seemingly appeared in some capacity or other in just about every major avant-garde black metal band from Norway except Solefald and Manes (the one from Trondheim, that is) - in particular, Skoll has been Arcturus' bassist since La Masquerade Infernale.
- Surprisingly Gentle Song: "Autumn Leaves" on Written in Waters is a comparatively soft track, as it features harmonic singing, relatively simple structure and clean guitars.
- Also the closing track "To Swarm Deserted Away", which is played entirely on accordion and piano (though it still ends up sounding pretty unsettling).
- Thirsty Desert: Again, the Written in Waters cover art. The lyrics also occasionally invoke desert imagery. This theme later carried over to Virus (The Agent That Shapes the Desert).
- Trope Maker: They essentially serve as the founders of avant-garde black metal.
- Uncommon Time: All over their work.
- Word Salad Lyrics: Very abstract and poetic. This is a bit of a Creator Thumbprint for Carl-Michael Eide, as his lyrics in Virus and Aura Noir tend to have similar qualities.
- "Witches painted me,Like the mysteries created me...Like where the poets breathe,I were woven into blasphemies."
