Ulver keyboardist Tore Ylwizaker has died at the age of 54.
The Norwegian experimental collective, which Ylwizaker joined in 1997, announced the news of his death on social media yesterday (August 19) (original post below).
Tore passed away on the night of August 16, his 54th birthday.
The cause of his death is unknown.
Ylwizaker joined Ulver just before the recording of the 1998 album “Themes From William Blake’s The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell”. The record marked the band’s shift from a folk/black metal sound into more avant-garde territory, rooted in progressive rock and industrial. Ulver later went on to experiment with elements of post-rock, jazz, ambient and synthpop as well.
Ylwizaker stayed with Ulver right up until his death, which made him the band’s second longest-serving member, right behind frontman and co-founder Kristoffer Rygg. His last full-length album with the band was 2021’s “Scary Muzak”: a collection of synthpop pieces inspired by, and directly covering, the work of filmmaker and musician John Carpenter.
Ylwizaker was also actively involved in the band’s recently released singles Ghost Entry, A City In The Skies, Nocturne #1, Forgive Us and Hollywood Babylon. All of those tracks will eventually become part of the band’s 14th studio album, which is coming out bit by bit. Every time a new single drops, a piece of the album drops with it.
Besides playing keyboards, Ylwizaker was also a producer and co-producer on the Ulver albums “Star Of Ash’s Iter.Viator.” (2002) and “When’s You Are Silent” (2008). He engineered the vocals on the track Homecoming from Ihsahn’s debut “The Adversary” (2006).
