My apologies in advance, as this will sound like it’s being read by Sean Bean, but there is no other way to say it: one does not simply review the new Enslaved album. First, there’s the initial impression. Then, the revisiting of the band’s extensive (and exciting) back catalogue, dating all the way back to 1993’s Hordanes Land split EP with Emperor. This is followed by a lot of assimilation, comparison and general gnashing of teeth at just how damn clever this ahead-of-the-curve Norwegian institution is. Let’s not forget how they made use of clean vocals in black metal long before it became acceptable behaviour; nor how effectively they leveraged the process Bathory began on 1991’s Twilight of the Gods in blending Viking tradition with black metal fury. And that’s not even touching on the...
