Victhor The Viking | 
12 27th, 2009| 
Enslaved is another band that came out of the second wave of black metal that has gone beyond the standard black metal riffs and add something more to their music. If you listen to a their older albums, there has been an evolution to a more progressive song structure and sound and lyrical content. Where the songs on their earlier albums were straight forward telling of the Norse mythology, the later albums are a more inner search and understanding of it’s meaning of the mythology.
2001’s Monumension in my opinion is one of Enslaved’s finest albums to date. I feel that this one was the first of there albums that is straight ahead prog metal. The mellotron is one of the highpoints to this album. The sound on this album could have easily come from a Led Zeppelin/King Crimson era band. The first song, Convoys to Nothingness starts with a rockin’ and ends with a 4 minute meditation in time and space. I have had to pleasure of hearing track 2, The Voices, live and I would have to say it is one of my favorite songs of all time. Three major highlights of this album are Hollow Inside and the bonus track Sigmundskvadet. Hollow inside is just a spaced out truely unique song that takes you on a trip across the cosmos. Hollow Inside along with Sigmundskvadet feature vocals by Norwegian punk rock pioneer Trygve Mathisesen. Sigmundskvadet is an actually old Norse chant that Trygve learned word for word from a Norse tribe that live on an island off the cost of Norway. What a way to start of a decade of metal for Enslaved.
Vertebrae is a perfect way to close out a decade worth of music. The production alone is incredible! Cato Bekkevold’s drumming is superb. It adds so much dimension to each track. Vertebrae has a great balance between Herbrand Larsen’s clean vocals and Grutle Kjellson’s growl. Herbrand has a Eric Woolfson (Alan Parsons Project) feel to it. Vertebrae also takes the listener on a journey. But this journey is more of an adventure. From the start the listener travels on fast pasted romp through the elements. My favorite song on the album is New Dawn. Cato’s ride on that is spastic and unique.
What a way to begin a decade and end it. Thank you Enslaved!
