Mind Noise Network
Enslaved - In Times
By Chris Alexander - 6 March 2015
In Times is the 13th full length album from Enslaved, the Norwegian metal band formed in the early 90s. Normally, when Norwegian Extreme metal is talked about it's discussing the colourful legacy left by the Oslo black metal scene; church burnings, suicides, murders – Norway has had the lot.
Luckily, not all bands are born the same and the stereotypes of Norwegian extreme metal do Enslaved a disservice. While taking elements from their contemporaries they broke the mould; adding the progressive and experimental to their sound and shifting away from the misanthropic tone of their genres roots.
After 25 years the core of the band has remained intact with Ivar Bjørnson and Grutle Kjellson, guitar and bass respectively, steering the way. In that time their sound has evolved, bringing keyboards and clean vocals to the front and flicking between a dark and light tone in a similar fashion to their Scandinavian counterparts, Opeth. While they have kept the growling, rasping vocals associated with black metal bands like Mayhem and Emperor, their lyrics have never strayed to the satanic, preferring to stick to dreamlike, surreal themes.
So after 25 years and 12 albums, how does In Times fit into the Enslaved legacy?
In short, In Times is a more than worthy edition to the Enslaved catalogue. The six tracks all have the distinguishing characteristics of Enslaved; heavy hitting guitar and bass attacks countered by soaring clean vocal and keyboard passages which help transcend their extreme metal roots. Enslaved are unconstrained by the variety of musical styles that they neatly slot into each track's interlude; you’ll be kept guessing, you’ll be kept interested.
Thurisaz Dreaming kicks the album off with a classic Enslaved interchange, the verse switching from clean and distorted vocals and the song building in an organised fashion. That is until you're seamlessly introduced to a head nodding, bass driven groove riff which wills you to keep listening.
The opener sets the scene for what you’ll get throughout, each track bringing its own something to the mix; Nauthir Bleeding with its clean, almost ethereal, guitar intro punctured by minor notes, slowing building to a dramatic shift to the extreme. One Thousand Years Of Rain is driven by one of the more catchy riffs on the album, later breaking into some fantastic style Nordic chanting with accompanying single note guitar solo ambiance.
The album ends with Daylight, a fitting closing track introduced by a heavy hitting guitar riff overlaid by slowly building choral accompaniment, jam packed with the epic tone Enslaved like to weave into their music.
Special mention has to be made to the albums recording and production. Enslaved have recorded live which blends the instruments and gives the album a fuller sound. Tracks are separated by ambient sound which keeps the listener engaged whilst giving them breathing room after their 8 minute epics. All this is perfectly suits the natural, earthy atmosphere Enslaved have put their efforts into creating.
As with most progressive, extreme metal, this isn’t music for a short car journey; it’s for sitting down in a comfortable chair with a decent pair of headphones, a glass of red wine and your full attention. For this, Enslaved reward you with a dip into their expertly crafted, immersive world of ferocity and fantasy. Never breaking the mould of their distinctive sound yet demonstrating their musical range, In Times is an album worthy of the Enslaved catalogue and well worth putting your time into.
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