Enslaved

black (early)/prog(later)
norwegian

im surprised there isnt a topic about them already
favorite album: below the lights
favorite song: havenless

dr.nutslap wrote:

I'm surprised there isnt a topic about them already

Here are so many topics missing.^^

Below the Lights is a good album, but Frost also...

Got Vertebrae and I love it, gonna grab either Ruun or Isa next.

no thread!?! wieeeeeeerd

anyway, got "Below the lights" and "frost" and there both not bad

im listening to "as fire swept clean the earth"...havent listened to these guys in a while...must dig em up

Possibly my favourite band in recent times.

Below The Lights is a masterpiece, Monumension is an outstanding grower and Isa and Ruun are very, very decent.

Infact any album they have done is pretty much brilliant, although it's taking me longer to get into Vertabrae.

Below The Lights is a good album. I liked Frost and Vertebrae too.

Enslaved are utter gods, every album of this is a masterpiece, I am a almost as much an Enslaved fanboi as I am Meshuggah.

Terrofom wrote:

Possibly my favourite band in recent times.

Below The Lights is a masterpiece, Monumension is an outstanding grower and Isa and Ruun are very, very decent.

Infact any album they have done is pretty much brilliant, although it's taking me longer to get into Vertabrae.

I´m with you as far as Enslaved is concerned
Ruun and Isa are one of my favourites, but I love Vertebrae the most of all their recordings.
That CD was just growing on me from the very first time I heard it and was nearly a bit dissapointed back then... A band that produces magic heavy melodies!

Vertebrae took a while to grow on me, I was disappointed at first but after a couple of weeks I was hooked back on the Enslaved goodness.

Currently my favourite metal band. Isa is my favourite, Ruun is great too. All of them are quite solid, though I've found Eld rather weak and dragging on for many parts. I find that problematic in a lot of the band's more straightforward songs, and even in some more progressive ones, but it has become better with time.

I love their latter stuff most, say Monumension onwards but I still enjoy listening to the older stuff every once in a while.

793 (Slaget om Lindisfarne) = ultimate viking song!!!

jonbob wrote:

dr.nutslap wrote:

I'm surprised there isnt a topic about them already

Here are so many topics missing.^^

Below the Lights is a good album, but Frost also...

That's due to the forum being less than 2 months old.

Slaytanic wrote:

I love their latter stuff most, say Monumension onwards but I still enjoy listening to the older stuff every once in a while.

Exactly.
It´s not that I don´t like their older albums, but the more "prog" they get, the more I like them. And I can´t explain this myself, because I am really no prog-fan, I prefer the sound of Enslaved today to the old one...

Maybe, because nowadays we have thousands of bands that are wannabe viking/pagan and I just got fed up with that sound?

You could be right about that. Do you think they are a BM version of Pink Floyd, they are progressive enough to be.

Slaytanic wrote:

You could be right about that. Do you think they are a BM version of Pink Floyd, they are progressive enough to be.

In that they are really simple but still progressive?
Sorry, but Pink Floyd is about the most simple and poppy of the popular seventies Prog bands. But they're good, so I don't really care.
Really strong influence on the guitars though.

To get back to Sigyn's post, though, it's because they added layers. It's not just taking up progressive sounds, but progressing from the Viking metal formula. Take for example the intro of Queen of Night - that's pure progression from a simple formula. It was necessary to add these layers of complexity to keep on being interesting. Take any song from Frost, or any other album up to Mardraum, no matter how epic they are, neither of them has the substance to cross the five minute border. Even songs like 793 or Yggdrasil, and I know this will be counted as heresy, are too long for what they are. The songs from Mardraum, and especially Monumension, on do. Furthermore, the keyboards now really do a great job at creating an atmosphere, without the guitars doing anything.

Trial_And_Error wrote:

To get back to Sigyn's post, though, it's because they added layers. It's not just taking up progressive sounds, but progressing from the Viking metal formula. Take for example the intro of Queen of Night - that's pure progression from a simple formula. It was necessary to add these layers of complexity to keep on being interesting. Take any song from Frost, or any other album up to Mardraum, no matter how epic they are, neither of them has the substance to cross the five minute border. Even songs like 793 or Yggdrasil, and I know this will be counted as heresy, are too long for what they are. The songs from Mardraum, and especially Monumension, on do. Furthermore, the keyboards now really do a great job at creating an atmosphere, without the guitars doing anything.

Thank you very much for this post, Trial_And_Error! *thumbs up*
You summed it up in a perfect way, from the first to the last sentence - it´s exactly what I think about Enslaved. Exactly the fact they developed their sound to what it is on "Vertebrae", makes the band sound kind of "mature" (sorry, stupid word, but can´t find a better one atm ).

So, how do you like "Vertebrae"?

I'm seeing Enslaved on monday, they're opening for Opeth (Yeah, weird, I know).

I didn't mind what I heard of them a while ago, should be a good show.

Man that is my dream to see Enslaved live.

Enslaved and Opeth sounds great. I'd watch such show.

Sigyn84 wrote:

So, how do you like "Vertebrae"?

I liked it a lot. They got softer again, but I think that didn't hurt the music, and neither did them breaking up the monotonous riffing more. One thing I really noticed, though, is that I can't notice the switch from Ruun to Vertebrae when I listen to them in a bundle, even less than the change from Isa to Ruun. It won't replace Isa as my favourite, but it makes a good album to fade out the bundle.

Nisstyre 56 wrote:

I'm seeing Enslaved on monday, they're opening for Opeth (Yeah, weird, I know).

I didn't mind what I heard of them a while ago, should be a good show.

I'm hoping when I see there'll be a lot of Vertebrae live cause that album is just mindblowingly good. Live 'Ground' and 'Clouds' would be intense.

Also got Ruun and Isa both on the way to ma house.

Over the weekend I have been going through the Enslaved discography from start to finish, so far I am up to Isa, Enslaved are an amazing band. They have been solid from the very beginning.

Enslaved are one of my favorite metal bands. I love their mix of black and progressive metal.... very original band. I would say that "Below The Lights" is probably my favorite album from the band, but all of their stuff is simply amazing! They never disappoint!

I know im in a minority here but monumension is my fav

Bump for the awesomeness of Enslaved, Below the Lights and Ruun are amazing, they`re one of my favorite metal bands