ALBUM REVIEW: Utgard – Enslaved

While ENSLAVED are often counted among the progenitors of the second wave, they quickly distinguished themselves from others in the Norwegian black metal scene with a sound which drew extensively from BATHORY’s later and less celebrated albums.  Long-form compositions and convention-defying song structures soon emerged, as the Norwegians brought progressive influences to bear on their quintessentially Nordic   style of metal. By the turn of the millennium, ENSLAVED had become a fixture within extreme metal, and while many of their peers would waver or succumb to new trends, Ivar Bjørnson and Grutle Kjellson continued to meticulously refine their craft.

Accolades, critical acclaim and chart-success soon followed, and the band went from strength to strength with a series of increasingly ambitious albums. Unperturbed by recent personnel changes, ENSLAVED sailed ahead with E: an album which introduced the band to an even wider audience. The departure of Cato Bekkevold saw longstanding producer Iver Sandøy making his ENSLAVED drumming debut and finally, after some considerable delay, Utgard has finally arrived.

ENSLAVED have never shied away from esoteric themes and surreal narratives, but with Utgard they have surely surpassed themselves. “Utgard can be countless things; an image, metaphor, an esoteric ‘location’, a word on its own…” we are told. It is not so much a place as a state of mind – the surreal depths of our consciousness – where ideas and thoughts convulse and contort, producing in us both wild imagination and uncontrollable madness: this is an album which only Bjørnson  and Kjellson together could have conceived. “The album is a journey into and through Utgard … It is not about avoiding fear of the pitchblack darkness (…), but to go into the darkness itself.” Navigating Utgard is perilous, to be sure, but it’s hard to imagine more suitable companions for the journey than ENSLAVED.

Fires In The Dark invites you in, before you are quenched in the bewildering Jettegryta (or ‘Giant’s Cauldron’). From there, the album has the atmosphere of a circumambulation; approaching the same place or idea from many perspectives. Singles Homebound and Urjotun are notable landmarks on the journey – harkening back to a more unassuming time in ENSLAVED’s career, circa Vertebrae and Axioma Ethica Odini – but Utgard is not defined by any particular moment. Every peak of intensity is soothed by a pensive pool of reflection: this is nuanced song-writing, and thoroughly listenable to boot. Utgard is perhaps strongest in its final moments, where the BATHORY-meets-PINK FLOYD epithet becomes most relevant.

The creative partnership of Bjørnson  and Kjellson is as fruitful today as it was nearly thirty years ago: musically eloquent and conceptually rich, Utgard is a characterful album which combines progressive and extreme elements with elegance. Their spontaneous songwriting and mature musicianship has produced an impressive body of work which lies on the precipice of brilliance. As they continue to bring the mysteries and wisdom of Norse mythology to bear upon the world around them, ENSLAVED remind us that they truly are skalds fit for the 21st Century: forever forging their own path, Utgard is an exceptional landmark on their journey.

Rating: 8/10

Utgard is set for release on October 2nd via Nuclear Blast Records. 

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