Metal Reviews

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Well we agree on the last track. 10 albums have been released since Monumension, incredible! So I preferred Utgard and even E to this but the larger point is I never return to so many of these 10 albums. Isa, parts of Below the Lights and Ritiir, and of course In Times is all I really need from this version of the band. Only so much 'Avant-garde Extreme Metal with a Progressive-Melodic edge' that I can take. I saw you made Vertebrae your album of the year so I'll give it a listen again soon.

Thanks for the review, Zad. I would have to agree with you on the last two tracks being awkward and out of tune, a matter that is rather out of character for Enslaved. It seems they were simply gluing things together, either out of the urge to release a new recording, or simply out of laziness to write a more coherent album. Either way, the recording is an overall terrific release, if not completely up-par with an already remarkable existing discography.

I certainly hope the next release will make up for the mistakes made on this release, and perhaps ideally, with one or two more properly developed songs that are much more cohesive. I find this release and the one previous to this album, to be rather short, and a bit under accomplished. Something Enslaved have never leaned towards, until this point in their careers. I strongly suspect that we have to leave room for everyone's mistakes, somewhere along the way, and this release, Enslaved are making a few mishaps, if not outright errors. Forgivable, and even forgettable, if they make up for it.

Not that anyone cares but Vertebrae still does little for me. However, I really enjoyed a revisit to Axioma and was pleasantly surprised at how heavy/fast some track were.

I greatly enjoy "Vertebrae." I think it is earthly and highly psychedelic with many many nuances. We must remember that Enslaved became increasingly more influenced by the psychedelic movement in England, as evident by their deeply layered and textured music, by their guitars, effects, synths, sounds and various noises by bands amongst others such as: Kreftwerk, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, etc., --Rush and Tool are major influences, too.

Axioma is a classic.

I'll add an another horns up for Axioma. Strikes the right balance between the fire of old and the textured progressive sounds of the new.

Still need to listen to this one. Utgard had some questionable psychedelic interludes that didn't quite work on some songs but was an overall solid release. The barrel chested cleans from the drummer in particular was a wonderful addition.