I’ll be honest. I’ve never really listened to Enslaved before today. I’ve
always been aware of the hype that surrounds them from the more mature black
metal fans (by mature I mean those who aren’t completely ignorant, racist, socially
worthless, backwards, right-wing, elitist pigs who listen to nothing but Burzum
and claim all other metal is shit) whenever a tour or a new album
is announced, but it’s always sort of passed me by. It wasn’t until earlier
this week, when browsing the Play.com sales, I saw their latest album, RIITIIR, and suddenly began think I might
be missing out on something. RIITIIR was waiting for me when I got
home today along with Winterson’s Time I
(which I’ll try and do a review of if I get the time at the weekend.) The
hour-and-a-bit confirmed to me my worst fears: I indeed had been missing out.
RIITIIR really is something quite
different. Naïvely, I expected something along the lines of Gorgoroth,
Satyricon maybe, something more traditional, with simpler black metal
progressive elements, but with a more developed and refined sprinkling. Instead
Enslaved provide this incredible journey that takes the vicious, brutal black
metal from twenty years ago and essentially beats it to pulp with up with
massive Mastodon-like riffage and radicalness but keeps it all under close
control with progressive power perhaps equitable to giants such as Opeth.
Enslaved really have made something quite brilliant.
The best way I can think of describing RIITIIR is as grown-up black metal.
Although it still calls back to its violent and aggressive early 90s roots in
songs such as ‘Roots Of The Mountain’ and ‘Materal’, the album encompasses a
much wider, more touching and engrossing feel. Enslaved’s RIITIIR is wonderfully diverse: one moment the listener is
surrounded by epic blast-beats and huge, brutal riffs, and the next moment
everything has seamlessly and perfectly mellowed, allowing room and blissful
adaption for a sullen clean section where acoustic guitars play out incredible
melodies and beautiful, slow ideas before taking off gracefully into a
hard-and-fast section with even more intertwining, persisting riffs and big
drum lines, but accompanied by an incredible clean vocal line.
What’s more, there
are some really great guitar leads on this album. Never at any point though do
Enslaved seem to use a solo for the sake of using a solo like so many bands do;
the notes simply drift in and out, up and down with the rest of the song with
such skill and finesse that you hardly even notice. It just feels so right.
The album moves
like water, faultlessly adapting and easily moving from one section to another.
Tempos, sections and rhythms rise and fall in sophisticated and intelligent
waves as the album takes the listener on its journey through everything black
metal is, was, and could be. RIITIIR perfectly
blends elements of traditional black metal and Enslaved’s own advanced, progressive
genius as if the two were always meant to be together, synthesizing black metal’s
fury with their musical majesty to create a truly epic album.
Best Song: Veilburner – 9.5/10
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