Customer Reviews

Isa

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ah, the new Enslaved album is finally here and was well worth the wait! All I have to say about this album is that Enslaved have furthered their progressive take on black metal, adding yet even more melody and clean vocals and creating near perfection. It's really quite amazing how Enslaved have evolved throughout the years, starting their career with a split with the legendary Emperor and now this...and they still have yet to dissapoint. I have a feeling this will be one of my top 10 album picks of 2005 at the end of the year. Cheers.

ENSLAVED - Isa
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Continuing in the steps of `Below the Lights', Enslaved return with another progressive, black-metal masterpiece. Seldom do I do play by play of the tracks, but this album more then deserves and accurate description.

After the opening intro the album launches into Lunar Force, a song with trance-inducing guitar riffs, precise drumming and subtle piano with tortured screams adding the sense of urgency... The song gracefully progresses to the five minute mark then is followed by about 40 seconds of eerie synth feedback, then slams aggressively back into the opening riff then fades out with some beautiful piano patterns.
The title track, Isa has a similar hypnotic guitar pattern, yet this time blending the screams with some clean channel vocals... A very passionate track for being a little over 3:30.
Ascension opens with some odd ambience and by the 1:15 mark sounds like King Crimson has gone Black Metal. (I believe I even heard some tambourine...) Singing is strong in this track, sounding at times almost like Mike Patton from the darker FNM days.
Bounded by Allegiance opens brilliantly with organ, chugging guitars, and building drum beat. The 2 minute intro flows into a subtle softer part before unleashing some older influenced melodic, black metal. This song continually progresses with lots of variations (Both faster and slower) throughout this track and even throws a classic prog guitar solo to close out this track.
Violent Dawning is a furious track, likely the most consistently fast track on the album. It showcases some really nice drum work, both kickers and his symbol work. Also for being such an aggressive track they do not forget the dark melodic beauty... The last 0:40 with the haunting vocals and keys sounds amazing. (One of the most moving parts on the album...)
Enslaved is has a knack at grabbing your attention right from the get-go, Track 7, Return to Yggdrasil, is no exception. Opening with powerful riffs and venomous vocals, however by one minute into the song it has quickly unfolded into dark majestic beauty. Overall a very beautiful track...
Secrets of the Flesh opens with a very progressive rock sounding riff with what sounds like wind blowing (Creates a really cool atmosphere...) This riff builds for the majority of this track, staying instrumental throughout the 3:40.
The 12 minute Reogenesis is the magnum opus of the album, opening with some softer beauty before going into a powerful, old-school BM riff. This songs flows and builds throughout the entire 12 minutes... showing as much beauty as brutality and is filled with some great guitar work... This fades into the outro track which is just shy of one minute.

Amazing Album from start to finish easily on of the Top Metal Releases in 2005 (looks like I will have to update my Best of 2005 list)
Though Black-Metal is a genre I'm really just beginning to explore I can tell you that this CD is so much more... At times reminding me of Amorphis or maybe even Katatonia. Also, they are comparable to the genre-bending Opeth, though they really sound nothing alike.

Just some food for thought but I wonder if they could get Steve Wilson (Porcupine Tree) to produce their next album.
[Actually I just read the other day they just completed recording their latest album which I believe is going to be called `Ruun' which I think is coming out in May?]

Favorite Songs: Violent Dawning, Ascension, Lunar Force and Reogenesis
-5 Star


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Enslaved has truly done it again. There are influences here from nearly every style of metal (read: Metal, not the s**t on the radio) in history, and plenty of innovation and technical mastery to propel this album into history.

--DISCLAIMER--
The "tr00" and "kvlt" crowd is going to hate this. But then again, Isa is not for you - go listen to Det Som Engang Var, on repeat, for the rest of your life, since that's exactly what all the cookie-cutter "kvlt" bands are trying to sound like anyway.
--END DISCLAIMER--

For people who are ready to step out of 1994, Enslaved has crafted here for you an epic slab of forward-thinking metal that holds to its roots yet reaches out in several different directions, all without ever feeling stale or sacrificing their trademark songwriting excellence.

Just make sure you give it several listens before you try to sort it out in your head - it may sound a little more accessible than their prior work, but it's also more complex than any of their albums to date.

If Swervedriver made black metal, it might sound like this. Whether or not British shoegazers influenced Enslaved, the note choices, harmonies, and sonic density here recall "Mezcal Head." While standard black metal elements are present, such as double bass drums, keyboards, and the occasional shrieking vocal, Enslaved has carved out its own unique, abstract sound. Curiously, the album is never really heavy, fast, or evil. Riffs chug along with the aforementioned shoegazer vibe, punctuated by well-placed clean vocals. The twists and turns that do occur are organic and natural, suggesting a `70's prog-rock influence; in terms of prog to rock ratio, Voivod comes to mind. This is not the most immediate listen, but repeated spins reveal a rich, masterful complexity.

Amazing, as expected. This thing needs more reviews! I was sort of hoping for this progressive procession coming from "Below the Lights", which is also an amazing progressive-black metal masterpiece. "Isa" being slightly different from "Below..." has still taken a step forward in a progressive sense. It's hard to imagine that this bleak repetitive genre (black metal-which is what it's known & loved for) can be hypnotic and droning, yet this album still provide the listener with a sense of "moving forward". I don't know of any other band off the top of my head who can pull that off. Enslaved defintely have this style signatured, and props to them for that!

Other notes: Abbath and Nocturno Culto appear on this album to lay down some raunchy vocals! Sounds great. Keyboards weave in and out of the foreground during most of the songs, bringing you in and out of vision (what you're concentrating on in the song). One second you're focusing on the guitars, then the astral atmosphere carries you away from it, then back in. Extremely well recorded and produced. Bleak AND Progressive...chew on that for a while. Then go buy this album.

Enslaved have created yet another unique and powerful record filled with odd time signatures, chords and unexpected spine chilling melodic twists. Clean vocals are mixed very effectively with black metal growls. The guitars and drums occasionally remind me of this band's black metal past but I wouldn't call this black metal at all. Rather this is some sort of progressive hybrid that has roots in black metal and Norwegian folk but goes far beyond the typical stylings of either genre. Since Maudraum, Enslaved have gotten better or at the very least moved forward with every album. Unlike a band like Darkthrone who've tried to maintain their allegience to the rules of "true" black metal, Enslaved are not content to make the same album over and over again or remain within prescribed musical confines. Not to cut on Darkthrone, they do what they do very well, but Enslaved are much more adventurous.

Isa wasn't as immediately enjoyable or accessible as Maudraum or Below The Lights, rather it took a little time for me to get my head around it. But once I gave it the requisite time for it to sink in, damn. Isa is some of the most unique metal out there these days, a stand out release.

Enslaved bring a lot to the table with their latest offering. Here we have an incredibly dark album that is still so full of color. The introduction sets the atmosphere for what you're about to get yourself into. There is some very soft humming for a few seconds and suddenly it kicks into a mid-paced riff with tortured screeching. It builds up for a minute then pummels you with a powerful wall of sound. Doesn't that sound dramatic? This album is chock full of drama. I almost feel safe to compare some moments of this to Ulver's first album. I know a lot of purists who would disagree with that statement, but the musicianship is there with Enslaved. These guys are good. If you're ready to see the lengths Black Metal can be taken to, by all means, pick this up.

After so much cornucopian splendour weaving such a wide gamut of emotion and dark colours to the spectrum of brutal majesty, one who can truly appreciate the depth and breadth of this band can only be left speechless under and after the weight of such conceptually breathtaking metallic tapestry. Opeth are the classical masters, continually refining and taking measured, guarded steps into experimentation, and Meshuggah are the scientific vanguard innovators, but Enslaved are the psychedelic cosmonauts, wormholing above and below in the spirit of a heavy Floyd. Plumbers par-excellent of death perception and Black Light Trippin...

personally, I like this less than the previous 2 masterpieces - Below the Lights being more cohesively grand and Monumension being a stunning deparature of near-Damnation proportions - I find more harsh moments here, sacrificing flow for stuttered attack, but to hear the focused precision of "Isa" and the instro is fistpumping, headbanging, heartpalpitating pleasure of the purest metal form. And in the other direction, "Return to Yggdrasill" is among the most beautiful moments they've visited. This band can do no wrong. They have alchemized Black-Folk-Psychedelick into a patented, mutating formula and with it, are always finding new terrain and astral landscape for us to explore. They go places others wouldn't even think.

...But I'd give the award for best Enslaved album to Ruun. Second would be their latest, Vertebrae. ~THEN~, I'd say Isa. The eponymous title track is certainly among the best tracks they've laid to, um, hard drive, but I think the other albums have more consistency, and are a bit catchier overall. Perhaps therein lies the rub... not many people want their black metal catchy, but I think it is a preferential quality in all music. Other tracks to check out: they rhythmically complex "Bounded By Allegiance" and the haunting "Violent Dawning." If you're already on this page, though, you've come to a good place. Enslaved are the still-standing prize fighters of the original "second" wave of Norwegian Black Metal. While their original peers have fallen into self-parody or arrested development, they have continued to innovate and morph while still retaining many of the qualities which lend to authenticity. This was the first album where their inimitable form of complex clean / dirty, progy / riffy, black and white metal came to fruition - let's hope their perch atop (or near the top) of the thinking man's black metal isn't soon relegated. I guess I should also mention Satyricon if you're looking for an even more riff-tastic version of black ('n roll) metal (although not nearly as complex). They're still punching, too.

The last "Enslaved" album I heard was "Eld" probably about 12 years ago so this new style came as a surprise when I first heard the opening riff to "Lunar Force." I'm older then I was back when I first heard Eld so gone are the days where I feel a band absolutely has to stay true to a certain style or risk being a sell out and musically I'm quite open minded so I actually liked this one. It's slower and more hypnotic then the old school stuff they used to do and that isn't all a bad thing.

I was surprised at the different melodies and tones that come out in the background in almost every song if you listen to it with some discernment. On the final track before the Outro you get elements of slow rock, metal and even some Pink Floyd style guitar solos to listen to. To hear that a band like this is willing to try out some new things rather then putting out the same early 90's Viking Metal album over and over again is something I appreciate. Don't get me wrong, I like bands like Haemorrhage that do the same thing for a decade but I'm also open to bands that are willing to step out of what they know and explore. Isa isn't a perfect album by all means but it works for me and I suggest it to anyone who is willing to listen to a seasoned band explore some uncharted waters. If all you like is the old stuff(Hordanes Land-Eld) then you may not like this at all but if you keep an open mind you might find something special here.