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Enslaved - Utgard CD (album) cover

UTGARD

Enslaved

Tech/Extreme Prog Metal


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siLLy puPPy
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
PSIKE, JRF/Canterbury, P Metal, Eclectic
4 stars Few metal bands keep me interested over the long haul so that i eagerly await their next release more than Norway's ENSLAVED. This extreme metal band from Bergen has been slaying the metal world like a band of restless Vikings for almost 30 years now after having formed in Haugesund, Norway and having delivered 17 albums to date with an uncanny ability to maintain a high quality of product with only a a very few hiccoughs such as the somewhat generic "Blodhemn" or the stuck in a rut "In Times" but even those albums weren't bad at all and simply paled in comparison to the stronger albums that surrounded them. Debuting with the first release "Vikingligr Veldi," ENSLAVED has been instrumental in straddling the world of black metal, Viking metal and folk metal while adding increasing elements of progressive rock all the while finding innovative ways of changing things up just enough to keep their music fresh yet familiar.

Following the strong 2017 release "E," the band returns with its 17th full-length studio album UTGARD which continues the never-ending themes and stories mined from Norse mythology. This anglicized term from the original Útgarðar refers to a formidable giant featured in the myths where Thor and Loki compete in rigged competitions held in the Outyards. It seems ENSLAVED are in no danger of running out of inspiration from these ancient tales and musically speaking sound as strong as ever. With a stronger focus on traditional folk melodic developments and a more egalitarian mix of clean and growly vocals, UTGARD is perhaps ENSLAVED's most successful attempt at fusing the black, Viking and folk sounds with classic elements of 70s prog which includes beautiful atmospheric sweeps, keyboard drenched melodic scaffolding and occasional symphonic orchestrated lushness. While time signature complexities seem to have been tamped down, a few unorthodox angularities find their way into the mix. UTGARD in many ways focuses more on the melodic stampede of sound rather than sprawling prog behemoths and looks back to ideas gestated from the 90s along with more modern musical developments.

The opening "Fires In The Dark" wastes no time setting the tone of UTGARD with folk melodies, ritualistic chants and classic folk metal accoutrements before unleashing the black metal bombast which has been a staple of ENSLAVED's signature sound since day one. "Jettegryta" showcases a much stronger sense of battle call backings in the form of keyboard excesses that create a perfect counterpoint to the extreme heavy metal riffing which at times such as in "Sequence" harken to the classic metal years of grooves mined from Judas Priest and Iron Maiden only teased into splendiferous Viking epic tales that include lush atmospheric extras and the call and response vocal efforts of the legendary growls of Grutle Kjellson with the suave clean contrast of Håkon Vinje. With the prog workouts are less and the metal gallops turned up a few notches, UTGARD is noticeable different than prior efforts from the start and remain that way til the very last notes of the spooky melodic touches of "Distant Seasons" and with a classic LP album running time of only shy of 45 minutes doesn't outstay its welcome.

While prog has been a prominent feature of ENSLAVED's agenda dating back to 2001's "Monumension" when it became the dominant feature, on UTGARD this team of musical Vikings tends to look past the mere cliche constructs of the past and forges ahead into different prog related territories most noticeably on the the Krautrock inspired "Urjotun" which follows the even stranger two-minute "Utgardr" which teases out a Norse poetic prose accompanied by a creepy summoning of spectral sounds that emerge from places you'd probably best avoid. On "Urjotun" however ENSLAVED delves into the world of Neu! inspired motorik and adapts it nicely to UTGARD's already established folk / prog / black metal touches. Songs also excel in brevity with only two exceeding six minutes.

With so many long established metal acts falling into the expected traps of burning out, ENSLAVED never fails to surprise me with yet another excellent release that sounds like no other even within their own canon. While few ENSLAVED albums reach the height of perfection, almost all race past the excellence mark with ease. UTGARD is absolutely no exception at all and changes things up in unexpected ways once again as this band sallies forth into its 30 year mark of Teutonic rage wrapped up in musical sui generis. With this 17th album ENSLAVED proves once again why they remain firmly perched near the top of the metal hierarchy as they inch closer to status of patron sainthood in metal circles as they seem utterly incapable of substandard musical deliveries for even a scant moment of time. It's really hard for me to pick a favorite album by this great band since each one excels on its own merits and never wimps out despite its members getting on with their years and the greatest gift of all is that the flame of creativity only grows brighter with each release. Perhaps UTGARD will not entice new blood into the clan but it is guaranteed to please long time followers who relish the crafty balance of what came before with new innovation. ENSLAVED has another winner on its hands.

Report this review (#2453651)
Posted Saturday, October 3, 2020 | Review Permalink
4 stars The latest studio album by Enslaved is a great one. The albums concept and namesake is a mythical place in Norse mythology called Utgard. The songs on the album all center around that theme, with the giants being a metaphor for "uncontrollable forces in nature and in your own mind," as said by frontman Grutle Kjellson to Apple Music. The band plays its signature style of black metal and progressive metal on this album, which is a perfect soundtrack for the overall theme of the album. Other instruments such as the keyboard and the acoustic guitar are used, adding to the albums sound. One thing I love about Enslaved is how they keep to their black metal roots, with the guitar sound and technique, and the vocal technique, but they always find out a way to expand and renew their sound into something unique and different with each record. I recommend this album to anyone who is getting into Enslaved, such as myself, or die-hard fans of the band who would love the album no matter what.
Report this review (#2454466)
Posted Tuesday, October 6, 2020 | Review Permalink
4 stars I have had an on-off relation with Enslaved since their 2010's Axioma Ethica Odini. Of that album, I appreciated the ambition to combine progressive elements with a pure and uncompromised form of Viking black metal. But I have always felt that the end-result of that album is a bit too rough for my liking and so I only followed their subsequent releases tangentially and without paying too much attention. Until Utgard, that is. Fast forward to 2020 and Enslaved might have just released my favorite extreme progressive metal album of the year.

To these ears, the 9 songs of Utgard are very exciting, a refreshing and inspiring combination of black metal ferociousness, atmospheric metal accessibility, and sublime progressive extravagance. I may not be as acquainted with Enslaved's past discography as other people here, but to me Utgard sounds like nothing else I have heard from this band or from other extreme prog metal bands in the scene. Sure, nowadays there are many bands that combine black/death metal with clean vocals and acoustic instrumentation and write multi-part and layered compositions that take inspiration from the progressive rock/metal of the past. But it is hard to find releases that combine the various influences in such a well-balanced way and excel to such a high degree in all the components that are brought into the mix. When Enslaved prog, they prog like a pro 70s band. When they push their melodic side to the fore, they can compete with the best atmospheric rock bands out there, like Sólstafir or Porcupine Tree. And when they unleash their ferocious blast beats and growls, well ? that just shows you why Enslaved have been sitting at the top of the black metal scene for over 25 years.

The album brims with ideas. The guitar work is fantastic, shifting between tight riffs, atmospheric leads, blazing solos and mesmerizing jams. The use of synths and sound effects is another great aspect of the album. Keyboard wizard Håkon Vinje joined Enslaved only in 2017 from eclectic prog-rockers Seven Impale, and I cannot help but think that his prog-rock background has played a key role in the development of Enslaved's sound on Utgard. At times the album sounds like progressive rock with black metal influences rather than black-metal-gone-prog, like for example on "Sequence", a superb piece of music that start as a groovy post-rock anthem (Sólstafir come to mind here), before delving into a crazy instrumental prog jam complete with tubular bells, to finally drift into an extended, lysergic Porcupine Tree-esque finale. One of the best tracks on the album, no doubt. The vocals are another high point of the album. Grutle Kjellson's growls are a wonder to listen to, raspy ad grim but so well enunciated that add a whole new dimension to the standard black/death metal growl routine. The clean vocals (provided by dummer Iver Sandøy and Håkon Vinje) are also amazing, of much higher quality than what one usually finds on black metal albums. They play a big role in selling the melodic/atmospheric side of the music so well. Listen for example to the chorus on "Homebound" or to "Distant Seasons". I also thought that the sound production (Jens Bogren / Tony Lindgren) is excellent, retaining the rawness of black metal but allowing enough sonic clarity to let you fully appreciate all the subtleties of the music.

Among the 9 tracks, the three "epics" ("Fires in the Dark", "Sequence" and "Flight of Thought of Memory") certainly stand out as beautifully dynamic, multi-part, multi-layered compositions that stretch out through several twists and turns, and allow the band to showcase the full breadth of their influences. "Homebound" is another great moment of the album. It is a more concise piece, but no less powerful, with a great balance between raw and melodic parts. "Urjotun" is the most daring track on the album, a Hawkwind-inspired cross between post-punk and krautrock that will surprise many fans of the band. "Distant Seasons" is a great closer with dreamy clean vocals and an almost alt/post rock atmosphere. I am not so fond of the other three tracks ("Jettegryta", "Storms of Utgard" and "Utgard", the latter being a short spoken-word ambient piece) that I find more standard and perhaps a tad less inspired.

If I had to find a small flaw with the album is that it somewhat lacks a development arc: its 9 tracks are excellent, but I do not get the sense of an arc that ties them together (musically, not necessarily conceptually) and gives the listener the feeling of having embarked on a "journey". In this sense, Utgard feels more like a collection of great tracks that lacks however the "full-length album experience" where the listener feels that the songs were intentionally composed to be heard together as a whole. But this does not detract too much from the joy and excitement I experience every time I listen to this album. Utgard is one of the best albums I stumbled upon in this 2020, and probably my favorite extreme prog metal album of the year.

(Originally written for The Metal Archives)

Report this review (#2487207)
Posted Wednesday, December 23, 2020 | Review Permalink
UMUR
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars "Utgard" is the 15th full-length studio album by Norwegian progressive black metal act Enslaved. The album was released through Nuclear Blast in October 2020, almost to the day 3 years after the release of "E (2017)". There´s been one lineup change since the predecessor as drummer Cato Bekkevold has been replaced by Iver Sandøy.

The material on "Utgard" continue in a similar progressive black metal style as the material on "E (2017)". It´s majestic, epic, melodic, dreamy, and occasionally a little more raw, but the band´s black metal roots aren´t heard that often. It´s predominantly lead vocalist/bassist Grutle Kjellson´s snarling raspy vocals and the occasional fast-paced tremolo riff and drumming, which point in that direction. Otherwise this is more a heavy and dark type of progressive metal. Kjellson´s raw vocals are complimented by Håkon Vinje´s clean vocals and harmonies. In addition to guitars, bass, and drums, the music also features an omnipresence of keyboards.

The tracks feature recognisable hooks, but are still adventurous and unconventionally structured. If you´re familiar with the last couple of releases by Enslaved, the overall sound and style of "Utgard" won´t come as a surprise, but there are couple of tracks which stand out. "Urjotun" is quite different from the remaining tracks as it´s basically a psychadelic/space rock track, and it´s refreshing to hear Enslaved try something new. Closing track "Distant Seasons" is an epic melodic track. I wouldn´t go as far as to call it a power ballad, but it feautures melodic clean vocal melodies and opens in a mellow fashion.

"Utgard" features a clear, detailed, and professional sounding production job. It´s a well sounding production, which suits the material perfectly, but personally I could have wished for a slightly less polished sound and a bit more rawness and heaviness. Enslaved are almost too nice these days and the unasuming clean vocals by Vinje aren´t particularly distinct sounding or interesting. He has a very regular sounding voice and therefore some of the clean vocal parts lack power and personality. Enslaved are in many ways the black metal equivalent to (progressive doom/death) Opeth, but regarding the clean vocals they are not up to par with Mikael Åkerfeldt´s powerful vocals and distinct sounding voice.

Other than the clean vocals being a bit bland, "Utgard" is another high quality release by Enslaved, and fans of the last couple of albums won´t be disappointed by the material featured here or by the high level performances by all involved. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)

Report this review (#2545810)
Posted Wednesday, May 26, 2021 | Review Permalink
kev rowland
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Crossover Team
4 stars As with virtually every band, Norwegian group Enslaved have been through line-up changes over the years, and indeed they now have a new drummer since the last album in Iver Sandøy, yet founders and childhood friends Ivar Bjørnson (guitars) and Grutle Kjellson (vocals) are still there, as they have been now for some 30 years (the band is completed by Arve Isdal, lead guitar, and Håkon Vinje, keyboards, vocals). They first came to prominence with a split release with Emperor all the way back in 1993, but like Ihsahn, they have now come a long way from those days, although even now they still look back to their roots. They may have been a death metal band at the beginning, but now they are firmly entrenched in a progressive metal vein of their own making.

Vocals switch between clean and gruff; the keyboards provide polish, the drums are all over the place, and the guitars never stop. They are incredibly tight, witness the ending to Homebound, which is chaotic and then suddenly it comes together and ends ? one would not expect that unless they were watching the timer run down. There are times when the music is more Viking in its approach, with a feeling of monks in a monastery, others it is almost pop while we also have touches of black metal as well as death, all coming together in a progressive metallic album which sounds at times as if it is different bands, not just one. The pop keyboard introduction to Urjotun could be leading us into pop, and when the New Order-style bass comes in, one could be forgiven for not knowing this was a metal band at all. But gradually the menace makes its presence felt, and it becomes something way more dramatic and frightening.

This is not an album for those who want every song to be in the same vein as the previous one, as these guys are pushing throughout. "We have albums that are steps and we have some that are milestones," Bjørnson says and Grutle nods in agreement. "I personally think 'Utgard' is a milestone". Only time will tell if they are correct, but for now, Enslaved are refusing to rest on what has gone before and with their 15th studio album are still pushing boundaries of what is expected of them.

Report this review (#2579609)
Posted Saturday, July 17, 2021 | Review Permalink
5 stars 4.6 About 30 years later, Enslaved keep surprising us. Even if they've found a formula and a signature (Ivar Bj'rnson's production, distortion and riffing, and Grutle Kjellson's demonic screams aren't deceiving about that), it cannot be said that 'RIITIIR' (2012) is the same as 'Vertebrae' (2008) and much less that 'Utgard' is a continuation to 'E'.

With a broader and less complex approach than the one presented in 'E', this can be, and should be, related to the concept behind 'Utgard' since it deals with the realm of dreams, where giants dwell and gods don't rule. However, this amplitude and liberation generate a multitude of immersive riffs ('Homebound') that create an enveloping and attractive atmosphere, a seductive device to enter the realm of the subconscious.

After a Nordic chant in the opener 'Fires in the Dark', Enslaved are really starting to provide evidence that they want to bring the lyrical and intellectual concept to the music itself with 'Jettegryta'. Much more than just mythology, even touching fields of psychology, tracks like these send abysmal sensations, all between peaks and valleys, an insane roller coaster that proves how good Enslaved are in building landscapes via sound.

And because I must justify why the band keeps surprising us, Enslaved's passion for psychedelic rock is unmistakable because of the keyboards, but especially because of the electronics on 'Urjotun', an unusual track in Enslaved's spectrum which has a post-punk drive and pays homage to bands like Kraftwerk and Hawkwind. Further on, with 'Storms of Utgard', there's still room and time for a Pink Floyd-ish solo, which, for the most attentive, is something less rare in Enslaved albums.

Over 44 minutes, these Nordics show us the ability to create progressive music in 4-6 minutes, in which the structures are different from each other, either with calmer parts with acoustic guitar or with robust avalanches of sound that bury us without warning, thus creating an experience of different sensations in a few, but intense, minutes.

Amidst this sensory whirlwind, which is heavy and tortuous, there's also a beautiful dichotomy between growls and clean vocals - the screams being related to the black metal side and the clean vocals to the melodic and progressive metal -, something that's not only discovered with vocals but also because of the way the songs sound in each part: while the most extreme wing is cohesive, tight and fast, the melodic parts are more broad and friendly, and it's perhaps in this field that Enslaved best show their technical skills because they necessarily have more room to dedicate themselves to detail.

In short, as much as 'Utgard' can be said to be a less complex record, the truth is that it's full of background atmospheres supported by keyboards and orchestrations created to give a very muscular body to a set of grandly atmospheric songs. Final challenge for those who are about to listen to 'Utgard': Enslaved don't know how to make bad music.

Report this review (#3056476)
Posted Thursday, May 30, 2024 | Review Permalink

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