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(De)progressive View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini
    Posted: November 17 2010 at 14:39
Track listing
  1. "Ethica Odini" - 7:59
  2. "Raidho" - 6:01
  3. "Waruun" - 6:42
  4. "The Beacon" - 5:38
  5. "Axioma" - 2:20
  6. "Giants" - 6:37
  7. "Singular" - 7:43
  8. "Night Sight" - 7:36
  9. "Lightening" - 7:51

I have been currently listening to this album and I saw that no one have created a topic for this magnificent album. Maybe a little less progressive (for sme angles) but more aggressive and fast album than Vertebrae. I liked the previous one but this is quite perfect.

There is lots of  familiar melodies, riffs and passages from the 70's progressive rock as in the vein of Yes, King Crimson, Camel etc. I'm sure that I heard the riff from Heart of the Sunrise by Yes in Night Sight besides it's almost like a mixture of In The Court Of The Crimson King era King Crimson and Camel.  And some Yes'ish riffs in Singular too. Ethica Odini starts off like a standard Enslaved song and ends with beautiful clean vocal of Ivar Bjørnson. The ordinary guttural/scream black metal vocal of Grutle stands still but much more evilish than Vertebrae, which I love. The fact that Ivar quite developed his clean vocal made me happy, he almost sings ''beautiful'' especially in his passages as Night Sight, Lightning which is quite strange for black metal if we avoid the fact that they are progressive. Raidho includes Motörhead influences as Grutle tells in his interview, Waruun sounds like the typical psychedelic Enslaved sound as we quite heard in Vertebrae. The Beacon can be considered as really heavy and fast besides the other tracks, Grutle's vocals are quite scary. Axioma is a short interlude between The Beacon And Giants which is an ambient/synth track, Ivar says that in this track he influenced from Tangerine Dream, Brian Eno, Klaus Schulze and the other similiar electronic/ambient/krautrock artists. Giants is a haunting doomy track with its Black Sabbath influences. Singular is one of the most interesting tracks in the album because of its guitar lines almost taken directly from Yes and psychedelic taste. Night Sight is as I mentioned before, is a King Crimson track if we remove Grutle's vocals. It's a beautiful track with slow-paced clean vocal passages and the middle groovy-heavy sections. And the ''Heart Of The Sunrise'' riff of course comes to ears. Lightning is one of the best tracks that Enslaved have ever written I guess, the composing is so great, vocals, guitars, keyboards, everything. And the keyboards, yes is something that necessary to mention. They avoid being chessy all the time and suits wonderfully in every track, they are well placed and helps so much to create that psychedelic yet scary and haunting atmosphere.


Edited by (De)progressive - November 17 2010 at 14:39
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 17 2010 at 15:42
I'd say it's a bit weaker than the last three of theirs (or even the last five), but it's still a solid album... I especially love the last track. Enslaved is an absurdly underrated band overall (I'd put them above Dream Theater or even Opeth any day) and has an incredible discography... I have yet to hear a work of theirs that I didn't consider fantastic, including this new release. Smile
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 17 2010 at 15:45
I only know ELD from the previous albums so I can't compare the new one with the rest of their discography, but it's really good. It needs more listens to sink in and for me to be able to hear the details... 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 18 2010 at 11:29
Well,I bought before one month(I think) the limited edition(or the special edition,I don't remember well)with the 7" vinyl.I think that is a very interesting album.I have rated it with 4/5 stars.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 18 2010 at 13:03

For me it is the perfect Enslaved experience, but I'm a fanboy of course.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 18 2010 at 14:44
It's really great, the second half is especially interesting..."Singular" gets almost tech-y, and "Lightening" is as atmospherically gorgeous as they've gotten yet. I think their music is growing away from needing harsh vocals, and though I have nothing against harsh vocals, they don't feel necessary on this and the 'Vertebrae' album (sometimes even sound out of place). They'll probably never go "all clean" though. Anyway, yes, TOTALLY underrated band!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 18 2010 at 14:56
AWESOME album! Clap

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 18 2010 at 15:45
A very good album, but since Isa at least they've been a top band.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 19 2010 at 10:01
If I were to buy a first Enslaved album, which one?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 19 2010 at 10:39
Originally posted by Negoba Negoba wrote:

If I were to buy a first Enslaved album, which one?


If you are a metal fan,start from the beginning.If you want only the progressive albums,start with Monumension(the official progressive era starts here for me).


Edited by Prog Geo - November 19 2010 at 10:41
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 19 2010 at 10:58
Originally posted by Negoba Negoba wrote:

If I were to buy a first Enslaved album, which one?


I'd recommend Axioma Ethica Odini or ISA.

Many prog fans love Ruun and Vertebrae as well but I miss a bit aggression there.

Monumension is more experimental and a bit of an acquired taste.

Below the Lights was my introduction to them, love that album a lot as well obviously

All albums up to 2000 are only recommended if you like black metal, but if you do, they are sure amongst the best in the genre!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 19 2010 at 15:33
All good recommendations, but don't discount 'Mardraum' (released in 2000). That was very much their bridge between the black metal-ish past (although it's hard to consider even their earliest stuff 100% black metal) and the more progressive stuf that came later. The album's opener "Larger Than Time, Heavier Than Night" put them into a whole other league, in terms of ambitious writing and experimenting with their music a lot more.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 14 2011 at 07:53
I wouldn´t put them above Opeth. But i would definetely agree that they´re very underrated compared to Opeth. But Gruttle can actually growl close to the level of Mikael Åkerfeldt and has a great blackmetal rasp aswell which is his main vocal style, technically no one gets better than Jari Måenpåå in that field, but Enslaved are then way more interresting than Wintersun, though Jari is a musical prodigy. But i must say that i can listen to Opeth more often than Enslaved, Enslaved has a tendency to drag sometimes and some of the melody parts on their newest record seems a bit forced at times imo. But i must then say that they´re on my top ten of the best new school progressive metal group, you can´t deny that they sound amazing and pretty much is to black metal what Opeth is to death metal, though Enslaved are more BM than Opeth ever was DM. Enslaved are not for the fainthardet, they really has an atmosphere that can take your breath away at times.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 14 2011 at 10:11
I don't understand why people love Axioma Ethica Odini so much. The album struck me as merely an above average or good progressive black metal album. But I would not say the album is outstanding in any way.

I would rather listen to Ruun, Isa, Vertebrae or Below the Lights. But I know I am in the minority on this.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 15 2011 at 05:10
Enslaved are wonderful, it's a genuine surprise to see such a nuanced and complex band emerging from the black metal scene. A lot of the more progressive/symphonic black metal bands.

Also they seem like thoroughly decent guys - they've been outspoken in underlining the point that pagan/black metal should not be about racism and they disagree with racists co-opting the music, for instance, and they don't seem to have gotten enmeshed in violence like other old school black metal musicians often did. I know they've said positive things about the church burnings but I can overlook vandalism far more easily than I can violence against people or promoting racism.
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