MARDRAUM - BEYOND THE WITHIN

Within 2 years, Enslaved made the greatest artistic leap and change in their direction. Gone are simplistic raw songs from "Blodhemn" and repetitive patterns from the early area. The band now significantly embraced progressive rock/metal, catapulted in terms of complexity and acknowledged the existence of post-rock, too. A nod is given to death metal, punk and to a lesser extent, thrash or doom metal. Compositional quality reached a new dimension, I think it must have taken much longer time to pull the pieces together. Instrumentally, keyboards are lessened and guitar attacks and very versatile drumming mark the record. Especially the drums are imaginative.

The first epic " Stшrre enn Tid - Tyngre enn Natt" is a masterpiece with death-metal drums, vocals, pulsating bass, a prog- metal intro. Black metal in its genuine form is also presented. The end is more a post-rock signature with its riffs.

"Daudningekvida" gives us a beautiful and powerful guitar solo. In general, you can hear the power of guitar tandem on this record, providing more intensity.

"Entrance-Escape" has a doomy riffing and great clean contemplative vocals.

If you're nervous because of lacking traditional black metal elements, wait for the second half of the album.

The melancholy instrumental outro makes a rounded impression of a well spent hour with this album.