AXIOMA ETHICA ODINI

Whenever word comes out about a new Enslaved album, my heart immediately starts pumping as if it's going to pop out of my chest. They are just an amazing band, and every album they record seems to progress in one way or another from the last. Their last album, Vertebrae, was an epic work that placed more emphasis on the 70's prog / psychedelic side of Enslaved's personality. The music still retained the frost-bitten riffs and sinister vocals that are a huge part of their sound, but to a lesser degree than the previous masterpieces, Ruun and Isa. With that said, I was eagerly awaiting to hear the new record, titled "Axioma Ethica Odini" and did not know at all what to expect. Well - I'll sum it up like this....even more progression, and harder this time around. I won't go into track by track details, for the album must be experienced as a single work to be truly appreciated. The main reason that is true is because each song seems to be following a linear path in terms of complexity. As the album moves along, the arraignments become more complex and epic, and the songs get much harder. If I had to make a choice, the key cuts on this album are "Waruun", "The Beacon", "The Giant", "Singular" and "Lightening". If you are a fan of the more progressive side of Black Metal, you don't want to miss this.

After hearing so much metal over the course of the years I had come to a point that nothing could hit me as much as the classics of yore. But every year there is that odd album that proves that metal can still be the most engaging and crunching music of recent decades. Last year that album was Leprous' s Tall Poppy Syndrome. This year it is Enslaved that takes the honors.

It's been since their previous masterpiece Isa that there was so much bite and aggression on an Enslaved album. The albums released since were all critically acclaimed but missed the typical Enslaved sharp edge. Not here, the pace is insistently high and vigorous and the vocals are full of aggression. More then once Enslaved remind me of Alchemist here, a fast paced Australian progressive metal band with thunderous tempos and dissonant Voivod riffs.

But there's more. As usual Enslaved varies grunts against clean singing, and this time around they both are marvelous. Grutle Kjellson sounds as furious of old, shrieking and snarling his way through the material. So be warned, if you already can't handle the warm and harmless grunts of Opeth, you shouldn't even be reading this review. The biggest improvement comes from Herbrand Larsen's clean vocals, which were the weak link for me on Ruun and Vertebrae. Here they are stunning, beautifully harmonious, melancholic and delivered with warmth and steadiness.

So, we get more aggression, better dynamics, infectious tempos, more and better clean vocals, and a further increased progressive metal style with intricate riffing, spacey lead guitars and original keyboard work that carefully avoids the cliché pre-programmed keyboard sounds that everyone else is using. In songs as Lightening they sound very symphonic, almost to the point that Enslaved teaches Dimmu Borgir a lesson at black metal arts.

Enslaved is a leading example of how you can stay true to your musical vision and at the same time remain fresh and inspiring in the genre. Axioma Ethica Odini is a perfect release from a band that has yet to release a weak album. Guaranteed 2010 top 5 material for me.

Time when I was hot fan of metal music is gone decades ago. But I am still listen some more interesting albums, especially if recommended by respectful this field specialists. This Enslaved's album is one between few extreme metal albums released this year I listened, and with this album I wasn't disappointed.

You can hear Scandinavian metal school from the very first this album's sounds - being fast and technical, all compositions are quite melodic. Sound isn't sharp at all, more liquid I can say. To be honest, nothing here on this album is unusual or new, but guys really play great metal music! Vocals are screaming or growling almost all the time, but again - all they are mixed with music as one well balanced sound.

Most important - this album's music has that quite rare balance between heavy and polished, loud and melodic, fast and variable which attracts dedicated listener and sounds not boring during all the album. Not very often combination in modern metal prog, I think.

So - too much predictable and far not so great to be counted as masterpiece, but really one of the greatest metal album I listened this year (speaking about fresh releases).

WOW! I have been a slave to the Prog Archives for well over a year now, and it has completely revamped my tastes (no longer appalled by growls) and exponentially expanded my musical universe. I do still tend to the metallic edge of prog, but my eyes have been openned!

And so after discovering and falling in love with Opeth, Disillusion, Orphaned Land, Sigh and others, I am choosing this album to commence my experience as a reviewer. Why? Because as much as I love those aforementioned bands, when I heard the first notes of Ethica Odini I knew I was in for a treat.

I have listened to Isa a number of times and believe it to be an extraordinary album in its own right, but I believe Axioma displaces it as the Enslaved masterpiece. There is not a note out of place here. The production is superb. Whereas the growl vocals (and the vocals in general) are too far down in the mix in ISA, here they are perfect. The balance of clean and growled vocals is perfect too, with each playing a role in enhancing the overall effect this album has.

What strikes me right away as I listen is that this album seems perfectly organic. Every subsequent note grows perfectly out of the preceding note. There is not a moment where I think...maybe that should have been a little different. You can find yourself almost predicting the next note. Which is not to say that the music is predictable. Far from it....it is just so natural.

I'm not a musician. I wouldn't know a time signature if one fell on me, but I can appreciate the astonishing tempo changes evident here. And the musicianship is obvious as well. But when all is said and done, it is the fact that the catches and hooks are completelly memorable. The sound is full and rounded and atmospheric. When Enslaved does aggressive, they do it here with a nuance that makes it seem so much more approachable than some of the aural assaults out there. Yes there are blast beats and crunching riffs but they are delivered with extraordinary texture. Every piece has moments of sublime melody as well. In a holistic sense, the album has tremendous flow and composition with each piece occupying the right space. All in all, the whole is better than the sum of the parts, and the parts are magnificent.

An assured masterpiece, and one that I am sure will be a high water mark for the genre for many many years. Highlights include Ethica Odini, Waruun, Singular, and the remarkable Lightening, but there really are no weak moments here at all.

'Axioma Ethica Odini' - Enslaved (86/100)

Axioma Ethica Odini marked the first time an Enslaved album hooked me with the first listen. Vertebrae was one of my favourite records at the time, but even that album had taken several listens before I was able to connect with it. Other Enslaved albums are reserved for specific moods and times, and other albums, like Isa, have taken me years before I've learned to appreciate them fully. With Axioma Ethica Odini, I can still remember the excitement when I heard the opening track for the first time. "Ethica Odini" had all the same progressive bells and whistles as before, but they played here with a liveliness they hadn't had maybe even since Blodhemn, if ever.

In a way, Axioma Ethica Odini was the album Enslaved was leading up to for nearly their entire career. Between Mardraum - Beyond the Within to Ruun, increasingly progressive roots took hold in their sound. It wasn't until Vertebrae where their progressive mindset finally caught up to their inspirations. Vertebrae was the first album of theirs I really loved for that reason, but even then, there was a sense of restraint that seemed to shackle them from their full emotional potential. In context, Axioma Ethica Odini was far from the biggest artistic leap Enslaved had taken in their time, but the slight developments did a world of good for their sound.

At long last, it feels here like they finally loosened up with their performance. As such, this is the closest Enslaved have come to a masterpiece since the time of Below the Lights. The progressive evolution may have kept them relevant over the years, but it came at the cost of their original speed and energy. There's still far more in common here with the cautious restraint of their mid-era over, say, Blodhemn, but the slight change was all it took to make Enslaved sound exciting again. "Ethica Odini", "Raidho" and "Giants" are almost uncharacteristically upbeat, making due on the promise of earlier songs like "Entroper" off Ruun. Even regardless of the more urgent pace, this represents some of the most consistently solid songwriting of their career. From the ominous Viking overtones of "The Beacon" to the vintage prog vibe of "Night Sight", each song feels distinctive on its own. None of the sounds here should have come as a surprise to longtime fans; the way the blend comes together this time around just happens to stand out.

Axioma Ethica Odini was actually one of the safest steps Enslaved ever took in their career. Some of the prominent issues on Vertebrae, namely its stunted flow, were corrected here, but when you consider some of the major risks they took, the added progressive embellishments here seem like nothing. That's a far cry from discounting the album however; even if past albums did a lot of the legwork for it, there are points here where I finally feel like I'm hearing a perfect incarnation of Enslaved. Be that as it may, as years have gone on it hasn't aged on me as well as Vertebrae or Below the Lights. The album's sleekness throws itself at you all at once and practically gives itself away. That feeling of instant gratification may not help in the long run, but it doesn't rob from the sense that this is some of the best Enslaved have ever sounded. They fulfilled a peak with this album, and it's not a mantle they cared to bequeath since.

I heard this album 2 times and i do not think back to hear him, is a good álbum for all lovers of extreme metal, but I doubt it can be digested by a lover of progressive rock from the 70's, when the vocalist uses clean vocals this very well, but when they come screaming the truth I do not like, this album is for people who are accustomed to hearing screams in a band, to my point of view I put 2.5 of 5 stars, sorry for the metal listeners who do not like this rating, however it is a good album for fans to black metal with touches of progressive metal.

I using a translator of Spanish to English in my reviews.

All The Best.

When a black metal band like is featured on a sampler CD distributed with a progressive rock journal, then you can make a safe bet that that band is pretty special. That's what happened with Enslaved, whose track "Ethica Odini" was featured on Prognosis 11, Prognosis being a series of sampler CDs that come with eavery issue of the Classic Rock Presents Prog magazine.

I checked out "Ethica Odini" and liked it. I liked how it was really dark and full of black metal elements and yet kind of progressive and complex, so I decided to buy the CD (I bought the one wit the 7'' vinyl bonus record), and I think it's a really good black metal release. What I like about it is that the black metal feel is always there - you know, the focus on creating an atmosphere - regardless of how progressive the songs get. The most progressive tracks are probably "Night Sight" and "Lightening" - "Night Sight" contains elements which remind me of alt. rock of the 1990s while "Lightening", for some unknown reason, remind me of Muse's latest record. Still, even these tracks are dark and bleak as hell, the way black metal should be. "Axioma" is the odd man out, being an atmospheric synth piece (the odd man out, but still, it fits the atmosphere of the entire record).

This should appeal to fans of black metal, who like the black metal atmosphere, but perhaps want more variation than what raw black metal usually offers.

(review originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com and progfreak.com)

Since their inception almost twenty years ago in Sveio, Norway, Enslaved has always been a force to be reckoned with in the black metal scene. With their eleventh studio album, Axioma Ethica Odini, they've once again proven to be at the top of their game. Seamlessly mixing crushing black metal and mellow seventies progressive rock, Enslaved has pulled off this formula with a feeling of consistency that few bands can emulate. This album will ruthlessly torture you with evil atmospheres and fast riffs, only to be at your side and heal you with a beautiful folk passage or clean vocal harmonies. Axioma Ethica Odini toys with your emotions, but manages to do so in an interesting and original way. Yes, this is a diverse and challenging listen that will take a few spins to wrap your head around - but it's worth every single one. If you like Enslaved, progressive metal, or black metal in general, Axioma Ethica Odini is an album that should rank high on your 2010 album list. This is a gem that every extreme metal fan should check out sooner rather than later.

The music here is a mix of black metal (on the more symphonic side), seventies progressive rock, and occasional death metal leanings in the vein of Opeth. Just in the powerful opening track ("Ethica Odini") alone, you can here this sound in its fullest form. This album is filled with sections that grab you at first listen, but it will take a few more spins to fully appreciate everything that Axioma Ethica Odini has to offer. A song like "The Beacon" (which I initially didn't like very much), now haunts me with its mystical chorus and supersonic black metal riffs. Though the music here is keyboard-laden, there are none of those cheesy keyboard tones that make you feel like you're listening to a power metal album about killing dragons and saving princesses. Expect organ, mellotron, orchestral tones, and the occasional synth like in the interlude track "Axioma". One of the biggest assets to Enslaved's music is their terrific musicianship, and that shines ever so brightly on Axioma Ethica Odini. The drumming from Cato Bekkevold has always been a highlight for me - I adore his playing style, and his chops are undeniable as well. The clean vocals from Herbrand Larsen are beautiful and melancholic, whereas the snarls from Grutle Kjellson are that of a possessed demon. Whether you like that or not is up to you, but I can conclude that the vocal department of Enslaved is jaw-dropping and their variation is noteworthy.

The production is terrific. Whereas most black metal sounds raw and harsh, Axioma Ethica Odini has a warm sound, often comparable to a seventies prog rock or heavy metal album. It seems that Enslaved has taken a hint from recent Opeth releases, notably Watershed and Ghost Reveries in terms of production. Although this extra coating of polish may turn off black metal purists, I think it fits the music perfectly - I wouldn't have it any other way.

Axioma Ethica Odini is a terrific album by Enslaved, and it proves what an unstoppable force these guys are. If this isn't "extreme prog metal album of the year 2010", it's awfully close. I have a feeling that we will be looking back on Axioma Ethica Odini as a defining progressive black metal album a few decades in the future. Although I was tempted to hand out 5 shiny ones, I'll go with a big 4.5 star rating for now. If you've been living under a rock and still haven't checked these guys out, I highly recommend jumping aboard now. Essential!

"Axioma Ethica Odini" is the 11th full-length studio album by Norwegian black metal act Enslaved. The album was released in September 2010 by Indie Recordings. The "regular" version of the album contains 9 tracks but there is a special edition available which features two bonus tracks.

The music on "Axioma Ethica Odini" is epic sounding black metal (not symphonic) with a progressive edge. While Enslaved maintain their signature sound as they always have, "Axioma Ethica Odini" is a very different album from the band´s last album "Vertebrae (2008)". "Vertebrae" had an organic sound and a very obvious influence from seventies progressive rock. The progressive rock influence is also there on "Axioma Ethica Odini", but the album is much harsher and metal oriented than was the case with "Vertebrae". On the other hand of some of the clean sung parts and choruses on "Axioma Ethica Odini", are of the most accessible nature yet written by Enslaved. The clean vocals are of course accompanied by the raspy vocal delivery by Grutle Kjellson, which gives the vocal department nice variation.

The album is divided into two parts of 4 tracks each seperated by the short ambient instrumental "Axioma". At least that´s how the album feels like to me and I´m pretty sure that´s how the band wanted the listener to perceive the album. I like this way of doing things and I appreciate that the band obviously have given the sequence of the tracks a lot of thought. It´s important to have a good balance and flow on an album and that´s certainly the case here.

It´s interesting to note, that even though the music on the album is unmistakably the sound of Enslaved, the band have made little changes, adjustments and improvements to their sound, which gives "Axioma Ethica Odini" a unique position in the band´s discography. As an example the metallic and grand production sets the album apart from the last couple of albums and as a consequence provides Enslaved with yet another instrument to play on. Sound production is an extremely important aspect of creating music and the lavish and detailed sound production on "Axioma Ethica Odini" is a good example of why that is.

The album strikes a good balance between epic black metal and progressive extreme metal with space/ psychadelic rock moments. Parts of "Night Sight" even incorporate a prog folky vibe. The music is generally melodic and atmospheric but with the raw edge that characterize most black metal releases. Tracks like "Ethica Odini" and "Lightening" are simply wonderful, but the album is very consistent and there´s nothing here I would point to as a weak link.

It seems Enslaved just can´t fail and "Axioma Ethica Odini" is another high quality release by the band. The primary reason for the band´s success is the clever songwriting and the unique sound they have created over the years. Enslaved challenge themselves every time and add to that excellent musicianship and a really well sounding production and you have the foundation for a really great album. I´d say a 4.5 star rating is fully deserved.

Axioma Ethica Odini finds Enslaved in the process of incorporating a higher proportion of black metal venom into their sound, after previous releases had downplayed that side of their music in order to further develop their progressive metal tendencies. The end result is a vicious progressive black metal trip which I consider to be their best album since Monumension, and certainly laid the stage for the excellent RIITIIR which followed. In fact, I'd be hard-pressed to pick a favourite between the two, but on balance I would say that this one just barely has the edge, if only for the incredible use of clean and bestial vocals.

Enslaved is a very consistent band - not only they deliver above average albums with no flops since their 2000's Blodhemn but also keep churning out a new york at least every 3 years.

With "Vertebrae" yet, the band seemed to gain their second or third breath, becoming very familiar and comfortable with the music direction featuring progressive metal, rock and even alternative metal/rock leanings. Although they are still associated primarily with black-metal/death-metal vocals, there is a good chunk of clean vocals displayed, too. I personally think that screams and growls do not always much the music behind and could be limited. On the other hand, I still feel that the traditional extreme singing by Enslaved has higher quality then their clean vocals, unlike with modern Opeth. "Ethica Odini" is a very good first bite into the cake with melodic growling, accessible drumming and black metal riffing. "Waruun" has perfect extremens with powerful death-metal growls, dark riffing but also Hammond and clean vocals. I really like playful drumming with nuances. "Axioma" is a very unusual ambient track with synths and robotic voices. "Giants" show a new influence of the band - having pop/rock melodies supported by clean vocals and heavy guitars + rhythm section. It's an acquired taste as you are comparing apples with pears. Playing is as usual very technical. That's one case where background growling isn't necessary.

"Singular" has a strong two-guitar riffing and death-metal basis but a blend of other styles, too. "Nightsight" has psychedelic rock twist with acoustic passages a ala Opeth (Mellotron/guitar) but overwhelmed by brutal growls and ultra-heavy beats. "Lightening" remains one of the most emotional pieces by Enslaved - dark, bleak subtone and well constructed song development.

This album offers enough to explore to any music fan, be it a metal, progressive, rock or just a curious listener.