Enslaved – Heimdal Review: “Enslaved is a band with many faces.”
Enslaved is a band with many faces. To many, they know Enslaved as an immoral black metal band from earlier albums such as Frost. Others prefer Enslaved’s melodic Viking-style metal.
I’m personally a fan of both; Frost and In Times are my two favorite Enslaved albums. I was still really excited when I heard they were releasing their new album Heimdal, one that combines music from their entire discography. In reality, they took a slightly different course with some of these songs. That’s why some songs are more powerful than others.
The album starts with “Behind the Mirror.” It’s a soothing song, reminiscent of a Viking’s journey; the song opens with a soundclip of running water and horns in the background, before the riffs attack. The song goes back to being ethereal, with clean vocals from keyboardist/singer Hakon Vinje.
The song follows this same structure until lead growling vocalist Grutle Kjellson conquers the song. In typical Enslaved fashion, Vinje and Kjellson duel out with their varying vocal styles, leading to an instrumental part.
Enslaved has been teasing music videos for the past several months, and “Congelia” is one of the singles they released. This song sounds more old-school, opening up with heavier riffs from their traditional black metal days.
Surprisingly, the brutal song meshes well with the nature theme of the music video. The song still includes traditional instruments, giving the sound a folk atmosphere. This makes “Congelia” one of the strongest songs on the album.
There are some parts of this album that are a complete departure from what fans are used to, and I’m not sure how I feel about it.
An example is the song “The Eternal Sea.” The songs starts off with an odd electronic intro that doesn’t feel right with the rest of the song. The rest of the song has an odd depressive atmosphere. I do like the uncanny vibe of the track, but it doesn’t fit with the rest of the album.
While I usually love Vinje’s clean vocals, I feel Kjellson’s growls would work better here. The song gets more aggressive toward the end, with harsh vocals and striking riffs. I just wish we heard this part of the track earlier.
The album ends with the title track “Heimdal.” One of the aspects that throws me off about this album are some of the new synths the band added. This track starts off with gothic-sounding keyboards, which takes me out of the Viking vibe I usually associate with Enslaved.
Even though I’m not fond of this change, I understand why Enslaved added these new effects; Heimdal is the most mysterious entity in all Norse mythology, who is the gatekeeper between the nine Norse realms. I will say, it’s an interesting way to end the album. I honestly feel this song would have been better around the middle of the album.
While this isn’t my favorite Enslaved album, there are some powerful songs here. I like the darker aspect of this album, but not all tracks lived up to the hype I was anticipating. Still, I think Heimdal is an album that Enslaved fans will appreciate.
Rating: 7/10
Pre-order Heimdal here.
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