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General => General Music Discussion => Topic started by: King Puppies and the Acid Guppies on November 09, 2023, 12:27:32 AM
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(https://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/0/4/104_logo.jpg?5601)
Alright guys, here it is. The long awaited Enslaved Discography and Listening Party thread!
In this thread I will be covering everything related to Enslaved. That means, all albums, demos, EPs, live releases, splits, side projects, and career paths of current and former band members. I will be including links to relevant albums and songs being discussed, as well as pictures and liner notes (this is going to be tough for some releases). My history with this band goes back more than 20 years now and my listening experience goes back almost 18 years. I am extremely familiar with all their albums. I will try to give as much history about each album as possible, as well as my thoughts. The plan is to give 1 to 2 weeks between updates to give people time to listen to and digest and discuss each of the albums.
Anyways, without further ado…
To give a little background on my experience with Enslaved, I first heard of the band back in 2001 or 2002 on the Bethesda games forums of all places. In the off topic section someone had created a “Metal Thread” where people could talk about metal music of all kinds. I remember one person in particular that posted in the thread regularly was a diehard Enslaved fan (we’ll call him Mr. Enslaved Fangirl) and he said they were the most amazing band he’s ever seen live and raved about their musical prowess. Knowing nothing about them I looked into them and found out they were Black Metal. At the time I was still in High School and hadn’t really started branching out into new music and this was pre-Dream Theater discovery for me. So, knowing they were Black Metal I just immediately wrote them off, especially since I thought (at the time) that all Black Metal bands were all about Satan worship and I’m not cool with that. This was also prior to me getting into harsh vocals.
Fast forward a couple years to 2004. I had been steadily branching out in my music discovery. Dream Theater had quickly become my second favorite band and I was getting into stuff like Fates Warning, Metallica, Type O Negative, and dozens of other bands. Then Mr. Enslaved Fangirl posted a link on the forums to Enslaved’s first music video, for the song Isa, taken from the newly released album of the same name. Once again, out of curiosity I decided to check it out. I read through the lyrics and realized they weren’t about Satanism and figured I’d give it a listen. I hated it. I thought the vocals were stupid, I didn’t see the so-called “talent” Mr. Enslaved Fangirl raved about, I just didn’t get it. So I again put them out of my mind.
Fast forward to 2006. I had started getting into bands with harsh vocals for the past year thanks to some co-workers. Bands like Opeth, Agalloch, Gojira, Between the Buried and Me, God Forbid, Darkest Hour, All Shall Perish, etc etc. Anyway, I was in a record store one day looking for some new bands to sink my teeth into and I came across that Enslaved album Isa again. Thinking back on the previous couple years on the Bethesda forums, I remembered Mr. Enslaved Fangirl raving about Neogenesis being an epic prog metal masterpiece. So I thought to myself, you know what, I’ll give it another try and boy did it click with me. That dude on the forums was right! I quickly gobbled up all available Enslaved albums over the next several months and they quickly rocketed up to top 5 band status. Ever since they have been a day 1 purchase when they release a new album. I consider them to be one of the most consistently good bands out there, in any genre. They don’t have a bad album, in my opinion.
I find that I go through spurts where I listen to tons of Enslaved. I will typically do a full discography listen about once or twice a year (same as with Rush), and I always seem to find new little nuances that I never noticed before. Plus I find a lot of the riffs they use are super catchy earworms. Good for banging your head along with the song. They also have a really cool atmosphere on all their albums, mind you it’s different from album to album and era to era, but we’ll get to that more later on. For now, let’s get everyone signed up for class, because the first lesson begins in the morning.
Keep an eye on this post as it will eventually be filled with links to various things as the discussion progresses.
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Saved for possible future info
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I've been meaning to do a deep dive of this band's discography, so I might try to follow along. :corn
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I haven't read the OP in full yet because I really should go to bed even though I'm procrastinating, but I'll try to follow along on this. I just saw Enslaved for the first time (and second time) last weekend doing two different albums. I'd like some more clean vocals and I don't know that listening to the albums is going to be my favorite thing, but I think I'll at least like some of it. Live, it was cool.
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OK, I've really been looking forward to this (I feel it's been a few years in the making?) so thanks for running it Puppies.
It's really interesting to hear your history with the band, as I love sharing that sort of thing myself. I reckon that my story somewhat mirrors yours, in some ways. I definitely didn't hear of the band in 2001 (although you hearing about them via a Bethesda forum sounds fitting. What a band to play Elder Scrolls to!), but I reckon between the period of 2004-2006, when I was exploring more extreme metal, and it's many subgenres, would've been the first time I'd heard the name Enslaved. I've never really been into black metal, and even now I really like the progressive/gaze/dissonant/post/symphonic subgenres of black metal more than the straight up version. When I first heard of them I too would've written them off. I can't actually remember when I first heard the band to be honest (which is unusual, as that sort of thing normally sticks), but it may have been in the mid to late 00s.
However, it was good old DTF that brought me round to the band. I remember in early 2015 was when I really started exploring all the great bands DTF would regularly post about, and this was around the time In Times came out. That was my first Enslaved album experience, and is still a top 5 album for me. Once I realised they had progressed on from their black metal roots I started to really enjoy their albums. For a good long while I'd only listened to albums from Isa onwards, but the last three years or so, I started to work backwards. I'll talk about my favourites as we get to them, as there are a few, but I'm hoping for a greater appreciation of others as well.
As you said Puppies, Enslaved are super consistent and haven't really released a bad album. I appreciate their early albums, even if I don't listen to them that often. I find it fascinating to listen to a band who have progressed their sound on, and I like listening for glimpses of that in their early work. It's like Ulver, but to less of an extreme as they haven't changed their sound quite as drastically.
In regard to side projects, I'm aware of some of Ivar's side projects but I don't think I need of Grutle's (if he has any?). I'll be really looking forward to listening along with you and will try and recruit (pressure) as many as I can to follow this thread!
Obviously, as a Listening Session fanatic and champion, I'm looking forward to listening sessions. How are you planning to approach these? Are we doing them via Deepcut.fm? Listening to these albums in real time, with as many as we can get on board sounds epic and I'm pumped for it.
Looking forward to more info and the first post proper dude. Thanks again!
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Interesting, I started listening to them not that long after Puppies, but obviously far less in volume since then. I think I'd been increasingly hearing the name for a few years, but finally checked out Ruun the year it came out, since '06 was really the first year that I had the desire to check out a lot of new music from the year, before then it had been on smaller scales. I'm not even sure what I made of it at the time, but I just know it didn't stick. Over the years I would keep hearing them described as "the black metal Opeth", and given that Opeth is arguably my second favorite band, it did pique my interest.
To be honest, for awhile I unfairly lumped them in as "Banger-core", for Sam Dunn's Youtube channel. It kind of annoyed me that he and his crew didn't even seem to know of the existence of a lot of my favorite bands, and constantly talked about the same bands all the time, Mastodon, Lamb of God, Gojira, and Enslaved being some of the most prominent. Nevertheless, that's not their fault, I've listened to probably half a dozen of their albums in the past, and after Puppies sending "The Roots of the Mountain" in my roulette, they are starting to grow on me, so I'm looking forward to this.
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Nice! I am pumped for this one.
I didn't really get into Enslaved until RIITIIR, but I had known of them well before that. One of my metal friends was super into a lot of black metal, and I really wasn't at that point. Emperor was the only band I really liked, and it was mainly the more progressive stuff like IX Equilibrium and Prometheus. I remember listening to Frost and Eld with him, but nothing really clicked. Years later, when I realized they had become more proggy, I checked out the newest record at the time (RIITIIR), and was totally into it. Now I have physical copies of most of their albums. I also enjoy a bit more black metal now too, so I enjoy the earlier albums as well. It will definitely be fun going through their discography with y'all. I'm along for the ride.
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That's awesome to read everyone's history with the band so far. :metal
As far as the listening party part goes. I mostly meant for people to listen to each of the demos/albums/eps/etc as they are posted and give feedback and discussion. However I definitely would like to get people together in Deep-Cut.fm and listen together and discuss in real-time. I'm not sure how feasible that will be with everyone spread out all over the world. Maybe y'all can let me know what times work best and we can arrange that. Would be fun. :metal
First update coming within the next hour! :corn
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Yea, it'd end up being me, you and Litho :lol
I'd love to do it if we could though. Between 4pm-7pm EST would be best for me personally. But I'd be happy to try and make another time if I had enough notice.
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Alrighty, feel free to discuss more of y'alls personal history with the band, but now we move on to the band's pre-history.
Enslaved was formed in 1991 in a town called Haugesund in Norway. It was originally founded by Ivar Bjørnson (Guitars, Backing Vocals, Keyboards), Grutle Kjellson (Lead Vocals, Bass, Mouth Harp), and Trym Torson (Drums).
(https://gi-media.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/14182412/IVAR-Bjornson_3.jpg)
(Ivar Bjørnson)
Ivar had grown up listening to a lot of Pink Floyd and other prog rock bands and often cites Pink Floyd as his favorite band and the biggest influence on his songwriting. He also cites bands like Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Tangerine Dream, Rush, and Celtic Frost as big influences. His dad was also a big influence and they bonded over music when Ivar was younger and was a major supporter of his musical endeavors early on, even acting as a sort of band manager for Enslaved in the early years and driving the band's bus, until he died.
(https://ekladata.com/t1DwZU8kFlUpJcJ4fDjlN-iE8fc.jpg)
(Grutle Kjellson)
Grutle grew up as more of a metal head with his influences leaning more towards stuff like Metallica, Venom, Led Zeppelin, Mercyful Fate, and Slayer. Him, along with Ivar, have been the only two constant band members.
(https://www.nocleansinging.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Trym-Torson-4-e1589204130196.jpg)
(Trym Torson)
Trym on the other hand was much more influenced by Jazz growing up and was obsessed with trying to play the fastest blast beats and double bass possible. He would eventually go on to play in another highly influential Black Metal band, but we’ll get to that in due time.
(https://bravewords.com/medias-static/images/news/2021/60916169-phobia-pre-enslaved-and-theatre-of-tragedy-band-to-have-complete-works-reissued-image.jpeg)
(Band photo of Phobia)
Prior to Enslaved’s formation, in early 1990 Ivar was in a Death Metal band called Obnoxious and Grutle was in a band called Phobia, along with drummer Hein Frode Hansen, who would go on to form Gothic/Doom band Theater of Tragedy, and a few other kids they knew from the local metal scene. Both bands would rehearse at a local slaughterhouse converted to a youth center called Slaekten Studio. The place was equipped with multiple rehearsal spaces, studios, and performance spaces. Many young bands in the area used the place to record demos. When Phobia was looking for a guitarist, they heard Ivar playing with his band in the next room at Slaekten. Impressed by what he heard, Grutle asked Ivar if he wanted to join Phobia. At the time Ivar was just 12 years old and Grutle was 16. Ivar decided to join and the band recorded 2 demos in March and June 1991 respectively, “The Last Settlement of Ragnarok” and “Feverish Convulsions” at Slaekten. The original demos are extremely hard to find these days, but they were re-released in a compilation that is available on Bandcamp (https://nuclearwarnowproductions.bandcamp.com/album/slaughterhouse-tapes).
(https://www.metal-archives.com/images/3/9/6/5/39658_photo.jpg?3924)
(Band photo of Phobia [L-R: Hein Frode Hansen, Ivar Bjørnson, Grutle Kjellson, Kai Abrahamsen])
It was shortly after the second demo when after having a conversation with Demonaz from Immortal, who had also started around the same time as Phobia in that area, they decided to scale the band back to a 3 piece and switch over to Black Metal. Hein Frode Hansen left the band at this time to move to the United States, so Ivar brought in his friend that he played with in Obnoxious, Trym Torson, to play drums. They then rebranded as Enslaved, taking the name from the lyrics of a demo song by the band Immortal called Enslaved in Rot (fun fact, Immortal also recorded their first demo at the same converted slaughterhouse, Slaekten).
(https://i.pinimg.com/474x/c6/f0/50/c6f050d2c81c1897b1e239050dc7c1b3.jpg)
(This is the oldest band photo I could find of the original lineup, probably taken 1992 or 1993)
Stay tuned for more!
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WTF is a mouth harp??
And Kai Abtahamsen dresses like a muppet.
I'll be listening along I think.
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Baby Ivar! It's just mindblowing to think he started his Enslaved journey at 12 fucking years old. He's a literal child in these photos.
This is a really interesting part of their history and career, and I learnt so much about this period in the Heimvegen documentary they put out on youtube 2 or 3 years ago. It mainly focuses on the early part of their career and talks a lot about Slaekten House. Unfortunately, it's been taken off youtube, and I can't find where you can stream it now. If I can find it I'll link it, as it's well worth a watch, but maybe once we get past the 90s part in this thread, as I don't want to spoil anything you're writing up Puppers.
In preparation for this thread, I just went and downloaded some of the earlier albums and chucked them on my ipod, as I only went as far back as Monumension (although I've listened to all the early albums on Spotify at least 2 or 3 times) up until now.
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One band I've always heard about and not really heard much from at all if anything. Might try and follow along.
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A few random observations so far:
*That picture of them as Phobia in front of the giant cross is fascinating. It reminds me of the iconic one that Entombed posed in front of in Skogskyrkogården, near Stockholm, that Katatonia and other bands would also do photoshoots featuring.
*Which ties into how in my mid-late teens I started discovering via power metal and then melodic death metal that there was this whole scene of fantastic European underground music that it seemed hardly anyone in the US knew about, at least not the people in my circles. I gravitated towards the Scandinavian and Nordic bands especially, particularly focusing on Sweden. There were lots of great Norwegian ones as well, though I didn't tend to seek them as often. Various people sending more artists from there in my roulette has made me realize that I've been neglecting them though, so this thread will be a great head start on rectifying that.
*Lethean sending Ivar Bjornsson & Einar Selvik in my roulette is another point of interest, realizing that Ivar collaborates on more than just extreme metal or prog rock.
*I think I'd forgotten about the Theatre of Tragedy connection. I like a lot of their music and they're important in developing facets of a lot of the death/doom and gothic metal that I like.
*The Immortal connection is one I probably didn't realize either. They were the first black metal band I listened to, with Sons of Northern Darkness being the first album in that style that I heard and liked.
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WTF is a mouth harp??
Here's a link to what a mouth harp is. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jew%27s_harp
And Kai Abtahamsen dresses like a muppet.
Well, it was the early '90s...
Baby Ivar! It's just mindblowing to think he started his Enslaved journey at 12 fucking years old. He's a literal child in these photos.
This is a really interesting part of their history and career, and I learnt so much about this period in the Heimvegen documentary they put out on youtube 2 or 3 years ago. It mainly focuses on the early part of their career and talks a lot about Slaekten House. Unfortunately, it's been taken off youtube, and I can't find where you can stream it now. If I can find it I'll link it, as it's well worth a watch, but maybe once we get past the 90s part in this thread, as I don't want to spoil anything you're writing up Puppers.
Yeah, I went looking for that documentary after you had mentioned it, but I couldn't find it anywhere.
One band I've always heard about and not really heard much from at all if anything. Might try and follow along.
Considering the other kinds of Black Metal bands you like, I think you will find a lot to love here. Hopefully.
*That picture of them as Phobia in front of the giant cross is fascinating. It reminds me of the iconic one that Entombed posed in front of in Skogskyrkogården, near Stockholm, that Katatonia and other bands would also do photoshoots featuring.
Yeah, I've seen that Katatonia picture and thought it looked very similar.
*Lethean sending Ivar Bjornsson & Einar Selvik in my roulette is another point of interest, realizing that Ivar collaborates on more than just extreme metal or prog rock.
Ivar has done a lot of different things and judging by his influences it makes a lot of sense.
*I think I'd forgotten about the Theatre of Tragedy connection. I like a lot of their music and they're important in developing facets of a lot of the death/doom and gothic metal that I like.
*The Immortal connection is one I probably didn't realize either. They were the first black metal band I listened to, with Sons of Northern Darkness being the first album in that style that I heard and liked.
That area around Haugesund and then a little ways north in Bergen and to the east in Oslo was a massive melting pot for the whole Second Wave of Black Metal. Enslaved and Immortal were kind of the catalyst for a lot of bands that would follow.
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For those following, I'd like to do a listening party for the Phobia demos on Deep-cut.fm on either Friday (tomorrow for me) at 7pm EST or Sunday at 5pm EST
Let me know which day works for everyone.
Link for the room here - https://deep-cut.fm/652b54b5270237001d4c857e
If you don't already have an account, you will need one to be able to chat in the listening room.
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For those following, I'd like to do a listening party for the Phobia demos on Deep-cut.fm on either Friday (tomorrow for me) at 7pm EST or Sunday at 5pm EST
Let me know which day works for everyone.
Link for the room here - https://deep-cut.fm/652b54b5270237001d4c857e
If you don't already have an account, you will need one to be able to chat in the listening room.
I am definitely down for this, I've never heard those Phobia demos. I can do either, or both, but Sunday I'd be around longer as that would be 10pm for me.
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Baby Ivar! It's just mindblowing to think he started his Enslaved journey at 12 fucking years old. He's a literal child in these photos.
This is a really interesting part of their history and career, and I learnt so much about this period in the Heimvegen documentary they put out on youtube 2 or 3 years ago. It mainly focuses on the early part of their career and talks a lot about Slaekten House. Unfortunately, it's been taken off youtube, and I can't find where you can stream it now. If I can find it I'll link it, as it's well worth a watch, but maybe once we get past the 90s part in this thread, as I don't want to spoil anything you're writing up Puppers.
Yeah, I went looking for that documentary after you had mentioned it, but I couldn't find it anywhere.
*I think I'd forgotten about the Theatre of Tragedy connection. I like a lot of their music and they're important in developing facets of a lot of the death/doom and gothic metal that I like.
*The Immortal connection is one I probably didn't realize either. They were the first black metal band I listened to, with Sons of Northern Darkness being the first album in that style that I heard and liked.
That area around Haugesund and then a little ways north in Bergen and to the east in Oslo was a massive melting pot for the whole Second Wave of Black Metal. Enslaved and Immortal were kind of the catalyst for a lot of bands that would follow.
Just to address these two points. This is a link to some info on the documentary...
https://www.nuclearblast.com/eu/band/news/enslaved-12-part-documentary-series-7071989 (https://www.nuclearblast.com/eu/band/news/enslaved-12-part-documentary-series-7071989)
It has the YouTube links to the first few episodes, but it appears the videos have now been set to private. I'm not sure if the band are planning a proper release of the documentary but I definitely want to watch it again now
The documentary talks a lot about that early scene in Norway, around Bergen. It really was just a small group of extreme metal kids who managed to form these legendary bands and alter the course of black metal. In 2023 it's crazy to think how the scene was there, without the Internet and what have you. Just tape trading, fanzines and a small community with everyone knowing everyone.
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Good stuff Puppies, glad you are doing this...I'll be following and commenting as much as I can...
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For those following, I'd like to do a listening party for the Phobia demos on Deep-cut.fm on either Friday (tomorrow for me) at 7pm EST or Sunday at 5pm EST
Let me know which day works for everyone.
Link for the room here - https://deep-cut.fm/652b54b5270237001d4c857e
If you don't already have an account, you will need one to be able to chat in the listening room.
I am definitely down for this, I've never heard those Phobia demos. I can do either, or both, but Sunday I'd be around longer as that would be 10pm for me.
How long are the Phobia demos? I should be able to catch one of the sessions, but probably can't commit to either, if that makes any sense.
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Early 90's Swedish and Norwegian band pics are the best. It would have been awesome to be growing up in those scenes back in the day, until it got out of hand. Obviously some of the extreme views and actions from some of the bands/members really caused issues, but it is still a fascinating history to read. I have read the Lords of Chaos book at least 3 or 4 times in my life. Some of those guys are pretty far out there.
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For those following, I'd like to do a listening party for the Phobia demos on Deep-cut.fm on either Friday (tomorrow for me) at 7pm EST or Sunday at 5pm EST
Let me know which day works for everyone.
Link for the room here - https://deep-cut.fm/652b54b5270237001d4c857e
If you don't already have an account, you will need one to be able to chat in the listening room.
I am definitely down for this, I've never heard those Phobia demos. I can do either, or both, but Sunday I'd be around longer as that would be 10pm for me.
How long are the Phobia demos? I should be able to catch one of the sessions, but probably can't commit to either, if that makes any sense.
I believe both demos together are about 30-40 minutes of music, if I remember correctly.
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Early 90's Swedish and Norwegian band pics are the best. It would have been awesome to be growing up in those scenes back in the day, until it got out of hand. Obviously some of the extreme views and actions from some of the bands/members really caused issues, but it is still a fascinating history to read. I have read the Lords of Chaos book at least 3 or 4 times in my life. Some of those guys are pretty far out there.
Indeed and I'll be talking a bit more about this subject in the next update, but the band members of Enslaved and Immortal were never part of the more crazy stuff that happened. Enslaved even consciously distanced themselves from that stuff.
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I'll try to make one of the sessions, but my schedule is a bit unpredictable, so I can't say for sure. I just listened to the Feverish Convulsions demo, and I didn't realize they started out as more of a death-doom band. It's not terribly far off from other bands of that type at the time. The production is awful though. This is where you get the guys saying "dude, the demos were sooo much better!", and I know we're not going to be aligned. The keyboard parts especially sound intriguing, but it's just unlistenable sound quality-wise for me.
I noticed that there's the Slaughterhouse Tapes compilation, which has three of the same songs, and is on Bandcamp, though it only lets you listen to one of them, and the quality is still shit. I guess they never tried rerecording these? Shame. I don't know how you're going to have a listening party for the other tracks on that one though, since they aren't on Youtube for deepcut.fm to pick up.
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Early 90's Swedish and Norwegian band pics are the best. It would have been awesome to be growing up in those scenes back in the day, until it got out of hand. Obviously some of the extreme views and actions from some of the bands/members really caused issues, but it is still a fascinating history to read. I have read the Lords of Chaos book at least 3 or 4 times in my life. Some of those guys are pretty far out there.
Indeed and I'll be talking a bit more about this subject in the next update, but the band members of Enslaved and Immortal were never part of the more crazy stuff that happened. Enslaved even consciously distanced themselves from that stuff.
Yea, I'm pretty sure Enslaved saw all that church burning shit and were just like "you wanna cosplay as vikings and homoerotic dungeon masters?".
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I should be able to make one or part of both sessions. I'm just not sure this morning.
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(https://www.decibelmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/enslavedbooklet.jpg)
Does these boys look like they gonna light up the house of god?
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Early 90's Swedish and Norwegian band pics are the best. It would have been awesome to be growing up in those scenes back in the day, until it got out of hand. Obviously some of the extreme views and actions from some of the bands/members really caused issues, but it is still a fascinating history to read. I have read the Lords of Chaos book at least 3 or 4 times in my life. Some of those guys are pretty far out there.
Yeah, I'll be probably be doing an unreasonably high number of Swedish scene comparisons, but that's just how I roll. One of my favorite music books is Daniel Ekeroth's Swedish Death Metal, and it talks about how small the Stockholm scene was, really just a few dozen people being central figures, and I imagine it's a similar situation in other places for those early years in extreme metal.
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(https://www.decibelmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/enslavedbooklet.jpg)
Does these boys look like they gonna light up the house of god?
The Nimp, the Gimp, and the Pimp.
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(https://www.decibelmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/enslavedbooklet.jpg)
Does these boys look like they gonna light up the house of god?
The Nimp, the Gimp, and the Pimp.
Which you dressing as next Halloween?
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(https://www.decibelmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/enslavedbooklet.jpg)
Does these boys look like they gonna light up the house of god?
The Nimp, the Gimp, and the Pimp.
Which you dressing as next Halloween?
:lol
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So my day just totally hit the fan at work. I'm still hoping to do the listening party today though. I'll let you know if anything changes.
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For those following, I'd like to do a listening party for the Phobia demos on Deep-cut.fm on either Friday (tomorrow for me) at 7pm EST or Sunday at 5pm EST
Let me know which day works for everyone.
Link for the room here - https://deep-cut.fm/652b54b5270237001d4c857e
If you don't already have an account, you will need one to be able to chat in the listening room.
I've never done these listening rooms before and obviously for me timings probably don't work but are all the albums run through this format or more through the thread? Just might determine if and how involved I can be.
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Sorry guys, all hell broke loose at work today. So we will do the listening session on Sunday.
For those following, I'd like to do a listening party for the Phobia demos on Deep-cut.fm on either Friday (tomorrow for me) at 7pm EST or Sunday at 5pm EST
Let me know which day works for everyone.
Link for the room here - https://deep-cut.fm/652b54b5270237001d4c857e
If you don't already have an account, you will need one to be able to chat in the listening room.
I've never done these listening rooms before and obviously for me timings probably don't work but are all the albums run through this format or more through the thread? Just might determine if and how involved I can be.
The Deep-Cut.fm stuff was just a fun idea for those that wanted to listen together at the same time and chat about it while listening. I'm still going to be posting links to where you can listen to the music, where possible. These first 2 Phobia demos are really hard to find and only the 2nd one is available on Youtube.
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Ah, gotcha. Might start listening once we get into the real stuff.
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Ah, gotcha. Might start listening once we get into the real stuff.
Be great if you could join dude but think we'll struggle to find a time that will work for you. I'm looking forward to these demos as I've not heard them before, but they're gonna be rough :lol
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Ah, gotcha. Might start listening once we get into the real stuff.
Be great if you could join dude but think we'll struggle to find a time that will work for you. I'm looking forward to these demos as I've not heard them before, but they're gonna be rough :lol
Funny thing is, the first actual Enslaved demo is rougher than the phobia demos :lol but we'll get to that.
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Ah, gotcha. Might start listening once we get into the real stuff.
Be great if you could join dude but think we'll struggle to find a time that will work for you. I'm looking forward to these demos as I've not heard them before, but they're gonna be rough :lol
Funny thing is, the first actual Enslaved demo is rougher than the phobia demos
(https://i.giphy.com/media/KupdfnqWwV7J6/giphy.webp)
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We still on for the listening session? In like 3 hours right?
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I should be able to get on.
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I should be able to get on.
Hope for your families sake, they won't be in ear shot for this :lol
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Yeah, I'll jumping in fairly soon and will queue up the tracks that are available right about 2pm PST, 5pm EST, 10pm England time :biggrin:
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And for those that need the link
https://deep-cut.fm/652b54b5270237001d4c857e
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I have a question...
Wiki lists Vikingligr Veldi as the first Enslaved album and Frost as the second, but Spotify has them inverted.
Which one actually came first?
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I have a question...
Wiki lists Vikingligr Veldi as the first Enslaved album and Frost as the second, but Spotify has them inverted.
Which one actually came first?
Vikingligr Veldi was first. There's a reason why they were released so close together. We'll get to that...
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I wasn't able to join the listening session - is there a link to hear these somewhere?
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I wasn't able to join the listening session - is there a link to hear these somewhere?
Here's the Youtube links for the 3 songs on the second demo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvgmZ3Z-bHI&t=1s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF4ah6Q8MUs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYJF5X-50xU
The other songs from the first demo are only available on the compilation called Slaughterhouse Tapes. It's available on bandcamp.
https://nuclearwarnowproductions.bandcamp.com/album/slaughterhouse-tapes
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It only lets you play "Fog of Uncertainty" without purchasing it though.
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And you have to purchase a physical copy? Or am I missing a digital only option?
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And you have to purchase a physical copy? Or am I missing a digital only option?
Yeah, no digital only copy for some strange reason.
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Might have to have a secondary listening session. It's only three songs.
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Might have to have a secondary listening session. It's only three songs.
I might have some more time this week to do another one. Although I plan on dropping the next update in the next couple days, since there isn't a ton to talk about with the old demos.
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I'm probably fine to just listen to the songs that are available. I could do a listening session tomorrow night or late afternoon but that's it for a while. But if that doesn't work I think I'll still get a good enough idea of the old stuff with what's there.
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Just listened to the Phobia demo again. I know the recordings are poor and it's really raw, but I love it as a piece of history.
There is a certain atmosphere to these songs and honestly some promising moments. Listening to Feverish Convulsions, knowing the age of these kids, and what is to come, just adds a certain context that allows me to appreciate it in a way I wouldn't based on the music alone.
The scene and the era fascinates me, and even though I was just a bit too young to appreciate any of this at the time (although my older brother was getting into death metal around this time) there is an air of nostalgia that is almost out of my grasp, but not quite.
I'd love to actually hear the band rerecord these songs (I'm not sure if they ever did).
Anyway, I'm all :corn for the next installment (which I assume will be the Yggdrasill EP).
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Just listened to the Phobia demo again. I know the recordings are poor and it's really raw, but I love it as a piece of history.
There is a certain atmosphere to these songs and honestly some promising moments. Listening to Feverish Convulsions, knowing the age of these kids, and what is to come, just adds a certain context that allows me to appreciate it in a way I wouldn't based on the music alone.
The scene and the era fascinates me, and even though I was just a bit too young to appreciate any of this at the time (although my older brother was getting into death metal around this time) there is an air of nostalgia that is almost out of my grasp, but not quite.
I'd love to actually hear the band rerecord these songs (I'm not sure if they ever did).
Anyway, I'm all :corn for the next installment (which I assume will be the Yggdrasill EP).
Next update is the Nema Promo tape. It will be a small update, probably either tonight or tomorrow.
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It's fascinating how many of these black metal bands started out as death metal, Darkthrone's Soulside Journey being one of the more well-known.
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Looking forward to reading this thread - Enslaved is a band I've never taken the time to check out.
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Just listened to the Phobia demo again. I know the recordings are poor and it's really raw, but I love it as a piece of history.
There is a certain atmosphere to these songs and honestly some promising moments. Listening to Feverish Convulsions, knowing the age of these kids, and what is to come, just adds a certain context that allows me to appreciate it in a way I wouldn't based on the music alone.
The scene and the era fascinates me, and even though I was just a bit too young to appreciate any of this at the time (although my older brother was getting into death metal around this time) there is an air of nostalgia that is almost out of my grasp, but not quite.
I'd love to actually hear the band rerecord these songs (I'm not sure if they ever did).
Anyway, I'm all :corn for the next installment (which I assume will be the Yggdrasill EP).
Next update is the Nema Promo tape. It will be a small update, probably either tonight or tomorrow.
:corn
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Just listened to the Phobia demo again. I know the recordings are poor and it's really raw, but I love it as a piece of history.
There is a certain atmosphere to these songs and honestly some promising moments. Listening to Feverish Convulsions, knowing the age of these kids, and what is to come, just adds a certain context that allows me to appreciate it in a way I wouldn't based on the music alone.
The scene and the era fascinates me, and even though I was just a bit too young to appreciate any of this at the time (although my older brother was getting into death metal around this time) there is an air of nostalgia that is almost out of my grasp, but not quite.
I'd love to actually hear the band rerecord these songs (I'm not sure if they ever did).
Anyway, I'm all :corn for the next installment (which I assume will be the Yggdrasill EP).
Next update is the Nema Promo tape. It will be a small update, probably either tonight or tomorrow.
:corn
I'm working on it. One of my employees has been sick with covid, so I've been covering for him, in addition to the million other things I have to do :P
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It's alright dude, just ignore my over eagerness. Get to it when you can :tup
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So this will be a small update, since there isn't much information on this era of the band. It's a short era, encompassing only 5-6 months.
Nema
After Enslaved formed in roughly June of 1991, they rehearsed together for about 6 months and after playing their first gig together on November 30th in Haugesund, they entered the studio in December of ‘91 to record a Promo to get their name out there and try to get some gigs outside of their hometown. The Promo consisted of 2 songs, plus an ambient intro and outro. It was recorded over 2 days, but the quality turned out so poor that they didn’t even bother mixing it, let alone releasing it. The band has stated that they ended up making about 30 or so copies, some of which still exist.
The sound here is starting to get closer to a more Black Metal style. You can even start to hear glimpses of what the band would really become in just a couple short years. This also showed how the band wanted to go their own way in Black Metal, unlike all their contemporaries. This would become even more apparent on the next demo. Overall, this promo has a very gloomy and atmospheric sound. It’s also very lo-fi once again. I mean, if you thought the Phobia demo was bad, you ain’t heard nothing yet!
(https://i.discogs.com/9uik93zgRERtSSvTX1kckMueo3KWcj6R-ftuDIcCfWo/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:411/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTY0NjQ0/OTItMTYyODUzMjY5/MC02NjQ0LmpwZWc.jpeg)
(https://i.discogs.com/ZrmjY6PK6SO0_gBdFby3J3kDzNhiKQw65vHAvh6fxXQ/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:375/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTY0NjQ0/OTItMTU3MDg4ODk0/OS04NTI1LmpwZWc.jpeg)
I plan on doing another quick listening party for this demo on Deep-cut.fm. Again, this is another short one, only about 16 minutes. Hopefully I can do that Friday around the same time we did the last one.
We'll start getting into the real meat and potatoes with the next update.
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I haven't listened to this demo but when I downloaded some of their earlier albums last week I was able to download a copy of Nema. I'll give it a spin today and post some thoughts.
Edit: Yea, it's rough :lol there are some definite flashes of what is to come and as I kinda already said previously, I'm impressed by the atmosphere that a young Ivar (who I think plays all the keys right?) is able to create. Most kids at that age, and older, would just want to emulate their idols. It seems these guys had a vision and set about achieving it, from day one. You gotta love that.
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We doing this tonight?
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Yeah, that's the plan. It will probably be somewhere between 6 and 7pm EST.
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Yeah, that's the plan. It will probably be somewhere between 6 and 7pm EST.
Not sure I'll be awake, but if I am, I'm in.
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Listening to the two songs now on youtube. I can't promise I can make the DJ thingy tonight, but if I can, I will.
The vocals are horrendous, but I find the guitar playing really cool for a basement tape. I think VDO is better then the other one. It's actually really good. Did these sings make it onto an album of some sort. Yeah, this second song is awesome.
It says it was done on 12/6 & 12/7 of 1991.
To let you know where I was, on 12/6/91, I was at the second of back to back Guns n Roses (with Soundgarden opening) shows at the Worcester Centrum. They were the first two dates of the second leg of the UYI tour.
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It says it was done on 12/6 & 12/7 of 1991.
To let you know where I was, on 12/6/91, I was at the second of back to back Guns n Roses (with Soundgarden opening) shows at the Worcester Centrum. They were the first two dates of the second leg of the UYI tour.
What did you have for lunch that day?
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It says it was done on 12/6 & 12/7 of 1991.
To let you know where I was, on 12/6/91, I was at the second of back to back Guns n Roses (with Soundgarden opening) shows at the Worcester Centrum. They were the first two dates of the second leg of the UYI tour.
What did you have for lunch that day?
Save it for Deepcut.fm session, it'll really help set the scene.
Impressive you can remember that Tim, I tried really hard to remove the only memory I have of seeing (some) of Guns N Roses.
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Impressive you can remember that Tim, I tried really hard to remove the only memory I have of seeing (some) of Guns N Roses.
They were great back in the day.
I remember a lot of concert dates. I mean, I have them on a document, but my memory of dates is pretty good. In fact, today, November 17.....on 11/17/87, I saw Alice Cooper at the old Boston Garden. I had a backstage pass and have pic with some of his band, including Ken Mary, and one with Kane Roberts putting me in a head lock.
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Impressive you can remember that Tim, I tried really hard to remove the only memory I have of seeing (some) of Guns N Roses.
They were great back in the day.
To be fair, I bet they were. The year I caught part of their set was Download Festival 2006. I'd actually tried to catch Prodigy playing in the tent (3rd stage) but it reached capacity and they stopped letting people in.
I caught a bit of GNR with friends, but Axl through a hissy fit because you could hear the Prodigy set/crowd over the mainstage. He walked off and refused to come back on until Prodigy finished their set :lol
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Impressive you can remember that Tim, I tried really hard to remove the only memory I have of seeing (some) of Guns N Roses.
They were great back in the day.
To be fair, I bet they were. The year I caught part of their set was Download Festival 2006. I'd actually tried to catch Prodigy playing in the tent (3rd stage) but it reached capacity and they stopped letting people in.
I caught a bit of GNR with friends, but Axl through a hissy fit because you could hear the Prodigy set/crowd over the mainstage. He walked off and refused to come back on until Prodigy finished their set :lol
The first time I saw them was in a small club on 10/26/87. The did a short East Coast club tour. I have some amazing pics from that show.
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I might be able to push it to 5-5:30pm EST. If that helps anyone. :corn
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I might be able to push it to 5-5:30pm EST. If that helps anyone. :corn
I don't know how long that is from now, but I'm gonna jump into the Deepcut.fm session in 5 :metal
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I might be able to push it to 5-5:30pm EST. If that helps anyone. :corn
I don't know how long that is from now, but I'm gonna jump into the Deepcut.fm session in 5 :metal
Add 5 hours for BST
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Nema will be played in Deepcut.fm shortly :metal
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That's really cool TAC that you remember dates so clearly. I generally remember the time of year and usually the month, but not the specific day. I've seen Rush and DT on July 4th before so I suppose I remember that date. :)
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That's really cool TAC that you remember dates so clearly. I generally remember the time of year and usually the month, but not the specific day. I've seen Rush and DT on July 4th before so I suppose I remember that date. :)
Pretty sure I've never seen a show on July 4th. Saw the Clash Of the Titans on July 6th...1991.
Surely you know the dates of your first Katatonia concerts, no?
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That's really cool TAC that you remember dates so clearly. I generally remember the time of year and usually the month, but not the specific day. I've seen Rush and DT on July 4th before so I suppose I remember that date. :)
Pretty sure I've never seen a show on July 4th. Saw the Clash Of the Titans on July 6th...1991.
Surely you know the dates of your first Katatonia concerts, no?
Not without looking it up. They weren't my favorite band yet, but even if they were, I've never really made it a point to think about the date. Maybe if I just saw 1 show but I usually see several on a tour.
I've seen Rush 3 times on the 4th.
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That's really cool TAC that you remember dates so clearly. I generally remember the time of year and usually the month, but not the specific day. I've seen Rush and DT on July 4th before so I suppose I remember that date. :)
Pretty sure I've never seen a show on July 4th. Saw the Clash Of the Titans on July 6th...1991.
Surely you know the dates of your first Katatonia concerts, no?
Not without looking it up. They weren't my favorite band yet, but even if they were, I've never really made it a point to think about the date. Maybe if I just saw 1 show but I usually see several on a tour.
I've seen Rush 3 times on the 4th.
My first Rush show was 12-5-85, without looking it up. Saw Kiss three weeks later on the 22nd. They wanted to schedule my wisdom teeth to come out like the day before, and I was like fuck that, I'm going to see Kiss. So we did them right after Christmas.
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Wanna go to Vegas and count cards? :)
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Wanna go to Vegas and count cards? :)
(https://i.makeagif.com/media/5-02-2016/5TguDY.gif)
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(https://i.giphy.com/media/3zpHYzhLV3ZzW/giphy.webp)
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Nerds cluttering my thread :lol
I'm working on the next update. Not sure when it will go up. I may not have time tomorrow, so it might be Friday before it gets posted.
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:corn
Well I've been listening to Enslaved pretty consistently since the thread started, so I am ready!
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:corn
Well I've been listening to Enslaved pretty consistently since the thread started, so I am ready!
I've distracted myself by listening to Metro Epic round playlist. :lol
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:corn
Well I've been listening to Enslaved pretty consistently since the thread started, so I am ready!
I've distracted myself by listening to Metro Epic round playlist. :lol
I've been dipping into it, but not listened to all the songs yet. I've also been busying myself ranking all the Dream Theater songs for the countdown.
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:corn
Well I've been listening to Enslaved pretty consistently since the thread started, so I am ready!
I've distracted myself by listening to Metro Epic round playlist. :lol
I've been dipping into it, but not listened to all the songs yet. I've also been busying myself ranking all the Dream Theater songs for the countdown.
Oh, that's one more thing I need to do...
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:corn
Well I've been listening to Enslaved pretty consistently since the thread started, so I am ready!
I've distracted myself by listening to Metro Epic round playlist. :lol
I've been dipping into it, but not listened to all the songs yet. I've also been busying myself ranking all the Dream Theater songs for the countdown.
Oh, that's one more thing I need to do...
If it was a Top 25 it'd be real easy, but as it is a Top 100 my OCD won't let me just do an off the cuff ranking :lol I'm spending way too much time making sure my ranking for songs in the bottom 50 are ranked accordingly. It's kinda fun though as I haven't really listened through the bands full discography in years.
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(https://i.gifer.com/3czN.gif)
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Nice gif :lol and sorry about the delay with this update. It's been a busy week.
Yggdrasill
Unhappy with the sound of the Nema Promo, the band went back to work rehearsing and then hit the road for some shows. It was during one of these shows that all the pieces would start to fall into place for the band. On a fateful night on April 13th, 1992, Enslaved would play a gig with another upcoming new band, Emperor (as it would happen this was Emperor’s first gig), and another band called Infinite Decay (they disbanded shortly after this gig and was reformed into Limbonic Art). This gig opened up a bunch of new doors for Enslaved, as we will talk about in more detail in future updates.
(https://i.discogs.com/FwkowOJ3EY2Tpiog0JOcSP3D3ONrFAIz9Zs_iwSKqEA/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:450/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTM3OTQ1/Mi0xNTgyMTU2OTY4/LTIyMDMuanBlZw.jpeg)(https://i.discogs.com/3wR36BRGRrK5KE5NPm9jbjbXCx2CIgwpPJ1-ieyqTrg/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:369/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTI4MTU1/NTMtMTY3MzM4ODg1/Mi02MzA1LmpwZWc.jpeg)(https://i.discogs.com/7cw9yG95syokGb5cjV2zVRveErgEsNUPsvaSfdzIlfA/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:361/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTI4MTU1/NTMtMTY3MzM4ODg1/MS01NTU4LmpwZWc.jpeg)(https://i.discogs.com/6IqSnF61ojAQXiWElfvAoPsiwBtOgaZuWdQD5cBiaVM/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:329/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTI4MTU1/NTMtMTY3MzM4ODg1/Mi04MDI1LmpwZWc.jpeg)(https://i.discogs.com/uKSyyOgWA0tYG-pTcwh5T3ipBaXHSp-q75rT60Rl1Co/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:304/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTI4MTU1/NTMtMTY3MzM4ODg1/MS03NDcxLmpwZWc.jpeg)
[Band photos of Emperor, circa 1992]
As another side note, the band Emperor was a catalyst for numerous other big name bands starting in Norway. Terje Vik Schei, better known as Tchort, played bass for Emperor for a short while in the early years. Prior to that he had formed a little band called Green Carnation, which he disbanded a couple years before joining Emperor. He left Emperor in ‘94 because he was imprisoned for 2 years. Shortly after he was released from prison he decided to reform Green Carnation. And of course there’s Ihsahn who just about everyone around here should know from his solo career and ties to Leprous.
Just a couple months after the gig with Emperor, Enslaved went back into the studio, on June 28th and 29th, to record another demo, this one called Yggdrasill. As it turned out, the band had a hard time finding a studio that could do a proper recording of extreme metal. They eventually found a studio called Micro Music on the island of Karmøy that would record their demo. The band was able to scrape together the $330 usd that would be needed to pay for the studio time and mixing. The band recorded all the music together in about 45 minutes in the studio, then recorded the keyboards over the top of that, then vocals last. The funny thing about the recording process was they realized during the first day they only had enough money to do the vocals and mixing of 1 song. They had to come back the next day after borrowing more money from their parents to finish the demo. (there’s actually a little more to this story which I will follow up on in the next update). The production on this one turned out much better. It’s still somewhat lo-fi, but a clear improvement, with the exception of the drums maybe being a bit too muffled. At any rate, this album was both recorded and mixed on those 2 days in June. Yes, this one was actually mixed, which is probably why it sounds so much better than Nema. This time the demo clocks in at more than double the length of Nema, at 34 minutes and change. There are 6 tracks here including a short interlude and an instrumental outro. Although on some versions, the interlude is left out. There are also some re-issues of the demo that include an additional bonus track called Enslaved.
(https://i.discogs.com/2MwIkKakMEVeEUkhhdxaiGouyLln9uiDUh41J0P9h08/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:338/w:450/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE2NjE4/NTktMTM0OTA5MzUy/Mi04MDMzLmpwZWc.jpeg)(https://i.discogs.com/-qBxd2tdWWTXyEWomAPaSccONQvsy8PFv64To1xgyps/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:575/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTI1MzYx/MDQxLTE2NzAxMDEw/OTEtODA1Ni5qcGVn.jpeg)(https://i.discogs.com/BucgIw1C9Wk7TCnUkd2Oz2A80RdnTHPhp4oMmu8e9Dw/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTM1NjE2/MTYtMTM3NDkzNzM2/My03NjU3LmpwZWc.jpeg)(https://i.discogs.com/0eMsc63aO_9dvv9ZCBxu3tzmHDcOASQi1rST4OT5Zuc/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:467/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTM1NjE2/MTYtMTM3NDkzNzM1/NC0xNzIzLmpwZWc.jpeg)
[L-R: Original Cassette demo, Limited Edition LP re-issue, CD re-issue]
Tracklist:
1. Heimdallr
2. Allfáðr Oðinn
3. Intermezzo
4. Hal Valr
5. Niunda Heim
6. The Winter Kingdom Opus I: Resound of Gjallarhorn
Bonus track: Enslaved
Musically and lyrically, this is where Enslaved really started separating themselves from the rest of the second wave of Black Metal. Unlike their contemporaries, they decided to pay homage to their native lands history, by writing songs about Norway’s past, Norse mythology, and their Viking heritage. They also started writing much longer songs, as seen by the 4 main songs being 6-8 minutes long. The actual music still leans pretty heavily on the more aggressive and fast paced Black Metal that was common at the time, but it is atmosphere provided by the keyboards and the drawn out repeated riffs that gave this demo a life of its own and started gaining the attention of some of the bigger acts at the time (Mayhem, Bathory, Darkthrone, etc) and one person in particular that was at the center of the whole Norwegian Black Metal movement. We’ll talk more about this in the following update.
Some additional band photos from around this time.
(https://i.discogs.com/huwBlcdbcSux0lgl1PjqOTsE0svfx3Ojb8WbKJ5dWAE/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTM1NjE2/MTYtMTQyMjA3MDAy/MS04ODk4LmpwZWc.jpeg)(https://i.discogs.com/arqG-4KMqVufpM_xdSh5uemzwITIu18rL5s0aga7WCk/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:597/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTM1NjE2/MTYtMTQyMjA3MDAy/MS00MjYxLmpwZWc.jpeg)
(https://i.discogs.com/aCnmK27B5lfyYi5IIfXLWrLFoIFDq7I_zkgRxBb9mQ8/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:597/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTM1NjE2/MTYtMTQyMjA3MDAy/MS01NzU4LmpwZWc.jpeg)(https://i.discogs.com/o1oA2Bgx-vcGOmKRf1C9tHyHnYCRFhj08Q6rEOb5QPY/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:597/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTM1NjE2/MTYtMTQyMjA3MDAy/MS00ODY1LmpwZWc.jpeg)
Coming up next: The band receives an offer they can't refuse
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Nice update dude. I have listened to Yggdrasill a few times but I can't remember a great deal about it, so I'll give it another spin today. I think you hit the nail on the head about why I prefer Enslaved's brand of black metal, over their contemporaries, with their viking themes, use of atmospheric keys and longer songs.
I didn't really know much of the background about the recording, and it's nice having a little focus on Emperor as well. Emperor are a band I've never gotten into, which has always surprised me since I've tried their albums many times and really like most of Ihsahn's solo output. I guess I'll revisit the albums I've got on my ipod. I also wasn't aware of the Green Carnation link to Emperor, not that I have listened to a great deal by them either.
Maybe someone needs to a do a thread on the history of black metal, with a detailed chart showing how all these bands connect :lol
I'll post thoughts on Yggdrasill after giving it another spin.
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Nice update dude. I have listened to Yggdrasill a few times but I can't remember a great deal about it, so I'll give it another spin today. I think you hit the nail on the head about why I prefer Enslaved's brand of black metal, over their contemporaries, with their viking themes, use of atmospheric keys and longer songs.
I didn't really know much of the background about the recording, and it's nice having a little focus on Emperor as well. Emperor are a band I've never gotten into, which has always surprised me since I've tried their albums many times and really like most of Ihsahn's solo output. I guess I'll revisit the albums I've got on my ipod. I also wasn't aware of the Green Carnation link to Emperor, not that I have listened to a great deal by them either.
Maybe someone needs to a do a thread on the history of black metal, with a detailed chart showing how all these bands connect :lol
I'll post thoughts on Yggdrasill after giving it another spin.
I'm going to kind of be recapping a lot of the history of the Norwegian Black Metal scene, since Enslaved was there from the beginning (basically helped start it along with the other bands that have been mentioned so far) and had a profound effect on the genre moving forward. I'll be digging deeper.
I also plan on doing a listening party in Deep-cut.fm on Sunday.
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I'm a casual fan of Emperor and Ihsahn's solo material, and a bigger one of Green Carnation, that's a link I was aware of. I'll try and give that demo a listen in the near future (possibly in deepcut.fm too, I'm unsure of my availability tomorrow).
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I'll be all up in the Deepcut.fm session if it goes ahead tomorrow :tup
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Yggdrasill demo Listening Party in Deep-cut.fm in about 30 minutes! :corn :kvlt:
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Should have the next update up tomorrow sometime.
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(https://i.gifer.com/3czN.gif)
Currently listening to Mardraum in preparation.
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Oops, I lied. I'm going to try to get it finished up tonight. Was at an event all day and will be visiting family tomorrow.... :corn
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Hordanes Land
In between the recording of the Nema promo and the Yggdrasill demo, the band had become acquaintances with Euronymous of Mayhem. Incidentally Euronymous had heard Nema and even though Ivar and Grutle didn’t think the quality was good enough to distribute, Euronymous heard a spark of something in there he liked and told the band that if they were to record another demo and he liked it he would be interested in helping Enslaved out. Turns out Euronymous had recently opened a record store in Oslo called Helvete. This became a local hang out and epicenter for the burgeoning Norwegian black metal movement. Euronymous also had formed his own independent record label called Deathlike Silence Productions.
(https://www.metal-archives.com/images/3/8/38_artist.jpg?1646)
[Euronymous]
When Enslaved finished recording the Yggdrasill demo, they took it to Euronymous at the record shop the next day. He immediately gave them a record deal. However due to logistics reasons Enslaved didn’t release anything through the label until 1994. In the meantime, they got to writing some new material over the next few months and went back into the recording studio in September and October of ‘92, this time at Lydloftet Studio in Ølen. They spent much more time on this recording than anything previously and the results speak for themselves. The production is much clearer and the instrumentation is light years ahead of where they were just a few months prior. It was quite impressive for a couple of 18 year olds and a 14 year old. Perhaps the most impressive part being the quality of songwriting, especially compared to their contemporaries who were not only older, but had been around for longer.
The new EP was called Hordanes Land, was released on Candlelight Records, and it consisted of 2 new tracks, plus a re-imagined and re-recorded Allfǫðr Oðinn from the Yggdrasill demo. The band also started expanding into more progressive areas and longer song lengths with this release. At the suggestion of Euronymous the band started incorporating musical techniques from classical music, electronic music, prog rock and other genres, like glissando, playing with grand diminished chords, chromatic scales, and other techniques. Also incorporating tremolo picking and using all the strings on the guitar for chord progressions instead of just using 2 or 3 strings for power chords like most of the rest of the metal world was doing at the time.
(https://www.metalkingdom.net/album-photo/2019/12/15749-Enslaved-Hordanes-Land.jpg)(https://www.metalkingdom.net/album-photo/2019/12/15749-Enslaved-Hordanes-Land-2.jpg)
Candlelight Records released the EP in May of 1993. Then released it again as a split with Emperor the following month to get a wider audience. The EP released to rave reviews in underground metal circles and publications. Enslaved had found their break, but soon the fledgling Norwegian underground black metal scene would be thrown into a deeper darkness that it was already in. This is a story for another day though.
(https://i.discogs.com/CDgErhFu7vKUI5sGC7iCD7SkHuj-dAfG-p0ouF-6pcQ/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:597/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE4ODUw/MDAtMTQyNTc1Mzg2/My02ODcxLmpwZWc.jpeg)(https://i.discogs.com/XLRzYWv3aPtNNGnhKA84t0D4l-2qBVRaN_tEBtOpKd8/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:598/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE4ODUw/MDAtMTQyNTc1Mzg2/Mi0zMDc2LmpwZWc.jpeg)
(https://i.discogs.com/he080tCA90VMQcfeDUy1LFGB38bKVJcEsNHcorD3GZM/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:581/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE4ODUw/MDAtMTQyNTc1Mzg2/Mi03NjQ0LmpwZWc.jpeg)(https://i.discogs.com/E6ARGLt0QW9vcYE97JqEg-5L98p1VijrW3e_cQg6g74/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:596/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE4ODUw/MDAtMTQyNTc1Mzg2/Mi05OTQxLmpwZWc.jpeg)
[Tracklist]
1. Slaget i skogen bortenfor (Epilog / Slaget)
2. Allfǫðr Oðinn
3. Balfǫr (Andi fara / Prologr)
[Runtime: 30:49]
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Now we're getting to the real meat and potatoes!
I'll give it a relisten later today and post some thoughts.
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This is where the band really show what they are made of, and as you said Puppies, this release is such a vast improvement over the original demos. This is actually listenable for a start and I happily go back to this release and can listen regularly.
I'm not sure if it's that they honed their craft in the short period between Yggdrasill and this, or they just spent more time on their sound, and the recording process. I imagine it's the latter, and the results speak for themselves. Each instrument sounds much clearer, the vocals sound better, but it's also just a better performance. Like, more than anything they just sound way more mature, which is again astounding, as they were too young to sound this mature in my opinion.
I need to go and listen to some of the other early black metal coming out of Norway at this time, to really compare where they were at. Really thinking about it, I just respect them even more.
Bring on the next installment!
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I suppose when you grow up completely immersed and playing in a genre (Metal, and Death Metal to be more specific) that is actively being turned on its head and with parents that were completely supportive you can progress much more quickly. I mean pretty much all the bands in the area were really young, but a new genre and style of playing was being birthed, which is extremely progressive when it comes to music. Then throw in the fact that their parents and Euronymous were constantly giving them recommendations for bands to listen to and draw inspiration from and you can see how it all just clicked into place.
They got the 2 demos out of the way, got a record deal handed to them, then they hit the ground running and never looked back. All by the age of 18 or younger.
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Anyone up for a Hordanes Land listening party sometime this week?
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But of course.
It'll good for those who have participated in the previous ones to hear the step up in quality.
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But of course.
It'll good for those who have participated in the previous ones to hear the step up in quality.
Yeah, I just hope I didn't scare everyone away from the thread with the poor quality of the demos :lol
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But of course.
It'll good for those who have participated in the previous ones to hear the step up in quality.
Yeah, I just hope I didn't scare everyone away from the thread with the poor quality of the demos :lol
I wouldn't say I was scared away, but it definitely sapped some enthusiasm. :biggrin:
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But of course.
It'll good for those who have participated in the previous ones to hear the step up in quality.
Yeah, I just hope I didn't scare everyone away from the thread with the poor quality of the demos :lol
I wouldn't say I was scared away, but it definitely sapped some enthusiasm. :biggrin:
This is just the warm up dude. It's all rise from here on out.
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Well, I've already heard half a dozen of their more recent albums, so I know where they end up, but I can't deny it's been a bit of a slog for me so far. ;)
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Who's up for a listening party in the next 15-30 minutes?
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Anyone up for a Hordanes Land listening party sometime this week?
I actually just started listening a couple of minutes ago.
I didn't bother with demos but will follow from here. Straight off the bat, not much to say, this sounds like black metal of it's time. The amount of reverb and mix between the vocals and the rest of the instruments makes me chuckle a bit.
I like the orchestral touches in this first track. Around 3:25 reminds me what Iced Earth did in Dante's Inferno.
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But of course.
It'll good for those who have participated in the previous ones to hear the step up in quality.
Yeah, I just hope I didn't scare everyone away from the thread with the poor quality of the demos :lol
I wouldn't say I was scared away, but it definitely sapped some enthusiasm. :biggrin:
Probably subconsciously why I skipped them. I'm not one that listens to demos of any bands and given the time and genrem was probably no use to me.
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Not scared away at all, and I've been meaning to get back to this. Been a hectic week here. I'll catch up in the next couple of days.
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Not scared away at all, and I've been meaning to get back to this. Been a hectic week here. I'll catch up in the next couple of days.
8 minutes into this EP, it's worth half hour of your time.
Loled a bit at the spoken word part around the 5 minute mark.
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Not scared away at all, and I've been meaning to get back to this. Been a hectic week here. I'll catch up in the next couple of days.
8 minutes into this EP, it's worth half hour of your time.
Loled a bit at the spoken word part around the 5 minute mark.
I'm on it! But I have other listening commitments tonight. ;D
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But of course.
It'll good for those who have participated in the previous ones to hear the step up in quality.
Yeah, I just hope I didn't scare everyone away from the thread with the poor quality of the demos :lol
I wouldn't say I was scared away, but it definitely sapped some enthusiasm. :biggrin:
Probably subconsciously why I skipped them. I'm not one that listens to demos of any bands and given the time and genrem was probably no use to me.
The demos are kind of fun, if you are curious to see where they got started. Plus the fact they (Ivar and Grutle) were 12 and 16 when they got started and what they were doing in those early days at that age is still pretty amazing. I mean when they recorded the Hordanes Land EP Ivar was still only 15. Not to mention Enslaved had 3 full length albums recorded and released and the band was touring Europe extensively all before Ivar turned 20.
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But of course.
It'll good for those who have participated in the previous ones to hear the step up in quality.
Yeah, I just hope I didn't scare everyone away from the thread with the poor quality of the demos :lol
I wouldn't say I was scared away, but it definitely sapped some enthusiasm. :biggrin:
Probably subconsciously why I skipped them. I'm not one that listens to demos of any bands and given the time and genrem was probably no use to me.
The demos are kind of fun, if you are curious to see where they got started. Plus the fact they (Ivar and Grutle) were 12 and 16 when they got started and what they were doing in those early days at that age is still pretty amazing. I mean when they recorded the Hordanes Land EP Ivar was still only 15. Not to mention Enslaved had 3 full length albums recorded and released and the band was touring Europe extensively all before Ivar turned 20.
Wow, that's damn impressive.
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But of course.
It'll good for those who have participated in the previous ones to hear the step up in quality.
Yeah, I just hope I didn't scare everyone away from the thread with the poor quality of the demos :lol
I wouldn't say I was scared away, but it definitely sapped some enthusiasm. :biggrin:
Probably subconsciously why I skipped them. I'm not one that listens to demos of any bands and given the time and genrem was probably no use to me.
The demos are kind of fun, if you are curious to see where they got started. Plus the fact they (Ivar and Grutle) were 12 and 16 when they got started and what they were doing in those early days at that age is still pretty amazing. I mean when they recorded the Hordanes Land EP Ivar was still only 15. Not to mention Enslaved had 3 full length albums recorded and released and the band was touring Europe extensively all before Ivar turned 20.
Wow, that's damn impressive.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that Ivar has always been the main songwriter for the band's entire career. In fact, Ivar wrote all the music pre-Eld. From Eld onward, Grutle started writing a few songs here and there and other band members started helping Ivar with some songs.
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Ivar is a damn black metal prodigy!
I love the atmospheres they create with their music, right off the bat, and I appreciate that their progress roots were there from the start as well. The main criticism I have is that some of the longer songs from their early career are just long because they are really repetitive. I'd say that is even more prevalent on their first full length, Vikingligr Veldi.
Wolfking, I said it earlier in the thread, but I see the early demos as a history and context for what's to come. They are really rough around the edges, and I wouldn't revisit them often (if at all) but when you listen knowing how young they were, and they were at the forefront of an emerging scene, it puts the music into perspective (at least it does for me).
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Noted Luke. I wasn't going too but I'll give them a run through early next week.
I will say, I'm not sure if I've heard any Enslaved songs. Maybe sampled a song once or twice but can't recall a thing so I'm going in stone cold.
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Noted Luke. I wasn't going too but I'll give them a run through early next week.
I will say, I'm not sure if I've heard any Enslaved songs. Maybe sampled a song once or twice but can't recall a thing so I'm going in stone cold.
The early demos/promos are really short, so it won't take much of your time to get through them.
Their early stuff is kinda standard early black metal, but they focused more on lyrical themes surrounding vikings and norse mythology, and didn't get caught up in the church burnings and such.
They were also more progressive than their contemporaries and as such set themselves apart. As their sound grows you'll heat more of that progressive side coming through, and less old school black metal. Black metal is always the root of their sound, but it becomes more polished and less raw.
I know Puppies will agree with me when I say that I honestly don't believe they've released a bad album. They really are quite unique and have some killer albums/songs.
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Noted Luke. I wasn't going too but I'll give them a run through early next week.
I will say, I'm not sure if I've heard any Enslaved songs. Maybe sampled a song once or twice but can't recall a thing so I'm going in stone cold.
Ooh, this will be an interesting journey for you then. :metal
As I mentioned in the outset of this thread, I first got into Enslaved with the Isa album, which is a probably one of the best jumping off points for the band. Although, it will be interesting to hear your take starting at the very beginning and working your way through the discography with almost no prior knowledge. It will be a unique perspective.
The early demos/promos are really short, so it won't take much of your time to get through them.
Their early stuff is kinda standard early black metal, but they focused more on lyrical themes surrounding vikings and norse mythology, and didn't get caught up in the church burnings and such.
They were also more progressive than their contemporaries and as such set themselves apart. As their sound grows you'll heat more of that progressive side coming through, and less old school black metal. Black metal is always the root of their sound, but it becomes more polished and less raw.
I know Puppies will agree with me when I say that I honestly don't believe they've released a bad album. They really are quite unique and have some killer albums/songs.
Definitely not a single bad album. There are some I like more than others for sure, but no turds in the Enslaved pool.
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Sweet lads, I'm in. Looking forward to it. I'll go back to those demos too then.
But I can definitely confirm I have no prior knowledge on this band. I knew the name obviously but that's it. I didn't even really know ow they were black metal. I thought they were like a progressive, doom, extreme kind mix or whatever. But that's based on nothing.
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Sweet lads, I'm in. Looking forward to it. I'll go back to those demos too then.
But I can definitely confirm I have no prior knowledge on this band. I knew the name obviously but that's it. I didn't even really know ow they were black metal. I thought they were like a progressive, doom, extreme kind mix or whatever. But that's based on nothing.
They sort of slowly morph into a Proggy Extreme Metal band, but it has always been rooted in Black Metal.
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Ah nice. That makes sense. Looking forward to them.
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Who's up for a listening party in the next 15-30 minutes?
Tonight?
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Who's up for a listening party in the next 15-30 minutes?
Tonight?
Unfortunately I can't today or tomorrow. Way too much on my plate. Perhaps Sunday.
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I'm easy, I just couldn't make last night as it was short notice and I was heading to bed shortly after.
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Who's up for a listening party in the next 15-30 minutes?
Tonight?
Unfortunately I can't today or tomorrow. Way too much on my plate. Perhaps Sunday.
We doing this thing?
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Who's up for a listening party in the next 15-30 minutes?
Tonight?
Unfortunately I can't today or tomorrow. Way too much on my plate. Perhaps Sunday.
We doing this thing?
Yeah. Probably in about 2 hours. Hopefully that works for y'all.
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Yea that should work for me.
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I probably need another 20 minutes before I can jump in.
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That works for me, took a while to settle the kiddo tonight.
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Be in ASAP
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Queueing things up!
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Sorry, couldn't make the party. I wanted to hit Yggdrasill again before moving on. As I remembered from the listening party, the first two songs showed a lot of promise, but the best song was the last one, Enslaved. But yeah, it's a rough listen.
Will hit Hordanes Land on youtube..
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On Hordanes now.
The Battle In The Forest is awesome. Doesn't really feel like 13 minutes. The sound on this is so much better then Yggsdrill. This has some of those cheesy keyboard parts like on Yggsdrill, but I can at least see what they were going for, even of they didn't quite get there with them.
I don't know if I loved All Father Odin, but the last minute or so was really good.
Journey By Fire starts out with a different kind of rhythm that I've heard so far. I like it. The changeup must be where the Departure Of the Soul starts, and that's a nice break too.
Why does the EP end with a section called Prologue while Epilogue is in the first song? ;D
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I haven't listened to anything yet. Just when I was going to get started, some stuff came up, and when I had time to listen to anything it was something familiar. But I'm going to start for real this week.
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On Hordanes now.
The Battle In The Forest is awesome. Doesn't really feel like 13 minutes. The sound on this is so much better then Yggsdrill. This has some of those cheesy keyboard parts like on Yggsdrill, but I can at least see what they were going for, even of they didn't quite get there with them.
I don't know if I loved All Father Odin, but the last minute or so was really good.
Journey By Fire starts out with a different kind of rhythm that I've heard so far. I like it. The changeup must be where the Departure Of the Soul starts, and that's a nice break too.
Why does the EP end with a section called Prologue while Epilogue is in the first song? ;D
So, this was done intentionally, but I'm not sure why. I tried to find a band interview with some information on it, but not much exists regarding stuff pre-1994. All I could find was it was intentional.
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I wasn't able to join the listening session - is there a link to hear these somewhere?
Here's the Youtube links for the 3 songs on the second demo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvgmZ3Z-bHI&t=1s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF4ah6Q8MUs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYJF5X-50xU
The other songs from the first demo are only available on the compilation called Slaughterhouse Tapes. It's available on bandcamp.
https://nuclearwarnowproductions.bandcamp.com/album/slaughterhouse-tapes
I just listened to these. The Last Settlement of Ragnarok was my favorite. It kind of sounded creepy at times, in a cool way. Overall I can't listen to those really deep harsh vocals for long, but this was just a few songs. I definitely prefer the kind of harsh vocals they have now, or at least at the recent show I saw.
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I listened to Yggdrasill a couple times today. I definitely liked it more than the initial demos; especially the vocals.
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I listened to Yggdrasill a couple times today. I definitely liked it more than the initial demos; especially the vocals.
Yeah, this was where they really started shifting to the Black/Viking metal sound. Whereas earlier work was much more rooted in Death Metal.
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Hordanes Land Addendum
Just a bit of clarification and correction. The Hordanes Land EP was released on Candlelight Records as a favor to the owner of Candlelight Records, Lee Barrett. He was just getting his record label going and wanted to release some new Black Metal as the label’s first release. He got in contact with Euronymous, seeing as how he was the center of the whole Norwegian black metal movement and asked if he recommended anyone. So he recommended both Enslaved and Emperor. Thus, we got individual EP’s from both bands and a split album combining those EPs.
Also, another correction. Enslaved actually never released an album on Euronymous’s label, even though that was the intention for the band's first album. I’m currently working on that update, so you’ll get the full scoop on that soon-ish.
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I'm glad you cleared that all up. ;D
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Vikingligr Veldi
Starting in 1992 the Black Metal world started to be turned on its head and not in a good way. In May of ‘92 the Storetveit Church in Bergen was burned down. Then in June the Fantoft stave church in Bergen was burned down by Varg Vikernes (the man infamously behind Burzum, more about him later). Then in August the Revheim Church in Stavanger and the Holmenkollen Chapel in Oslo were burned down. The latter of which was done by Varg, Faust (of Emperor), and Euronymous. On the way home from this, Faust killed a guy in Lillehammer by stabbing him 37 times. In September the Ormøya Church in Oslo and the Skjold Church in Vindafjord were burned down. The latter was done by Varg and Samoth (of Emperor). In October the Hauketo Church in Oslo was burned down. Then in December the Åsane Church in Bergen was burned down by Varg and Jørn Inge Tunsberg, who was briefly in Immortal until he was kicked out.
Then there was the whole Bergens Tidende newspaper article in January of ‘93. The story goes, Varg set up an anonymous interview with the newspaper with journalist Finn Bjørn Tønder. When he and the other journalists arrived at the interview location they were told they would be shot if they called the police and during the interview Varg told them that he had burned down the churches and knew who else was involved. He also told them he knew who killed the guy in Lillehammer and that church burnings and murders would continue. According to Varg the goal of this interview was spreading fear, promoting black metal, and getting more customers for Helvete, Euronymous’ record store. Consequently, a lot of the people involved in what they had called the Black Metal Inner Circle were arrested and questioned, but at the time nothing stuck. Varg was in jail for about 6 weeks because of this stunt. Euronymous also decided to close his record shop Helvete because of the attention it was getting from police and journalists, which pissed off Varg.
This incident was the beginning of the rapid decline of the relationship between Varg and Euronymous, both of whom were in the band Mayhem at the time. Although, there was animosity brewing between the 2 for the past couple years already. This ultimately led to Varg killing Euronymous on August 10th 1993, with the accomplice Snorre Westvold Ruch, who was also in Mayhem at the time. Varg and Snorre were arrested on August 19th along with a lot of others in the Black Metal community. A lot of them admitted to the church burnings and were sentenced. Samoth was in prison for 16 months. Faust was outed by Varg for the murder of the man in Lillehammer and for helping with the church burnings and was sentenced to 14 years in prison, but only ended up serving about 9 due to good behavior. Varg was sentenced to 21 years in prison for the murder of Euronymous, several church burnings, and for possession of 150kg of explosive when he was arrested, but was released after 15 years. Snorre was sentenced to 8 years for being an accomplice to the murder.
As a side note, it was Euronymous and Snorre that had pioneered the Black Metal tremolo picking style in the late ‘80s.
Lastly, there was a rivalry forming between the Norwegian Black Metal scene and the Swedish Death Metal scene, as well as a rivalry between the Norwegian and Finnish Black Metal scenes. Death threats were made and there were a lot of snarky comments made back and forth between all 3 scenes.
All this to say the Norwegian Black Metal scene was getting a bad reputation from all angles and justifiably so. So let’s circle back to March of ‘93 and back to the main reason we are all here, Enslaved. Immediately after finishing Hordanes Land, the band got back to writing new music for a proper album and seeing the direction most of the other bands in the Black metal scene were going, they decided to go their own way. Ivar and Grutle didn’t care about the political and religious aspects of what their contemporaries were doing and didn’t want to get involved, they just wanted to focus on making awesome music and writing lyrics about Norway’s history, mythology, and vikings. In March of ‘93 they went into the Grieghallen Studio in Bergen and started recording the album Vikingligr veldi, which was completed in April. This time going much bigger and grander than they had on the EP. The new album consisted of mostly new music, but they did rework and re-record Heimdallr, which was originally on the Yggdrasil demo. To help with their grand vision they had Eirik Hundvin (known as Pytten to most) produce, mix, and engineer the album. He became known for pioneering the reverb heavy production of a lot of the early Norwegian Black Metal bands and has worked with most of the big Norwegian Black metal bands, among others. On top of that, the well known Ronn Chick mastered the album.
(https://i.discogs.com/SEegGVzcTwiH_MoJhcNsqFmVcHSV9tWR-Ht2Sc7BwDg/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:594/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE4Nzcw/NjAtMTUxMzQxMTQy/Ni0xOTg4LmpwZWc.jpeg)(https://i.discogs.com/jNxtFA1Uk8JCil4Ly6nkeZFGlYEVhyO812i_EUjVzO4/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:595/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE4Nzcw/NjAtMTUxMzQxMTQy/Ny0yODU2LmpwZWc.jpeg)
Vikingligr veldi is a concept album of Old Norse history and the lyrics were all written in Medieval Icelandic with the exception of Heimdallr which was written in Old Norwegian. The album was originally slated to be released in the fall of ‘93, but with the aforementioned murder of Euronymous his record label was effectively shut down. So the band had no way to release the album and with the shutdown of Deathlike Silence Productions and the album was handed off to Deathlike’s partner label Voices of Wonder to be released. The problem was the label didn’t release it until February 22nd 1994, almost a year after they finished recording it. The album was ultimately dedicated to Euronymous in the liner notes.
(https://i.discogs.com/dE_aWQmA96k76RNj48TyQC0DkNvsgdgr-QkVsoFYjag/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:494/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTkwNTk4/MTMtMTQ3NDQ1MDY1/Ni05MDIyLmpwZWc.jpeg)(https://i.discogs.com/6-JyCTMdCFCnrlrjzwKFywgIgRaQgMtQdnDrFWsHmF0/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:594/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTkwNzE5/OTEtMTU2NjY1OTQ1/My05NTk1LmpwZWc.jpeg)
(https://i.discogs.com/EZY5fTBoovtWMCOYKuNSxdRascSNtK5W_9lkc2rPmOs/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:593/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTkwNzE5/OTEtMTU2NjY1OTQ1/NC0xNTY1LmpwZWc.jpeg)(https://i.discogs.com/iUIxQs5T5kZlCFyeLBo5esLyyPDs15CN6TZg17wvq8k/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:598/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTkwNzE5/OTEtMTU2NjY1OTQ1/NC04NjM1LmpwZWc.jpeg)(https://i.discogs.com/pxgzMbtAG8TgyHbqjUqhieAQvgW0vtYCW3GUnoDEvHc/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:595/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTkwNzE5/OTEtMTU2NjY1OTQ1/NC0xMDIyLmpwZWc.jpeg)(https://i.discogs.com/fLP6DO1hX_FP7upYmyc1IUJmiFhwsCXmTEwMKNhysMY/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:593/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTkwNzE5/OTEtMTU2NjY1OTQ1/NC0yNjg2LmpwZWc.jpeg)
Other notes of interest. Ivar was only 15 at the time this was recorded and he wrote the vast majority of the music and all the lyrics for the album. Also because of some legal technicalities and issues, this would be the only time the band would work with label Voices of Wonder (the label basically screwed the band over). This was the album that really set the band apart from the rest of not only the Norwegian Black Metal community, but the Black Metal world at large and firmly planted them at the forefront of Norway’s best Black Metal bands.
(https://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/0/9/9/1099.jpg?4752)
Tracklist
1. Lifandi lif undir hamri 11:31
2. Vetrarnótt 10:58
3. Miðgarðs eldar 11:16
4. Heimdallr 06:15
5. Norvegr 10:56
Bandcamp (https://enslaved.bandcamp.com/album/vikingligr-veldi)
Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/album/57OaCjNI4k5JrnKuJW2J2h?si=2_W6O84kTUaR6fqeYiIneQ)
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Wonderful artwork, horrible band pictures. :lol
Might not be able to give this a proper listen til Monday, but looking forward to it.
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Wonderful artwork, horrible band pictures. :lol
Might not be able to give this a proper listen til Monday, but looking forward to it.
:rollin
The '90s were a fun time for Black metal band photos.
I'd still like to do a listening party in Deepcut at some point. Not sure when though.
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Who in the hell is Euronymous again? Do we know him from earlier in the thread?
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Who in the hell is Euronymous again? Do we know him from earlier in the thread?
He is the one that owned Helvete (the record store) and Deathlike Silence Productions (record label). He was mentioned in the first or second update, I can't remember now.
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Who in the hell is Euronymous again? Do we know him from earlier in the thread?
He is the one that owned Helvete (the record store) and Deathlike Silence Productions (record label). He was mentioned in the first or second update, I can't remember now.
Oh, so he's like the original Shug Knight of Black metal.
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Who in the hell is Euronymous again? Do we know him from earlier in the thread?
He is the one that owned Helvete (the record store) and Deathlike Silence Productions (record label). He was mentioned in the first or second update, I can't remember now.
Oh, so he's like the original Shug Knight of Black metal.
Not really, as far as anyone knows, he never killed anyone. Just helped burn down a church and then was killed by Varg.
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Who in the hell is Euronymous again? Do we know him from earlier in the thread?
He is the one that owned Helvete (the record store) and Deathlike Silence Productions (record label). He was mentioned in the first or second update, I can't remember now.
Oh, so he's like the original Shug Knight of Black metal.
Not really, as far as anyone knows, he never killed anyone. Just helped burn down a church and then was killed by Varg.
Oh alright. Reading that all I could think of was Death Row records. :lol
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Who in the hell is Euronymous again? Do we know him from earlier in the thread?
He is the one that owned Helvete (the record store) and Deathlike Silence Productions (record label). He was mentioned in the first or second update, I can't remember now.
Oh, so he's like the original Shug Knight of Black metal.
Not really, as far as anyone knows, he never killed anyone. Just helped burn down a church and then was killed by Varg.
Oh alright. Reading that all I could think of was Death Row records. :lol
I mean, the whole story has some of the same beats. Just played by different roles.
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OK now we're really getting into it. Their first full length feels like a huge step up again. Every album from here on out is in my semi regular rotation, and I would likely spin it at least every 18 months or something.
Reading about the craziness of what was happening in the scene at the time, I'm so glad they just decided to distance themselves from all the church burnings and murder, and just go full viking cosplay.
I had no idea that the lyrics were written in medieval Icelandic, that's metal as fuck! I also love all the artwork with the vinyl release, I've never seen that before.
Also, once again, Ivar being responsible for the majority of the album at 15 is so impressive. Just imagine getting up, going to school at 15, coming home and contributing to an emerging new metal scene and writing arguably one of the most defining albums of early Norwegian black metal, then your mum shouts you to let you know tea is ready!
This album is full of long songs, with only one being under 10 minutes. The only criticism I have of the album, is that some songs drag on too long for me and just repeat certain passages way longer than I feel they should. I love a long song obviously, but not if it feels long just for the sake of it. It was all a sign of what was to come from the band though, and they obviously honed their craft when it came to long songs.
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OK now we're really getting into it. Their first full length feels like a huge step up again. Every album from here on out is in my semi regular rotation, and I would likely spin it at least every 18 months or something.
Yeah, this one isn't an album I go back to often, but I still enjoy it quite a bit. It's a massive step in quality, once again, from their EP, despite being recorded less than 6 months later.
Reading about the craziness of what was happening in the scene at the time, I'm so glad they just decided to distance themselves from all the church burnings and murder, and just go full viking cosplay.
You could almost attribute it to them being younger, but they really weren't compared to some others that were involved with the darker side of the scene. It's really more that they were all about making the best, forward-thinking Black Metal they could, musically and lyrically. However, ultimately it's really down to how they were raised by their parents (mostly Ivar and Grutle) and how supportive their parents were of their musical passions. Ivar and Grutle have stated over the years that they never felt the need to get involved in the politics of the scene or try to be edgy or evil, just for the sake of it. They've also stated that they didn't necessarily disagree with the church burnings, mostly because of the amount of violence and hatred "Christians" in the past had inflicted on other peoples. They didn't agree with the idea of trying to spread fear and violence through the threats a lot of the others in the scene were making.
I had no idea that the lyrics were written in medieval Icelandic, that's metal as fuck! I also love all the artwork with the vinyl release, I've never seen that before.
Also, once again, Ivar being responsible for the majority of the album at 15 is so impressive. Just imagine getting up, going to school at 15, coming home and contributing to an emerging new metal scene and writing arguably one of the most defining albums of early Norwegian black metal, then your mum shouts you to let you know tea is ready!
These two points are huge. Granted, Ivar received help with the translation, but you can see the intelligence brewing in his mind at a very young age, which would be made much more apparent in the years to come.
Your description of going to school, then writing metal that was pushing boundaries at the time, then coming home to have tea with mum makes me laugh, but is probably not far from the truth. I think about what I was doing at 15 and can only lament my wasted youth :lol
This album is full of long songs, with only one being under 10 minutes. The only criticism I have of the album, is that some songs drag on too long for me and just repeat certain passages way longer than I feel they should. I love a long song obviously, but not if it feels long just for the sake of it. It was all a sign of what was to come from the band though, and they obviously honed their craft when it came to long songs.
This is my biggest issue with this album too. They would kind of over correct on the next album, but find a great balance on the album after that.
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I'll probably get to this one tomorrow night!
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This has completely slipped my mind I'm sorry. I promise I will check this out on Monday now.
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This has completely slipped my mind I'm sorry. I promise I will check this out on Monday now.
Haha, no worries. I've been a little slow with this lately.
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Will there be a listening party?
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Will there be a listening party?
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find time to do a listening party for this album. I'll also be dropping the next update middle of next week sometime.
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I have this playing now. It's on in the background a little but it's pretty easy listening black metal. The instrumental recurring themes are nice.
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Last song was awesome.
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Last song was awesome.
:metal It is!
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I'll have to go through it again to comment more. My next listen I'll pay more attention but again, that was easy listening, accessible black metal.
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Been meaning to get back to this thread, and finally the pile of things on my plate is diminishing a bit.
I gave a cursory listen to Vikingligr Veldi and might have more to say after reading the writeup, other comments, and maybe giving it another listen afterwards. I noticed a significant jump in production quality and listenability over the demos. It's still slightly on the raw and underproduced side for my tastes, but it's not nearly as distracting as those were. It's more along the lines of various other black metal albums in the mid-90s, so I can deal with it better. The guitar tone remains on the thin side, but isn't particularly vexing in comparison to other similar releases. Nothing really grabbed me initially, but it seems quite competently executed for the style.
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That's the big thing with me too on this album. It is a decent debut, with pretty decent production compared to some of the other early black metal out there. It's not trve kvlt black metal, because it wasn't recorded on a boombox with a cheap radio shack mic plugged into the line in. :biggrin: Enslaved always had aspirations above all of that nonsense. Even early on, you could tell they were a notch above a lot of their peers. The guitars do sound much better than a lot of that shrill early black metal sound. I don't revisit the debut all that often, but remembering how young they were when they recorded this album makes it a bit more impressive. It is a little repetitive in spots, but still, overall a nice artifact of the early 90's scene.
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That's the big thing with me too on this album. It is a decent debut, with pretty decent production compared to some of the other early black metal out there. It's not trve kvlt black metal, because it wasn't recorded on a boombox with a cheap radio shack mic plugged into the line in. :biggrin: Enslaved always had aspirations above all of that nonsense. Even early on, you could tell they were a notch above a lot of their peers. The guitars do sound much better than a lot of that shrill early black metal sound. I don't revisit the debut all that often, but remembering how young they were when they recorded this album makes it a bit more impressive. It is a little repetitive in spots, but still, overall a nice artifact of the early 90's scene.
I can basically quote this word for word :biggrin: Very well put. I revisited it today and enjoyed it. I agree that the production is surprisingly good and (not just in retrospect) you can already tell they had ambition in the way they were writing songs. Some pretty cool guitar interplay among the tremolo riffing. It's a little too long for what it is, so I don't find myself going back to it often, but it's a good debut full-length, for sure.
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:corn
Just listening to Vertebrae right now, and having my face melted by Ground! What a fucking song.
When's the next update dude?
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:corn
Just listening to Vertebrae right now, and having my face melted by Ground! What a fucking song.
When's the next update dude?
Hopefully soon. I've been at 3 separate trade shows over the past 3 weeks, so I've been way too busy to do anything with this.
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No worries dude, didn't mean for that come across as me being impatient, I just love Enslaved!
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I have Frost ready to go on my Ipod (!) for my upcoming commutes, in anticipation of the next update :biggrin:
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No worries dude, didn't mean for that come across as me being impatient, I just love Enslaved!
I didn't take it as you being impatient. :tup
Nick on the other hand..... :biggrin:
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Nick on the other hand..... :biggrin:
Nah, me? :biggrin:
I wouldn't have any right to be, anyway, given my limited participation to the thread, so far. :) I'll try and do better...starting with Frost :corn :biggrin:
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Nick on the other hand..... :biggrin:
Nah, me? :biggrin:
I wouldn't have any right to be, anyway, given my limited participation to the thread, so far. :) I'll try and do better...starting with Frost :corn :biggrin:
(https://y.yarn.co/ef13ecfb-4b6a-4a14-8f62-328790f50c6e_text.gif)