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).
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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).
(This is the oldest band photo I could find of the original lineup, probably taken 1992 or 1993)
Stay tuned for more!
Topic: Enslaved Discography and Listening Party: Vikingligr veldi (Read 4938 times)
