Enslaved - Heimdal (2023)

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Always surprising their listeners, Enslaved returns with yet another brilliant exercise in crafty Progressive Black/Viking Metal with “Heimdal”. Skillfully refining their sound over time, this release unleashes seven tracks and nearly 50 minutes of complex and yet digestible music that perfectly carries the band’s signature style with a few new surprises. Any fan of the band of the genre will be satisfied with this highly dynamic and engaging release.

Opening with “Behind The Mirror”, the band sets an atmospheric tone with the first minute before unleashing some superbly catchy riffs that slowly transform into sweeping melodic guitars to adorn the band’s signature clean vocal arrangements. The band’s sound is quite cinematic and crafty, with excellent layered guitars and a good dose of aggressive sections and growls, as we can hear in “Congelia”,”Forest Dweller” and the proggy/psychedelic catchiness of “Kingdom”.

The funky “The Eternal Sea” has a different and more playful tone, showing the band’s ability to incorporate different elements into their signature style without breaking things and being too contrasting. Hitting their stride as the album progresses, our favorite track has to be the crazy “Caravans to the Outer Worlds” and its excellent guitar leads perfectly intertwined with crafty drumming and some shifty tempo changes.

Closing with the album title track, we get a playful Proggy/Doomy piece that nicely adds some eerie atmospherics into the mix. Overall, “Heimdal” is one hell of a release filled with magical moments that will unravel the more you listen to it. As with all Enslaved releases, this album has it all: aggression, musical proficiency, crafty arrangements and yet a signature core sound that has only gotten better with time.

Band: Enslaved Album: Heimdal

Label: Nuclear Blast Records

Release: March 3rd, 2023

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Genre: Progressive Black Metal

Country: Norway

Rating: 97/100
Year: 

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