Quick elaboration on the album name: The name of the album is technically the runic letter for the sound /e/ (the letter looks kinda like a latin M, as visible on the cover art). Each rune has a name associated to it (more or less like we say "kay" for the letter k, but with an actual meaning, so maybe more like this military speech spelling, alpha, charly and that stuff, I guess). The name of the E-rune is "ehwaz", which is a Proto-Norse/Germanic word for 'horse'.
I do like Ivar Bjornson, guitarist and one of the founding members. He was only 13 when he and another started Enslaved. He also does a lot of "viking folk" music with Einar Selvik (formerly of Gorgoroth, now Wardruna).
Enslaved are from the 2nd wave of black metal bands and they have been building their own path for the entire time. Their first album, Vikingligr Veldi, was top tier and is still among my favorites of the genre, but they also have grown quite a bit since then. They're kind of like the black metal equivalent of Opeth in their proggy influence and growth and I think it's great. I saw them live once in like 2010 and they were flawless -- one of the best live shows that I've seen. These guys are very well rehearsed.
@@thegrimner He was 13 when Enslaved was formed, 15 when Vikingligr was recorded (Born November 1977 and Vikingligr was recorded in March-April 1993, then released in 1994). Still totally nuts. Kid had real talent and he's only gotten better with age.
Couldn't agree with you more on the live performance. They became my favorite band the night i saw them and i had barely heard Havenless which a friend showed me before the concert, it was a school trip actually and i must say i have never seen a band that tight before or since it was mezmerising.
I love this album and the song you picked. it’s interesting enough that horse and horse rituals as well as horse sacrifices themselves are particularly prominent in many indo-european religions, for example a sacrifice of a sacred horse is prominent to vedic kings and the entire kshatriya (military) caste in indian civilization, this might have influenced the intro. this ritual is also comparable to information drawn from scandinavian religion, Odin (god of war and patron of kings) rides into battle the eight-legged horse, Sleipnir, who was actually a child of Loki (trickster god) and the mythical stallion, Svaðilfari: in a bizarre story, Loki (male) shape-shifts into a mare, Svaðilfari mounts “her”, and Loki bears a foal, Sleipnir. I hope this adds to the whole bizarreness of the song lol.
Enslaved are probably the clearest example of old Norse black metal bands going prog (even full on at times) since they were as a band part of the second wave bm movenent in the early 90's and more or less went gradually more "prog". I am, of course, more fond of their proggier stuff of the last decades.
The organ (Hammond I believe) was also heavily (pun intended) utilised in late 60's/early 70's hard rock (e.g. with Deep Purple & Uriah Heep) and lots of other styles at the time. Then synthesisers/digital keyboards came to take a bigger role. Today it's obviously frequent in vintage rock bands since there's few popular instrumental sounds as "dated" as the Hammond organ 😊
Love seeing you cover Enslaved. They are a very interesting band. They are one of the early black metal bands but, have been leaning into prog for at least the last 15 years or so. Anyways, they are one of the more sonically interesting bands for my taste. Every album is distinctly Enslaved while also being fresh. A lot of their themes are stoic/natural order things. I believe you would enjoy their album "Utgard" in its entirety.
Incredle band, they’ve changed sound a lot over the years while managing to keep a black metal tone. Be cool to see more reactions for these guys 🤘 great review
I was going to see them live back in November 2020 in Poland but then obviously shit happened :/ One of the more original bands ever (?), hard not to fall in love with them once you've heard anything basically haha
Others have pointed to Enslaved's reputation and long and varied catalog, so I won't belabor the point. I only want to throw in my standard Enslaved suggestion: "Neogenesis." I expect you'll really appreciate the guitar work in that song.
You're in the ballpark with the whole religious side of things. And sure, the organ is not a part of norse culture per se, being as it is a pre-christian set of religious and mythological beliefs, but i the words of Ulver's Garm " Of course it can be said that eletric instruments shouldn't fit with songs about nature worship, but you don't exactly see the devil playing the guitar either". It's the feel that matters, and the norse aspect of it is reflected in the chanting. As a fun fact Ivar Bjornson, the main composer for Ensvlaved and the possessor of the most Viking name in existence, was actually invited along with the guy for Wardruna to compose the music for the commemoration of the 200 years of the norwegian constitution. So there's that. And the band's concept is very much an exploration of Asatru (the mordern branch of norse religion) beliefs and mythology, in feel rather than in actual fidelity. Glad to see you so enthused about the track, Enslaved are a gem of a band. They haven't been an easy band for you to come around to, I think, and I remember when you reacted to their 793- Slaget av Lindisfarne song we exchanging some words about what wasn't gelling with you. At the time, I remarked that that song was Enslaved stumbling on something, that thing I called the norwegian weird that is very 1997, but were still looking around for the vocabulary to express it, which is emphasized by the fact Ivar was 19 at the time. And this is it. At around their ISA album, (which is an excellent pick for your album listens), that's when their sound clicked as this aalgam of black metal, folksy elements and pink Floydish 70s prog. Every subsequent album adheres to that general formula, with different scales of implementation of those elements. And a very recognizable sound too. You commented at the time of that 793 song about the guitar tone, and for all the iterations, it's still a very recognizable sound, like a velvety harshness, almost.
Also regarding the lyrics, one of the nice things about norse mythology and the literature it inspires is how richly metaphorical it can be. A norse poem would not say "ship" when it could say oaken rider of foam, for example. Enslaved are clearly taking a page out of that. They mix it with a more conventional, and contemporary stream of thought, but the final stanza is actually somewhat decipherable and it does relate to norse mythology. It's not a coincidence that the last stanza, which is indeed heavy on mythological symbolism, accompanies a more traditional folk segment. ANd I can decypher the last bit for you. "Eight-legged child of Loke" is a reference to Sleipnir, Odin's horse, who was the son of the God Loki and who was the fastest horse there was on account of being eight legged. The One is for sight is also a reference to Odin; according to norse mythology, Odin plucked out one eye, and is known as the one eyed god. The overall meaning here could be one of a burial, but may be also one of metaphorical sacrifice in the pursuit of wisdom, something which is a very recurrent theme in the norse myths. As for the battlefield of gods and giants at the worlds end, it's Ragnarok the norse end of the world. Gods are generally seen as the forces of (relative) order and giants like greek titans, are forces of chaos, and they're on a collision course, according to the norse myths. The world will be destroyed by their battle and out of the chaos two humans, Lif (Life) and Lifthrasir (lover of Lif) will be born and repopulate. Again, themes of sacrifice, enthropy, and rebirth and renewal. The song's mention of burying "another me" also seems to fit with that Don't quite know how useful this is, but I felt my nerd powers activate and they could not be denied.
Yeah this hit me a lot better than 793 did but I can hear some threads connecting the two. The maturation of sound here is wild but I'm glad they kept at it and found their sound. Thanks for the breakdown on the lyrics. And yeah, I should have noticed the Ragnarok thing. You don't get much more explicit than "the battle of norse gods" 😅
@@CriticalReactions Yeah, one can say that in Eld, the 1997, they were actually losing their sound. They were one of the forefathers of the second wave, and like most of those bands, they soon began exploring other avenues. One of those was a transition from a more literal swords and battle interpretation of norse imagery (like on 793) to a more contemporary exploration of spiritual themes. Which I'm on board with, the grimner is literally one of the names for Odin, so I kinda share their fascination.
Enslaved have been so excellent for so long they're a hard band to make recommendations for. Luckily, someone picked a great track from probably my second favorite Enslaved album; but there seriously isn't a more consistent metal band on the planet, and I especially love their material once they started mixing in prog and psychedelic influences from Monumension in 2001 onward. I also think they're one of those bands that's just gotten better with time, with their peak coming in their 2010s with Axioma Ethica Odini, RIITIIR, In Times, and this album (E). In fact, I think the only disappointment I've had with them was on their last album, Utgard, and even that was at worst a 7/10. Fans of more traditional black metal tend to prefer their earliest work that goes all the way back to the mid-to-late 90s. Awesome band that I really need to revisit soon as I've only gone through their discography twice.
Lyrics are pretty much impossible to understand without putting them into context of skandinavian iron age mythology. When people in 700 AD worshipped Thor as a fertility god in their daily life, they considered him 'alive' or 'in power', but due to the cyclical nature of the Mythology, Thor has died already in an apocalyptic conflict between Giants and Gods, named Ragnarok. And the cyclical nature of the Mythology predicts that Thor will die again in the future. Thats why the 'protagonist' accounts for events that seem to happen in the past and at the same time inside his mind situated in the present.
So happy you got to this band, dude. Some top notch music there. Check out their newer stuff as well. Their EP Caravans to the outer worlds is very interesting. And the new new atuff they put out... The song Congelia, along with the music video, took me out of my socks. Check it out, just for yourself. No need to make a react video. Love your vids, mate! Cheers 🍻
Early Enslaved was great, then ... I just don't care what they're currently doing these days. I think I listened to one of their latest hits a year back, and I remember I thought it was a rip-off of some other song. Hordanes Land (EP), Vikingligr Veldi (album), Frost (album), great stuff. Some decent on Eld (album), that's about it. And yeah, they are prog blackish viking metal, sometimes even rock or pop these days.
Quick elaboration on the album name: The name of the album is technically the runic letter for the sound /e/ (the letter looks kinda like a latin M, as visible on the cover art). Each rune has a name associated to it (more or less like we say "kay" for the letter k, but with an actual meaning, so maybe more like this military speech spelling, alpha, charly and that stuff, I guess). The name of the E-rune is "ehwaz", which is a Proto-Norse/Germanic word for 'horse'.
That certainly helps. Thanks!
I do like Ivar Bjornson, guitarist and one of the founding members. He was only 13 when he and another started Enslaved.
He also does a lot of "viking folk" music with Einar Selvik (formerly of Gorgoroth, now Wardruna).
Enslaved are from the 2nd wave of black metal bands and they have been building their own path for the entire time. Their first album, Vikingligr Veldi, was top tier and is still among my favorites of the genre, but they also have grown quite a bit since then. They're kind of like the black metal equivalent of Opeth in their proggy influence and growth and I think it's great.
I saw them live once in like 2010 and they were flawless -- one of the best live shows that I've seen. These guys are very well rehearsed.
Ivar was 13 when he wrote Vikingr Veldi, and that factoid will never cease to amaze me.
@@thegrimner He was 13 when Enslaved was formed, 15 when Vikingligr was recorded (Born November 1977 and Vikingligr was recorded in March-April 1993, then released in 1994). Still totally nuts. Kid had real talent and he's only gotten better with age.
Couldn't agree with you more on the live performance. They became my favorite band the night i saw them and i had barely heard Havenless which a friend showed me before the concert, it was a school trip actually and i must say i have never seen a band that tight before or since it was mezmerising.
I love this album and the song you picked. it’s interesting enough that horse and horse rituals as well as horse sacrifices themselves are particularly prominent in many indo-european religions, for example a sacrifice of a sacred horse is prominent to vedic kings and the entire kshatriya (military) caste in indian civilization, this might have influenced the intro. this ritual is also comparable to information drawn from scandinavian religion, Odin (god of war and patron of kings) rides into battle the eight-legged horse, Sleipnir, who was actually a child of Loki (trickster god) and the mythical stallion, Svaðilfari: in a bizarre story, Loki (male) shape-shifts into a mare, Svaðilfari mounts “her”, and Loki bears a foal, Sleipnir. I hope this adds to the whole bizarreness of the song lol.
Really happy you had a fun time with this! Great reaction and analysis of one of my favorite bands.
Enslaved are probably the clearest example of old Norse black metal bands going prog (even full on at times) since they were as a band part of the second wave bm movenent in the early 90's and more or less went gradually more "prog".
I am, of course, more fond of their proggier stuff of the last decades.
The organ (Hammond I believe) was also heavily (pun intended) utilised in late 60's/early 70's hard rock (e.g. with Deep Purple & Uriah Heep) and lots of other styles at the time. Then synthesisers/digital keyboards came to take a bigger role. Today it's obviously frequent in vintage rock bands since there's few popular instrumental sounds as "dated" as the Hammond organ 😊
Love seeing you cover Enslaved. They are a very interesting band. They are one of the early black metal bands but, have been leaning into prog for at least the last 15 years or so.
Anyways, they are one of the more sonically interesting bands for my taste. Every album is distinctly Enslaved while also being fresh.
A lot of their themes are stoic/natural order things.
I believe you would enjoy their album "Utgard" in its entirety.
Incredle band, they’ve changed sound a lot over the years while managing to keep a black metal tone. Be cool to see more reactions for these guys 🤘 great review
I was going to see them live back in November 2020 in Poland but then obviously shit happened :/
One of the more original bands ever (?), hard not to fall in love with them once you've heard anything basically haha
Others have pointed to Enslaved's reputation and long and varied catalog, so I won't belabor the point. I only want to throw in my standard Enslaved suggestion: "Neogenesis." I expect you'll really appreciate the guitar work in that song.
Damn, first time listen to this band and I am definitely gonna check out the album.
You're gonna love this one
You're in the ballpark with the whole religious side of things. And sure, the organ is not a part of norse culture per se, being as it is a pre-christian set of religious and mythological beliefs, but i the words of Ulver's Garm " Of course it can be said that eletric instruments shouldn't fit with songs about nature worship, but you don't exactly see the devil playing the guitar either". It's the feel that matters, and the norse aspect of it is reflected in the chanting. As a fun fact Ivar Bjornson, the main composer for Ensvlaved and the possessor of the most Viking name in existence, was actually invited along with the guy for Wardruna to compose the music for the commemoration of the 200 years of the norwegian constitution. So there's that. And the band's concept is very much an exploration of Asatru (the mordern branch of norse religion) beliefs and mythology, in feel rather than in actual fidelity.
Glad to see you so enthused about the track, Enslaved are a gem of a band. They haven't been an easy band for you to come around to, I think, and I remember when you reacted to their 793- Slaget av Lindisfarne song we exchanging some words about what wasn't gelling with you. At the time, I remarked that that song was Enslaved stumbling on something, that thing I called the norwegian weird that is very 1997, but were still looking around for the vocabulary to express it, which is emphasized by the fact Ivar was 19 at the time. And this is it. At around their ISA album, (which is an excellent pick for your album listens), that's when their sound clicked as this aalgam of black metal, folksy elements and pink Floydish 70s prog. Every subsequent album adheres to that general formula, with different scales of implementation of those elements. And a very recognizable sound too. You commented at the time of that 793 song about the guitar tone, and for all the iterations, it's still a very recognizable sound, like a velvety harshness, almost.
Also regarding the lyrics, one of the nice things about norse mythology and the literature it inspires is how richly metaphorical it can be. A norse poem would not say "ship" when it could say oaken rider of foam, for example. Enslaved are clearly taking a page out of that. They mix it with a more conventional, and contemporary stream of thought, but the final stanza is actually somewhat decipherable and it does relate to norse mythology.
It's not a coincidence that the last stanza, which is indeed heavy on mythological symbolism, accompanies a more traditional folk segment. ANd I can decypher the last bit for you. "Eight-legged child of Loke" is a reference to Sleipnir, Odin's horse, who was the son of the God Loki and who was the fastest horse there was on account of being eight legged. The One is for sight is also a reference to Odin; according to norse mythology, Odin plucked out one eye, and is known as the one eyed god. The overall meaning here could be one of a burial, but may be also one of metaphorical sacrifice in the pursuit of wisdom, something which is a very recurrent theme in the norse myths.
As for the battlefield of gods and giants at the worlds end, it's Ragnarok the norse end of the world. Gods are generally seen as the forces of (relative) order and giants like greek titans, are forces of chaos, and they're on a collision course, according to the norse myths. The world will be destroyed by their battle and out of the chaos two humans, Lif (Life) and Lifthrasir (lover of Lif) will be born and repopulate. Again, themes of sacrifice, enthropy, and rebirth and renewal. The song's mention of burying "another me" also seems to fit with that
Don't quite know how useful this is, but I felt my nerd powers activate and they could not be denied.
Yeah this hit me a lot better than 793 did but I can hear some threads connecting the two. The maturation of sound here is wild but I'm glad they kept at it and found their sound. Thanks for the breakdown on the lyrics. And yeah, I should have noticed the Ragnarok thing. You don't get much more explicit than "the battle of norse gods" 😅
@@CriticalReactions Yeah, one can say that in Eld, the 1997, they were actually losing their sound. They were one of the forefathers of the second wave, and like most of those bands, they soon began exploring other avenues. One of those was a transition from a more literal swords and battle interpretation of norse imagery (like on 793) to a more contemporary exploration of spiritual themes. Which I'm on board with, the grimner is literally one of the names for Odin, so I kinda share their fascination.
Enslaved have been so excellent for so long they're a hard band to make recommendations for. Luckily, someone picked a great track from probably my second favorite Enslaved album; but there seriously isn't a more consistent metal band on the planet, and I especially love their material once they started mixing in prog and psychedelic influences from Monumension in 2001 onward. I also think they're one of those bands that's just gotten better with time, with their peak coming in their 2010s with Axioma Ethica Odini, RIITIIR, In Times, and this album (E). In fact, I think the only disappointment I've had with them was on their last album, Utgard, and even that was at worst a 7/10. Fans of more traditional black metal tend to prefer their earliest work that goes all the way back to the mid-to-late 90s. Awesome band that I really need to revisit soon as I've only gone through their discography twice.
"Fans of more traditional black metal tend to prefer their earliest work"
I guess I'll be sticking with their later work 😅
Well said. I swear this band just loves creating music; they’re quite prolific - especially for a 31 year old band.
@@CriticalReactions I like their early work, but they shed their skin in 2000-2001 and grew so much over the last two decades. Enjoy!!!
Lyrics are pretty much impossible to understand without putting them into context of skandinavian iron age mythology. When people in 700 AD worshipped Thor as a fertility god in their daily life, they considered him 'alive' or 'in power', but due to the cyclical nature of the Mythology, Thor has died already in an apocalyptic conflict between Giants and Gods, named Ragnarok. And the cyclical nature of the Mythology predicts that Thor will die again in the future. Thats why the 'protagonist' accounts for events that seem to happen in the past and at the same time inside his mind situated in the present.
So happy you got to this band, dude. Some top notch music there. Check out their newer stuff as well. Their EP Caravans to the outer worlds is very interesting. And the new new atuff they put out... The song Congelia, along with the music video, took me out of my socks. Check it out, just for yourself. No need to make a react video.
Love your vids, mate! Cheers 🍻
Oh hell yeah Brian clicked immediately
I really enjoy their early albums this stuff not so much 👀
Early Enslaved was great, then ... I just don't care what they're currently doing these days. I think I listened to one of their latest hits a year back, and I remember I thought it was a rip-off of some other song. Hordanes Land (EP), Vikingligr Veldi (album), Frost (album), great stuff. Some decent on Eld (album), that's about it.
And yeah, they are prog blackish viking metal, sometimes even rock or pop these days.
Bleh, don't wanna be too negative. haha It's not terrible, but just not my cup of tea. I like prog too, still...