Wow. I am becoming a bigger and bigger Enslaved fan with each passing day. Maybe it's because their Norwegian lyrics are more eerie and haunting than any other band that sings in Norwegian. Maybe its because they are so consistent. Who knows? Whatever the case, Enslaved simply blows me away. Here, on Hordane's Land (which was released as a split with Emperor's self-titled EP on Candlelight Records), Enslaved manages to capture the essence of the Viking sub-genre of black metal so completely. The first track "Slaget I Kogen Bortenfor" transports me to a medieval battlefield where Scandinavian warriors are fighting for supremacy! And it is uphill from there, no holding back. Fans of epic viking black metal need to track this down. I was lucky enough to find it in a used CD store for $4.50! Near perfect EP.
Black metal! Kickass! While the opening track, "Lifandi Lif Undir Hamri," is an epic Viking metal song resembling the songs of Hordane's Land, the rest of the tracks are more black metal proper than Viking. While still having a very Viking feel to them, they are much more blackened than anything Enslaved had done up to this point. The beginning of "Vetrarnott" is ultra-fast black metal riffing gone mad! I love it! And "Heimdallr" and "Midgards Eldar" are also alot of more black than Viking metal. Along with the releases by Emperor, Mayhem, and Darkthrone (among others), Vikingligr Veldi helped make 1994 an awesome year for black metal.
Lookout, here come the Vikings! With Frost, Enslaved have created an absolute Viking metal masterpiece. Combining atmospheric keyboards, moody folk passages, and blistering guitars, this album is perhaps Enslaved's best. And the diversity present on the disc simply blows my mind. Whereas "Frost" is a keyboard intro track, "Loke" is searing black metal! And in one of my favorite segments of the album, "Yggdrasil" is a slow, dirge-like song that mellows you out before Enslaved blasts into "Jotunblod." Hot damn! And the best part of it all: the Norwegian guitar sound is flawlessly executed (reminds me of Satyricon--the masters of the Norwegian guitar sound--at times).
