Enslaved
E

Ehwaz, the sacred rune corresponding to the letter E (which as a written symbol resembles an M), associated with the horse, movement, union, progress, evolution. “Tramite, medium, per mezzo di,” words associated with this rune through contact with Mother Nature, with the Earth, with traditions, all without giving up evolving, experimenting, and engaging with sound, with music.

After this necessary premise, which in my humble opinion summarizes the new path taken by this extraordinary and historic Scandinavian group, I will immediately tell you what this new listening experience has materialized before my eyes. "Storm Son" opens slowly, tribal sounds make their way, and a scream, a war horn, and a whinny (the animal symbol associated with the E rune) precede a delicate arpeggio that introduces this beautiful multifaceted piece of nearly eleven minutes, where choirs, clean vocals, and folk harmonies are fused with the screams that Grutle Kjellson's talent has accustomed Enslaved's admirers to since the beginning. The album continues with authentic gems like "The River’s Mouth," close to the primordial Viking-Black and "Sacred Horse," where you will also find '70s Rock contaminating an absolute genre like Black Metal, which over the years has truly touched every possible shore, demonstrating itself to be, to the dismay of those who always and anyway despise it, a total and all-encompassing form of art. Alongside the usual influences, the ingenious instrumentalist (and one of the mainstays of the group) Ivar Bjørnson, manages to alchemically insert ideas also developed in the esteemed parallel project called Skuggsjá, with the imprint that Enslaved have had from the beginning and to go well beyond, exploring classical and even Prog territories (he himself cites King Crimson and even Pink Floyd as sources of inspiration) with exhilarating results I would say, even though we should not be surprised by the mastery and extreme care that a truly legendary and esteemed mark like theirs can still give us after sixteen albums and a multi-decade career that has never disappointed expectations. Little else to add truly, only the listening remains: changes of tempo, rhythm, voice, atmospheres that evoke electricity and fertile ground, rain, calm and rage, strength, meditation, you will find this and more, in pieces like "Feathers of Eolh" to name another, as in the subsequent "Hiindsiight," where from the cave and cold one exits towards warmth, towards that light which, though pale, is and remains indispensable and consoling for the human animal.

Ultimately, “E” proves to be one of the best offerings (and one of the most anticipated in the extreme arena) of this 2017 which is drawing to a close, confirming Enslaved as the great group they are, giving almost fifty minutes of magic and art, the possibility to ride change, mutation, on the back of Sleipnir, Odin’s steed, or on the shoulders of any other creature you can imagine.