ENSLAVED Begins Recording New Album

Founding member/songwriter/rhythm guitarist Ivar Bjørnson of Norwegian masters of progressive/experimental metal ENSLAVED has issued the following studio update:

"This is a short blog from the studio where we — ENSLAVED — have started to record our new album. We are doing the drums in Duper Studios here in Bergen; this time around we are recording everything in our hometown, something we last did with [2004's] 'Isa'. Iver Sandøy (TRINACRIA, MANNGARD, EMMERHOFF & THE MELANCHOLY BABIES) is engineering the drum recording; and we feel we are in very good hands. The remaining instruments will be recorded in Herbrand [Larsen, keyboards] and [lead guitarist] Ice Dale's Earshot Studio, with a few small exceptions done in Peersonal Sound (my own studio).

"We're starting off as we always do: with me and [drummer] Cato [Bekkevold] going in first.

"The session started out beautifully with the perfect starting point for the drum sound and the first song being laid down by Cato. This song is a musical and lyrical contemplation on a rune — one associated with travel...

"We'll get back to more on the songs later!

"After 'Vertebrae', it has been a hectic period, with shows, tours and everything that is going on around the band. Yet it has been a remarkably self-energizing process making this new album. For starters, the dynamics have never been better, both literally in the music — and metaphorically, meaning the working climate within the band.

"Writing music is rewarding when you know the other members will take your ideas seriously and give everything they've got to make the best out of every single idea. The amazing feedback we've gotten after 'Vertebrae' hasn't exactly made us more modest: We picked up some very valuable confidence from that. A third pillar of inspiration is the continuing ideological struggle against the dogmas: political, monotheistic, moral dogmas that keep getting a stronger and stronger chokehold on man. Some dangers are growing while others are on the rebound (for now). ENSLAVED is an ongoing project to channel alternative currents; resistance to those trying to force-fit the mind into the tiny squares of one-doms and tyrannies.

"After all that hot air, I've asked Cato to provide some thoughts on the new material and the recording process."

Cato: "We started yesterday to set the sound, and from there on the drums for two songs were nailed. Today, on the second day, we started at noon and worked our way through three more songs.

"Ivar is very easy (to work with) and we are really getting payback for the work put in advance of the recording. I am, in other words, getting close to finishing my part of the album, and that's fine by me — I would climb the walls if the whole session would take anything more than a week.

"The songs are, like always, pretty varied both in mood, speed and style. The cool thing is that none of us actually know how it's gonna turn out in the very end. What ideas Ice Dale has for guitar solos, only he knows."

Fan-filmed video footage of ENSLAVED's July 25, 2009 performance on the Aardschok stage (powered by Jägermeister) at this year's Zwarte Cross (Black Cross) festival in Lichtenvoorde, Holland can be viewed below (clips uploaded by Erhan Düzey).