ENSLAVED: 'RIITIIR' Track-By-Track Review

A track-by-track review of "RIITIIR", the twelfth studio album from Norwegian progressive extreme metallers ENSLAVED, can be found at Terrorizer.com.

"RIITIIR" will be released in Europe on September 28 and in North America on October 9 via Nuclear Blast Records.

"It has been only two years since we last released an album [2010's award-winning 'Axioma Ethica Odini'], and we've been touring Europe and North America several times since then," reflects ENSLAVED guitarist, songwriter, and founding member Ivar Bjørnson. "Some might think that this schedule, and the fact that we celebrated our 20th anniversary last year, should result in some time off in the end. Nah. Like a space vessel that gains momentum by entering slingshot-orbits on its way through space, we seem to gain speed, direction, and strength on our journeys, through new releases and subsequent tours.

"Describing the sound on the new album is both easy and hard," Bjørnson continues. "It is easy because it sounds like ENSLAVED, whatever that means. It is hard because there are so many layers and different focal points. I have a feeling that it has a deeper complexity than our previous efforts, but at the same time, I do find it more catchy and moving. Then again, I am the opposite of objective in this, so again I'll leave it up to the people outside the band to make up their mind."

The track listing for the "RIITIIR" European and North American digipak is as follows:

01. Thoughts Like Hammers
02. Death In The Eyes Of Dawn
03. Veilburner
04. Roots Of The Mountain
05. Riitiir
06. Materal
07. Storm Of Memories
08. Forsaken

The track listing for the "RIITIIR" 2LP double-gatefold is as follows:

Side A:

01. Thoughts Like Hammers
02. Death In The Eyes Of Dawn

Side B:

01. Veilburner
02. Roots Of The Mountain

Side C:

01. Riitiir
02. Materal

Side D:

01. Storm Of Memories
02. Forsaken

The cover artwork for "RIITIIR" was once again created by Truls Espedal and can be seen below. He stated about his latest collaboration with the band, "ENSLAVED's music is constantly evolving and expanding, and we early on decided that the artwork should reflect this. From my first collaboration with the band on [2001's] 'Monumension' and forward, we have slowly merged different aspects into the work; what we wanted to do now was to further expand and change things up a bit, without losing the connection to earlier work. It still has a strong sense of symbolism, symmetrical compositions and references to Norse art. But there is an even bigger emphasis on realism on 'RIITIIR', which hopefully adds atmosphere to the finished work."

ENSLAVED's last two CDs — "Vertebrae" (2008) and "Axioma Ethica Odini" (2010) — were released via Indie Recordings in Europe and Nuclear Blast in North America.