ENSLAVED

Has there ever been a more dependable or consistent band in metal history than ENSLAVED? The answer you're looking for is a resounding "Fuck no!" because 32 years after releasing their first album, the primitive but avowedly epic "Vikingligr Veldi", the Norwegians remain metaphorically buried under a mountain of superlatives and effusive praise from critics and fans alike. There have been surprises and sidesteps along the way, of course, and not every fan has been enamored with every album or stylistic adventure, but ENSLAVED have been ruthless and unremitting in their dedication to making intelligent, imaginative and admirably deep music, much of which celebrates the vastness and spiritual richness of northern landscapes and frosted skies, while also resonating with an ever-expanding horde of listeners from around the world. In truth, it comes as absolutely no surprise at all that "Mið" is yet another triumph: another album that stands proudly apart from the rest of the metal underground but is still rooted firmly in its ethos and vaunted history. Ostensibly the end point in the band's latest trilogy of universally praised releases, "Mið" follows the similarly ingenious "Heimdal" (2023) and "Utgard" (2020),conjuring several additional layers of intrigue and wonder from the Bergen band's seemingly endless arsenal of great ideas. Anyone expecting a clunker at this stage in the game is going to be sorely disappointed.

Where the previous two ENSLAVED albums were up to their necks in mythology and mystery, "Mið" is more firmly connected to the here and now, albeit with the ways of the past, both creative and spiritual, omnipresent and indivisible. The band's sound has undergone so many subtle transformations over the years, from their early affinity with their native land's black metal scene to more recent adherence to arcane, progressive forms, but their 17th studio album is a more purposefully shrugging off of expectations and established tropes. Ritualistic and bewitching, the opening "Non-Being" is not immune to the ripping riffs and feral blastbeats of old, but everything from Ivar Bjornson's furious and inventive guitar work to ghostly, collective detours across haunted, moonlit plains, screams of a new and gently alien approach. Similarly, "I Am Ice" is recognizable as an ENSLAVED song, but the combination of hazy clean vocals and shape-shifting undercurrents of mounting, melancholy power chords ensures that the song's essence appears to come directly from left field. The graceful and weather-worn "Mountain" is even more startling. Melodic vocals from drummer Iver Sandøy drift across familiar but frostbitten topography, as glacial guitars collide with mutant synths and the distant rumble of tectonic plates grinding their gears in an intuitive act of malformed, mechanical hypnosis. When a huge riff interrupts the madness, it is as exhilarating and icy fresh as an unexpected plunge into a frozen lake.

Elsewhere, unsullied magic erupts during the deliciously opaque "Parting". Intermittently gorgeous and disorientating, it is one of those ENSLAVED tracks that seems to be speaking directly through (or to?) the natural world, serene vocals and mesmerizing percussion included. A beautifully constructed collision between the barbaric and the blissful, "Parting" is this album's most stunning moment, but recent single "Tales of Trees" comes a close second. Built upon surging waves of elevated discord, it lights up ENSLAVED's now trademark combination of prog rock panache and Viking metal vivacity, with bursts of straightforward metal thunder interrupting the overall flow with heroic attention given to the sustaining of atmosphere. The contrast between frontman Grutle Kjellson and Sandøy's respective vocal approaches has seldom been more impactful or sweetly expressed, but on the closing "I Miðju", their duetting becomes even more breezily natural, and the musical backdrop seems to glow and grow accordingly, as chords are wielded like scythes assailed by howling winds, and a brief guitar solo explodes through the melee like a message from the distant past.

As has long been the case with ENSLAVED, the overall message comes shrouded in mystery and begins to surface, in fragments, after multiple listens, but one thing is clear: the Norwegians have pulled off another masterful piece of timeless art, and more frothing plaudits are on the way. 17 great albums in a row, you say? Magnificent behavior.