ENSLAVED: Eld double LP

(2 x LP, gold with black marble vinyl, gatefold sleeve, full-color on 350g with hot foil stamping)

If previous Enslaved releases had subtle Viking foundations, this album brought such themes to the fore, a point underlined by the fact that the record cover here features Grutle seated on a wooden throne, goblet in hand, wearing a large Hammer of Thor and chainmail. If ever there was a poster band for the Viking metal scene – which now included countrymen such as Einherjer and Helheim - here they were, and with an album that more than matched its cover in terms of content.

Opening with ‘793 (Slaget Om Lindisfarne)’, a sixteen-minute saga that matches Bathory with its stirring and melodic majesty, it is an album that (re)introduced the Viking black metal style to the world. Mid-paced, epic, melodic songwriting and rousing clean sung vocals prove powerful and stirring and the record boasts an organic and warm production, something particularly notable at the time, and there’s even the odd prog-tinged riff here and there. With all that said, the record still boasts much of the aggression and frenzied battery of earlier works, with numbers like ‘Hordalendingen’ and even parts of that aforementioned opening number more than matching early Immortal for invigorating musical onslaughts.