Enslaved slovi kot bend, ki poseduje močan smisel za premagovanje ortodoksnega black metala. V njihovem »tipičnem« metal obdobju so bili albumi zasedbe zlahka popredalčkani v enega izmed mnogih podžanrov, ki jih publika tako rada uporablja za organizacijo in identifikacijo specifičnih zvokov metala. Vendar pa so se skozi zadnje albume Norvežani izredno razvili. Ampak v kaj točno?
Splošno soglasje je, čeprav je seveda vedno prostor za deljena mnenja, da se Enslaved dandanes klasificira kot progresivni black metal, ki se stilsko razlikuje od »klasičnega« black metala po tem, da se spoprijema z bolj nekonvencionalnimi glasbenimi formami. Below the Lights, RUUN in Axioma Ethica Odini posedujejo nekoliko mehkejše, skorajda že progresivnorockovske vplive, zagotovo pa neznačilne ritmične in melodične elemente, za katere bi bili presenečeni, če bi jih slišali v bednih stare šole, kot so recimo Darkthrone, Bathory in Immortal. Na kratko, diskografija Enslaved je prežeta z bolj progresivnim stilom black metala; to velja za približno polovico njihovega opusa. Njihov stil je postal zelo dosleden, hkrati pa zelo različen od neke black metal norme. In RIITIIR ni v tem pračnič drugačen. Ampak – ali gre za resnično evolucijo, za resničen napredek? Ali gre še za en in isti poznani stil, ki ga bend v svojem udobju igra že zadnjih pet albumov?
RIITIIR sicer še vedno ostaja v smernicah progresivnega black metala. Tudi sicer ni veliko podobnosti med njim in bendovima prejšnjima EP-jema Thorn in The Sleeping Gods ali njihovim LP-jem Axioma Ethica Odini. RIITIIR stremi k temu, k čemur stremi večina kvalitetnih glasbenikom – zveneti kot nekakšen značilni Enslaved album, hkrati pa posedovati nekaj novega, nekaj edinstvenega le temu albumu. Vendar pa to albumu RIITIIR uspe le do neke mere.
Ne bom se spuščal v podrobnosti vsake skladbe na albumu ter poskušal opisati vsako posamezno sekcijo, bom pa seveda podal primere. Prva skladba “Thoughts Like Hammers” je verjetno moja najmanj ljuba skladba albuma. Njen intro je precej zavajajoč: zasliši se eden bendovih najbolj kaotičnih in kompleksnih riffov, polnega dih-jemajočih kitarskih harmonij, ki so komajda dojemljive ob prvem poslušanju. Ampak ne smete soditi te skladbe (ali albuma) samo po tem riffu, kajti vse po njem zapade nazaj v tipično Enslaved zvokovje. Celoten stil in vzdušje skladbe sta zelo obetavna, vendar pa sama izvedba nekako šepa. Nobeden sledečih riffov me ni navdušil, pojavijo se deli, ki so ali predolgi ali pa preprosto fillerji. K sreči pa gre od tu album le še na bolje.
Naslednje tri skladbe popolnoma zasenčijo odpirajočo skladbo. V sebi le začutim tisto trenutke omame ob nekakšnem spiritualnem stiku z glasbo, ki jo je bil bend sposoben narediti z nekaj prejšnjimi albumi. Fascinantni stili riffov, celo nekateri, ki ne spominjajo na kakšne bendove prejšnje, že uporabljene, začnejo dominirati v teh treh skladbah, hkrati pa končno pride od izraza kot vedno fantastični (in odlično produciran) vokal K. Gruntla. Celo njegov clean vokal se je močno izboljšal in dozorel od Axiome. Izredno značilen refren »Roots of the Mountain« vsebuje nekaj delov, kjer njegov semi-falsetto (kakor temu pravim jaz) odplava izven pravega spektra, torej zafuša, kar bi lahko bila nekakšna tehnična napaka… vendar meni je všeč. Zelo mi je všeč. Katerikoli evfemizem vam je bolj všeč, da bi to opisal – tekstura oz. barva njegovega glasu, ali pa preprosto nekakšna emotivna strast – nekako mu uspe. Skupaj s tehnično in čustveno sposobnostjo njegovega glasu naredi nekaj, kar je drugače videno kot napaka, v nekaj izredno zanimivega.
Pripomniti je treba, da je RIITIIR najdaljši Enslaved album do sedaj – traja kar 67 minut. Dejansko gre za bendov edini album, ki presega eno uro. In, čeprav imam raje daljše kot krajše albume, je RIITIIR včasih kar predolg. Še posebej osrednji deli skladb »Thoughts Like Hammers«, »Matenal« in »Storm of Memories« bi morali biti skrajšani. Kadarkoli se mi zdi, da je nekaj predolgo, je zagotovo zato, ker zveni ali preprosto odveč ali pa nezanimivo po glasbeni plati. Sicer ne gre za velik minus albumu, saj recimo repetitivnost ni nujno slaba, vendar pa to ne spremeni dejstva, da so najmanj uživantski deli RIITIIR ravno deli, kjer je največ ponavljanja. Vendar je recimo »Forsaken« verjetno najboljša skladba albuma in ena najboljših Enslaved skladba nasploh, čeprav, tako kot celoten album, trpi za deli, ki so preprosto odveč – kar morda niti ni presenetljivo, saj je s svojimi 11 minutami ena izmed bendovih najdaljših skladb sploh.
Lirsko nikoli nisem bil impresiran nad bendom. Vedno mi je bilo čudno, kako klišejska so njihova besedila, ko je pa njihova glasba tako paradoksno nasprotna samim temam, o katerih pojejo. RIITIIR na tem področju predstavlja nekolikšno izboljšanje. Sicer se jih še vedno lahko opiše kot klene, nasilne in nasploh temačne, vendar pa vsaj z nekaterimi verzi sprožijo miselni proces, ki ga poprej niso. Nekatere so celo nekoliko manj temačne in s tem bolj primerne njihovi rabi prog rock elementov. Prav zato priporočam, da se besedilom RIITIIR posvetite bolj kot katerimkoli s prejšnjih albumov.
RIITIIR tako sicer je progresivna glasba, vendar hkrati ne predstavlja popolnega napredka pri samem bendu. Že leta ta vključuje v svojo glasbo lažje elemente prog rocka. Nasprotno Sleeping Gods EP vključuje elektronske ambientalne zvoke, nekaj, kar sem resnično upal, da bo bend še raziskal, vendar pa se edini znaki tovrstnega zvoka pojavijo pri skladbi »Forsaken«. Seveda nisem pričakoval, da bodo Enslaved zdaj začeli nišo z nekakšnim ambientalnim vzdušjem, vendar pa tovrstni element zagotovo prinese ogromno k njihovemu eksperimentiranju, zato sam resnično upam, da bo bend nadaljeval v smeri fuzije prog metala in ambientale, kot to recimo počneta Agalloch in Negura Bunget.
Ob poslušanju sem bil večkrat razočaran ob tem, kako podobno je vzdušje RIITIIR v primerjavi s prejšnjimi Enslaved izdelki, saj to zagotovo ni bilo, kar sem pričakoval. Sicer bi lahko rekel, da dokler je glasba odlična in obenem »prijetna« na posluh, bend ne potrebuje drastične spremembe v svoje ustvarjanju, kar je popolnoma res. RIITIIR je zato močno soliden album in čeprav ne spada med moje najljubše albume benda, je zagotovo eden najboljših metal izdaj letos. Nekatere skladbe ponujajo resnično intrikantnost in napredek, ki se lahko razkrijeta šele z večkratnim poslušanjem. Prav čutim, da se čas za novo, konkretno Enslaved evolucijo bliža, in da so momenti kaotičnosti in ambientalnosti na The Sleeping Gods in RIITIIR smer, ki bo predstavljala nov korak v napredovanju progresivnega metala.
Pripravil, prevedel in uredil: Tine Kolenik
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Enslaved is a band noteworthy for their sense of defying black metal orthodoxies. In typical metal fashion, their albums were easily categorizeable in one of the many sub genres that people use to organize and identify the specific sounds of metal. Enslaved was once known as Viking Metal and regular Black Metal. But over the past dozen albums, these Norwegians have evolved. But into what, exactly?
The general consensus, though there is always room for argument, is that Enslaved is now classified as “Progressive Black Metal”, a style of music that differentiates from the expected conventions of, comparatively speaking, “regular” Black Metal. Below the Lights, RUUN, and more recently Axioma Ethica Odini are known for bringing lighter, perhaps Prog Rock sounding influences, and more uncommon rhythmic and melodic elements one would be very surprised to hear in old school Darkthrone, Bathory or Immortal. To put this briefly, Enslaved’s discography has been very familiar with the style of a more progressive style of Black Metal, for approximately half of their discography. Their style has remained consistent and at the same time different from the norm of Black Metal…and RIITIIR is no different. But is it an evolution; a true progression? Or is it the same familiar style the band has played safe with for the past 5 or so albums?
RIITIIR is definitely more identifiable with progressive black metal than regular, or orthodox black metal. It doesn’t even sound all that much like their two previous EPs, Thorn and The Sleeping Gods, or the previous LP, Axioma Ethica Odini. But like what so many good musicians strive to do, it sounds like the essence of Enslaved while remaining somewhat new, somewhat unique, but only up to a point.
I won’t go into great detail for every track, attempting to describe the intricacies of every single section, though I will provide some examples. The opening track, “Thoughts Like Hammers”, is probably my least favorite from the album. Its intro is quite misleading: one of the band’s more chaotic and complex riffs, it provides a rush of overwhelming guitar harmonies that are difficult to understand on a single listen. But one should not judge the remainder of the track (or the album) based off this riff. Everything after that descends into typical territory for the band. The style and overall mood of the song seems promising but the execution itself feels lacking. None of the riffs totally “wow’d” me at all, some parts seemed to have gone on for a little too long as if they were filler. But thankfully it gets better after this.
The next 3 tracks seemed to completely overshadow the album’s opener. The uplifting moments of awe and that sense of a soulful connection the band has been known to make on previous records begin to become much more apparent with the following songs. Intriguing styles of riffs, some of which are even new to the band, start to dominate the core of these songs, in addition to the greatly performed and produced vocals that K. Grutle is known for. Even his clean singing has improved and matured noticeably since Axioma. The easily identifiable chorus of Roots of the Mountain has some parts in which his semi-falsetto (as I like to refer to it) sounds out of tune periodically. And yet despite something which would be deemed a technical performance flaw…I like it. I like it quite a bit. Whichever euphemism you prefer to describe it as, the textural or timbre quality of his voice, or the passion/emotion he pulls off, or a combination of both the technical and emotive skill and attributes of his singing, he takes advantage of what is generally perceived as a mistake and intuitively makes it interesting.
It should be noted that RIITIIR is Enslaved’s longest release so far, running at 67 minutes. It is actually their only album (sans bonus tracks or anything of the like) to exceed an hour. And surprising to myself, I find that sometimes this album runs a little bit too long. Particularly the middle sections of Thoughts Like Hammers, Matenal and Storm of Memories seem like they could have been cut short. Whenever I find something goes on for too long, obviously it is because it is either redundant or uninteresting sounding. I’d be fine with the consecutive 8-9 min song lengths if the band was more efficient with the time they provided us on this record. It’s not a major flaw, since the overly repetitive riffs aren’t actually awful, but the most repetitive sections on RIITIIR seem to be the least enjoyable moments of the record, with probably the exception of the chorus of Roots of The Mountain. Forsaken is perhaps the best track on the record and is maybe one of the best songs the band has ever put out, despite also suffering a bit at the hands of redundancy, which is not completely surprising. It is one of their longest songs ever, at 11 minutes.
Lyrically, I have never been impressed with Enslaved. I have always found it odd how cliché their lyrics are despite their music defying the very imagery and themes that they sing of so often. RIITIIR actually seems to be a bit of an improvement in this regard. It can still mostly be described as bleak, violent and just overall and simply dark. But certain lyrical passages seem to be a bit more thought-provoking and lighter in mood, which is a welcome change. Even some of their older albums had the very few phrases that really sparked something in me, so I do recommend paying attention to RIITIIR’s lyrics much more than any of their other albums.
RIITIIR is progressive music (abiding by the typical definition of the word in this context), but contrarily it is not a complete progression for the band themselves. For years the band has been doing the lighter/mellow metal feel with a combination of what could be called prog rock. The Sleeping Gods very interestingly introduced almost electronic-sounding ambient into their sound, something I really hoped would eventually be continued by the band. The only sign of this style of sound on RIITIIR exists on Forsaken. I did not expect Enslaved to incorporate major ambient elements on this album but it’s something they seem to be persisting with experimenting, and I personally hope they discover a new kind of combination for this prog metal + ambient mix, something bands like Agalloch and Negura Bunget are known to do to.
At times I am admittedly disappointed with how familiar the vibe of RIITIIR is to the previous releases and that it wasn’t as daring as I’d expected. One could say that as long as the music is great and enjoyable, they don’t need to change up their song drastically, and this is true. RIITIIR is a very, very solid album and though it is not my favorite album by them, not even in my top 3, it’s one of the better metal releases of the year and shows that this band has a high level of consistency when it comes to quality music that is definitely worthy of relistening. Some songs offer moments of pure intricacy that inevitably leave more to discover with repeated plays. I simply feel that Enslaved’s time of a new evolution is nearing, and perhaps The Sleeping Gods and RIITIIR’s moments of complex chaos and moody ambience are indeed foreshadowing the next progression of progressive metal.
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