Enslaved – RIITIIR (2012)

cover

After blowing us all away with the excellent “Axioma Ethica Odini”, Enslaved returns with another excellent release that builds up on their previous albums and further refines their sound. With their very Progressive sound, the band has managed to expand the reach of the Black Metal genre into new and uncharted territories, and “RIITIIR” is the perfect vessel to explore these waters.

Continuin the “Axioma…” vibe, “Thoughts Like Hammers” features intricate guitar work perfectly adorned by several singing styles. The chorus section of this track is magical, both musically and vocally. With such a very well-directed aggressive sound, the band perfectly fuses in their Progressive elements with the harsh vocals and pounding drums unlike any other band we’ve heard. Moving into funkier and more melodic territory, “Death in the Eyes of Dawn” nicely keeps the album flowing with excellent guitar work, a wide variety of vocals, and a very mellow tempo.

“Veilburner” is one of favorite track of this release thanks to the very weird tempo changes and majestic melodic section. Blasting away, “Roots of the Mountain” has one of the most powerful openings of this release and it nicely evolves into a riffing free-for-all surrounded by tight drumming and a very playful bass guitar line. It is without a doubt that this epic song is our favorite one of this album.

The playful progressive vibe of the album’s title-track is pretty enjoyable and very well crafted into a superb song. With the most ‘traditional’ Black Metal elements, “Materal” is a nice blend of your typical Black Metal and a heavy dose of refinement. Enlsaved brings the diabolical guitar riffing from your vanilla BM band into a very interesting progressive context, allowing you to enjoy a very unique contrasting of elements.

In case you needed more epicness, “Storm of Memories” and “Forsaken” deliver 20+ minutes of brilliant music combining all of Enslaved prime elements into long and memorable songs. The band is so far ahead from everybody else in the genre that they should take a few years break to allow them to catch up. “RIITIIR” is yet another example of the premiere musicianship behind this band and the pinnacle (up until now) of their musical career. This is one of the few releases every year that we have to say it is “A must have album”.

Band: Enslaved Album: RIITIIR
Label: Nuclear Blast Records

Release: October 9th, 2012

Oficial Site myspace

Genre: Progressive Black Metal

Country: Norway

Rating: 96/100
Year: 

Recent Image Galleries