Music

Enslaved thinks their next album could be their heaviest, regardless of what silly subgenre you think it is

by Tyler Munro

Black metal fans can be more than a little unforgiving, but twenty years into their career—the better parts of which they’ve spent evolving into one of extreme metal’s most progressive bands—Enslaved isn’t making any apologies.

“Enslaved fans know that something different will emerge on every release. I think we’ve been able to keep them. Those who only like the first two albums, we lost them like fifteen years ago. I’m not that concerned about them really,” says vocalist Grutle Kjellson. “The purists always enjoy only the first rehearsal tapes or demos anyways, so if you like those, listen to them. I’m fine with that. I’m not forcing myself to listen to something I don’t like.”

Throughout the years change has been a constant with the band. They’ve added bigger hooks, louder keyboards and cleanly sung vocals (in English!). Changes for the better, some would say, but ones that have always come naturally with age. How’s this for perspective: Kjellson was just 20 years old when the band’s monumental Frost came out in 1994; fellow founding member Ivar Bjørnson was 17.

“You get inspiration from here and there and, at least unconsciously that will colour your way of making music, your way of arranging music. The angle becomes wider and wider the older you get, I guess. There’s no conscious direction in taking a step in [any] direction, it just happens,” says Kjellson.

So, then, what changes can we expect on their next album (for which Kjellson says they’ve already got four or five rough song sketches finished)?

“We haven’t started with the arrangements yet, but as far as I can tell now it’ll be a little more sonic, aggressive,” says Kjellson in a low, pondering tone. “I feel it’s going to be a little darker, a little more insecure.”

But what will it sound like? That’s a tricky question to ask. For years Enslaved has intentionally worked under a larger extreme metal blanket, avoiding being called this or that and successfully staying away from subgenre-of-the-week fads because of it.

“I think labelling music is very boring. I don’t give a shit…I listen to quality music. If it’s called funk or soul or metal or jazz or black metal or death metal or…whatever. What’s the point? I guess for people that like to make arguments on internet forums, maybe it’s the point for them. For us it’s totally not interesting,” says Kjellson. And amen to that, dude.

Enslaved may be always be a black metal band in spirit, but everyone needs to get the Led out every once and a while. For Enslaved, that just happened to be in front of a packed house that clung to their every note. That power comes with responsibility, and its not one Enslaved takes lightly. But, as Kjellson’s insistence on stage banter filled with tacky jokes and silly puns proved, they’re not afraid to have a little fun with it.

Hours after our chat at the back of the band’s bus, Kjellson would stand on stage following a playful drum solo (during which he and his fellow band mates attempted to catch each cymbal as quickly as drummer Cato Bekkevold could hit them…and that dude is fast). Rather than start their encore with an obvious track, like, say, anything off Eld, they launched into a rare cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song,” which Kjellson introduces to a gaggle of confused metal heads as the perfect song. Their version was full of the usual flourishes: blast beats, guitar solos, piercing harsh vocals and the sense that, after reaching musical adulthood, Enslaved couldn’t give two shits what you call them.