Album Review: Enslaved – Heimdal (Nuclear Blast)

Norwegian black & progressive metal legends Enslaved are back with their brand-new, 16th studio album, Heimdal. Out on March 3rd, 2023, via Nuclear Blast.

Call them visionaries, geniuses, or a constant source of peculiarities, one thing everyone can agree on is that Enslaved rarely do the same thing twice. Their avant-garde expression doesn’t fit into any particular genre and everything they deliver can be both challenging and captivating.

That is certainly the case again with Heimdal. The group’s most eclectic release since their last, because if there’s one thing,we all can expect from this band, it’s to never know what is coming next.

Even then, expect to be surprised. Especially when the album goes from expansive, atmospheric, and progressive soundscapes to raw and rough extreme metal. Both sides of Enslaved showcased with startling composure on Behind the Mirror and Congelia. The first two tracks displaying a dizzy array of ideas and the depths to Enslaved’s ever expanding imagination. The former will leave you breathless through the sheer intensity of Enslaved’s monumental display of heaviness. Whereas the latter is far more uncouth, even if it’s detailed with progressive delights.

Though they really hit an experimental high with Forest Dweller. In lesser hands, the blend of old-school heavy riffs, thrashy groove, ambient space rock, avant-garde vibes and so much more would fall extremely flat. Here, it’s a source of fascination that is up there as one of the band’s most challenging tracks to date.

A highlight of the album comes next in the form of Kingdom. Featuring an epic intro, before transitioning into a powerful, touching, and daring display of progressive brilliance that feels and sounds like Enslaved, but way more evolved.

Enslaved could call it right there and leave everyone who has listened to the first 4 tracks completely satisfied. Yet, they’re far from done, with a latter portion that sees the band continue to push their experimental and extreme sound to even grander, stranger, and more unique levels.

The Eternal Sea’s moody and verbose intro bleeds into an atmospherically charged tempo shift with vocals that soar. Getting darker and heavier as it goes on, leading to some chaotic intensity and an epic outro. Followed then, by the immense grandeur and brash savagery of Caravans To the Outer Worlds. Before the title track wraps things up with a touch of eerie synth, volatile ruthlessness, and ambient tone shifts. It’s a wacky expansion of the experience so far, and ends the album in a uniquely challenging way.

Not an album that you listen to just once. This is far too detailed and with far too much going on overall to probably understand with one run through. It needs time, it needs patience, and it needs an open mind. Find all of that and you’re going to be mesmerised by what Enslaved deliver here. A band that continues to push themselves and with Heimdal, they’ve done that to near-breaking point.

Enslaved – Heimdal Track Listing:

1. Behind the Mirror
2. Congelia
3. Forest Dweller
4. Kingdom
5. The Eternal Sea
6. Caravans To the Outer Worlds
7. Heimdal

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