Enslaved - Mardraum (Beyond The Within)
Review: Take the award-winning formula of "Eld," and add hard rock, with a smidgen of Maudlin of the Well; bright chords cycling one note at a time in a loose rhythm, ends falling over beginnings, and then sometimes there's a ripping riff that comes from Motorhead or Slayer. And in the middle? In the middle, there is a loss of direction; an uncertainty; a desire to please. "Mardraum" is literally a schizoid album as Enslaved try to find a new zone of competence, bouncing between the distant past and the recent present, yet unresolved as to what it wishes to say, thus finding those voices to qualify "the medium is the message" -- as all we are hearing is medium.
