This is Enslaved's first LP (which was released in ‘94). Enslaved play viking metal, which is (in my opinion) a sub-genre of black metal. This album features 5 songs and lasts over 50 minutes, so if you don’t like a song, it'll be a nightmare for you to listen to it. The lyrics are in norwegian and ancient Icelandic but the booklet contains a translation of them into English. The music is kind of old school black metal and doesn’t sounds like what Enslaved are playing nowadays. The main difference is the speed of the music...on this album, the music is mostly relaxed and atmospheric, unlike the newer stuff which is more intense and harsh. One annoying thing on this album is that sometimes they play the same riff over and over again, but that doesn’t happen very often. The guitar work on this album is pretty good, sounds a bit primitive at times - too bad they didn’t use more acoustic guitar because it really fit’s the music. The bass and drums also sound good, and there are some keyboards here and there that help create the great atmospheric feeling on this album. The vocals are almost never heard...I mean, the average song is about 9 minutes long and only has 3 or 4 verses in it, so do the math yourself (there is also one instrumental song). The production could be better, but it doesn’t really damage the music.

Conclusion : this is a good album for all of you viking/atmospheric lovers out there, and personally I think this is great. Note - a lot of people think this album is self titled because it’s name isn't written on the cover, so don’t get confused...

© 1999 undivine