Enslaved Announce Preorders for New Album E out Oct. 13
If you’re like me and you’re wondering exactly what the new Enslaved album, E, is going to sound like, then you’re probably also like me and you know gosh darn well the answer isn’t likely to be provided in its entirety by the unveiling this Friday of the first single “Storm Son.” Nonetheless, when it comes to the long-running Bergen, Norway, progressive black metal innovators, I’ll take what I can get. Nuclear Blast has set an Oct. 13 release date for E and begun taking preorders for physical and digital editions, and that’s nifty, but at this point all we’ve got to go on is the art — looks like Enslaved art; Truls Espedal strikes again — and with the news that Herbrand Larsen has stepped away from the keys/clean vocal role, there’s the potential for a big sonic shift in E‘s tracks. Larsen was not a minor factor in the evolution of their sound.
Friday will begin to tell that tale; Oct. 13 will continue it. More when I hear, but for now, this from the PR wire:
ENSLAVED Announce Album Details And Release Date Of E
Launch Album Pre-Order Here: nuclearblast.com/enslaved-e
True avant-garde Norwegians ENSLAVED have announced the release of their epic new studio album for October 13th, 2017. This 14th full-length masterpiece sets the musical mind-twisters free from genre boundaries and offers a unprecedented mix of prog, extreme metal and shoegaze on 8 tracks with a play time of more than an hour. Elegantly titled E, the album was once again written by the unholy alliance of guitarist Ivar Bjørnson (music, lyrics) and singer/bassist Grutle Kjellson (lyrics) and marks the introduction of their new keyboard master and clean vocalist Håkon Vinje. Mixed and mastered at the Fascination Street Studios by the renowed Jens Bogren, E heralds a new era for ENSLAVED. Its cover artwork was once again hand-painted by the Norwegian artist Truls Espedal. As support for their brave sound journey, the quintet brought several guest musicians on board for the songs “Hiindsiigh”‘ and ‘”Feathers Of Eolh”, including WARDRUNA’s Einar Kvitrafn Selvik, flutist Daniel Mage and jazz saxophonist Kjetil Møster.
Mastermind Ivar explains about the title E:
“The concept of the album lies in both it’s meaning as a letter in the latin alphabet, and it’s runic reference: the rune “Ehwaz”, that is depicted as an “M” when drawn as rune (just to make sure it gets really confusing) – the runes are drawn to look like what they literally mean. Ehwaz (pronounced and used as what’s known as E, but drawn as an “M”) looks like and means ‘horse’. Which is closely linked to its esoteric meaning; which is ‘trust’ and ‘co-operation’. One of mankind’s oldest and deepest pairings/collaborations with any “outside” entities is with the horse. When they were first tamed and utilised there must have arisen the notion of some esoteric link between the two; now we could move swiftly, escape faster and even eat and drink from the animal (both horse milk and horse blood), and of course show off and brag before our enemies and peers with the most spectacular horses.
So, no, it is not about horses! It is about the symbioses that surrounds us; which are vital to our existence, to our development – on all scales: man and vessel (for instance horse, yes), a person and its significant other, child and parent, musician and instrument, chaos and order, subconscious and conscious, Oden and Sleipnir – wisdom and communication. There are many levels and variations of this concept on the album; the duality of man and nature, present and past personalities within one self, the conscious fear and the subconscious drive. And other symbiosis.”
The pre-order starts today and you can now get your hands on the physical editions of the album here: nuclearblast.com/enslaved-e
Or the digital version here: nblast.de/EnslavedDigital
The track list contains these majestic anthems:
01. Storm Son (10:54)
02. The River’s Mouth (5:12)
03. Sacred Horse (8:12)
04. Axis Of The Worlds (7:49)
05. Feathers Of Eolh (8:06)
06. Hiindsiight (9:32)
Bonus tracks available on the digipak:
07. Djupet (7:39)
08. What Else Is There? (Röyksopp cover) (4:44)
Stay tuned for the first single “Storm Son” to be unveiled this Friday!
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