Enslaved — Mardraum - Beyond The Within

A new CD, a new Sound. Enslaved seem to make a hobby out of it. The change from "Eld" to "Blodhemn", is not quite as drastic as from "Blodhemn" to "Mardraum", though. The beginning of Enslaved's 'Nightmare' does not reveal anything to shocking -at first. The first track "Større enn tid - Tyngre enn natt", or "Larger than time - Heavier than night", does not reveal anything special at first. It starts of with an almost peaceful accoustic bit, with quite a bit of reverb on the guitar, which after a bit changes into a rather furious part, remniscient of the murderous "Blodhemn" CD. What IS a change however, is the way it changes back into the opening part again, only to be followed by the same aggressive bit again. Almost shocking to someone who enjoyed "Blodhemn" as much as I did, is the fact that after some 5 or 6 minutes into the song not a single blast-beat has occurred yet.

Enslaved have tried to broaden their sound by adding more slower and repetetive riffs with ample reverb, and one might almost be tempted to call the final result psychedelic Viking Metal, as Viking Metal was the music Enslaved have always claimed to play. The first song features the trademark Viking choir as well, and a very angry growling Gruttle, who is on the brink of a true Death Metal grunt here, besides the aforementioned brutal parts and the slower parts. Something new is the extremely long length of the first song, clocking a bit over 10 minutes.

This is roughly what we have on the rest of the CD as well, with varying results. "Deadhymn" -no I'm not going to give all the Norsk titles anymore- seems to start of more in the line of Enslaved previous release, faster, more aggressive, and far shorter than the opening-track of the CD. As a fan of "Blodhemn", I'm very much pleased with this particular song, but then... Then the third track, entitled "Entrance - Escape", quickly lets all excitement disappear. I don't know what the hell got into the guys of Enslaved, but this sounds more like a stoner-rock band, or a Black Sabbath influenced Doom band, than anything remotely to do with Black (or rather Viking) Metal. Supplemented by clean, lamenting vocals, the song drags itself on, never reaching any speed whatsoever. It basically consists of one repetitive, droaning sort of riff, repeated ad nauseum. What saves the song for me is the great solo after some 3 and half minutes. Totally out of tune, yet fitting the song, tis truly a moment of greatness in what has thusfar been an otherwise dreary and bleak song. Apparently the solo signals a bit of a change, as we're then treated to a bit of accoustic guitar, afterwhich the song finally picks up, and some clean singing ensues, unfortunately not all of it in tune. And this time I'm not completely sure that is the way it was meant to be... Too bad the band decides to go back to the boring slowness of the beginning of the song...

The fourth song "The Hive" is one which probably will crop up in most all reviews... Starting with a lo-fi recorded section resembling something like a cross between the start of a Death Metal song and a Black Metal one, Enslaved continue (with a more normal sound) with what sounds remarkably much like a Death Metal song, accompanied by Grutle's vicious throat. Arguably the heaviest song on the CD, tis also one of the better.

That Viking Metal and psychedelica can go together proves the fifth song, "Aege's Dream", the lads of Enslaved manage to provide a more interesting song because of the contrast between the slower parts, and the aggression which is (thankfully) never far behind. I've a feeling that this is what they envisioned, it is just a pity that they didn't manage to accomplish it much more often throughout the CD.

I'm not going to discuss the title song, except for me saying that it does its name ("Nightmare") justice. Just check it out for yourselves to see if you like it. It would appear that not all aggression is lost yet, as Enslaved start of the next song that will crop up in all reviews : "The Ending Empire". Starting in what I'd almost call a traditional way, with some good kickin' drums, and a cool guitar-riff to follow, it promises a great deal. And know what ? It even delivers the goods, regardless of the lads slowing down after two minutes, and there being a slide-guitar in the song (which would be the reason for you reading bout this song in every review). After that the drums get kickin' again, and off we go again. Another song where Enslaved managed to get the mix right.

There's a bunch more songs on the CD, the count stopping at 11, and I don't feel like talking you through all of them. I think that by now you probably did catch my drift. I was thoroughly looking forward to this CD, as after "Blodhemn" I was expecting a great deal. A great deal more, actually, than I got. Even though Grutle is still a heck of a vocalist, the guitar-work at times is great, the choirs are back again, Dirge Rep is a top-notch drummer and the production by (again) Peter Tägtgren (does the man never sleep ?) is good, the songs on the CD are varying so much in quality, that I simply can't give the CD a really high score. Some of the songs really boost the CD in the direction of, say, 90 points, there are others that push it equally hard into the opposite direction of, say, some 60 points or so. I'll just round it off somewhere in between. Here's praying that by the next CD Enslaved will have gotten the mix right.